Garner residents facing eviction scramble to find housing
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GARNER, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Residents from about a third of the units at Forest Hills Apartments in Garner still need to find housing; they have less than a week to do so before they are displaced, according to Wake County officials.
Eller Capital Partners, the complex's new owners, informed many of these low-income residents they have to move.
The Chapel Hill-based developer bought the Forest Hills complex in February and announced plans to renovate the property and raise rent prices to "market rates."
Now, some people are stepping in to help.
Uber driver Joseph Goodson has been driving around residents for free so they can find new housing.
"I really feel bad for the people because they weren't volunteering to move," he said. "They were really being pushed out."
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Eller Capital Partners will be raising the rent and won't accept housing assistance payments when it reopens. The company has not returned numerous requests for a comment.
Goodson heard the plea of Wake County leaders asking the community to help and felt compelled to act.
"A lot of the people were elderly," he said. "They were on some type of assistance and they wouldn't have any way of actively going out to try and find another apartment, some place to live."
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He's not the only one. Wake County officials say a moving company is offering free services and a real estate agent is helping residents find housing that accepts Section 8 housing vouchers. But many residents say they've been having a tough time finding housing because there's a lack of affordable housing in Wake County.
Goodson said he'll keep making the rounds, doing what he can so the folks don't end up homeless.
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"If I had a housing complex that I can move them into, I would move every last one of them into it. But the only thing I can do is provide the transportation for them to go and seek housing someplace else," he said.
The county said it's still in need of landlords willing to accept rental assistance vouchers.
Landlords interested in helping can contact the Wake County Housing Division at (919) 856-5689.
