Wake County is facing a deepening housing crisis made significantly more perilous by the COVID-19 epidemic. Residents experiencing homelessness find themselves in even more precarious situations. One in five tenants missed their rent payment in April, suggesting a potential wave of evictions when the courts reopen in June.
Last night over 150 ONE Wake leaders ratified a proposal developed by the Affordable Housing Team and Steering Team to address this crisis. Leaders from across the county pledged to act immediately to support the allocation of over $7 million in federal funds to two flexible and broadly written emergency housing initiatives:
- The House Wake Strategic Plan (read full plan here);
- An emergency rental assistance fund to help tenants pay May rent and utility bills (read letter here).
ONE Wake leaders committed to organize 1,061 public comments to the Wake County Board of Commissioners in support of these initiatives - an INCREDIBLE reaction!
However, public comments can only be submitted online on Monday, May 4, between 9:00 am and 12:00 noon!
Here’s how you can support ONE Wake’s FIRST public action:
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Read the sample letter here;
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Go to http://www.wakegov.com/commissioners/Pages/signup.aspx and find the online public comment form (it’s not live yet and won’t be until Monday morning at 9:00 am);
- Copy and paste the sample letter into the public comment form, filling in your own personal information;
- Recruit at least 10 members from your congregation and/or community to join you in taking this action. They can access these same resources on the Justice United website here.
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