Nearly 200K evictions filed in NC and 3K filed in NHCO in 2025: New Study
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY-TV) – A new study from the North Carolina Housing Coalition found a major rise in evictions in 2025 compared to previous years. The report says there were almost 200,000 evictions filed in the state last year.
“No matter what us parents go through as long as the child doesn’t really see or know the struggle, we just got to do what we got to do,” said Mary De Jesus.
De Jesus is a medical assistant in Wilmington with a four-year-old child who has autism.
“I was bouncing between friends, family, people who would allow me and my son to stay there,” De Jesus said.
In 2023, she left her living situation after experiencing domestic violence. De Jesus said because she was over the age of 18 and was a leased not occupant, not the lease holder, the complex still put an eviction file on her record when the rent wasn’t paid.
She says she wasn’t aware of this until she applied for new housing.
“And after spending almost $900 on admin fees and applications that’s how I found out I had an eviction on my record, no one ever disclosed anything to me, they just kept taking my money,” De Jesus said.
“It’s not just an eviction it is the filing of an eviction as well that can follow you wherever you go,” said Samuel Gunter, executive director for the North Carolina Housing Coalition.
De Jesus is among many who have had an eviction notice follow them and prevent them from being approved for housing.
Gunter said there was a 31% increase in evictions since 2017 particularly after the Covid-19 eviction moratorium. The coalition also reports a rise in insurance costs on the coast, a stagnant minimum wage and families who are cost-burdened which means they are spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
“Are you rich? Are you poor? Is your house big, small, whatever,” Gunter said. “It doesn’t matter we should all be able to find housing that is accessible at our income levels and what we find is that the lower your incomes are, the houses prices don’t get down there.”
Gunter said development in New Hanover County also contributes to the rise in evictions.
“The cohort of folks moving into this state are coming with an average of $30-$35,000 more a year than the folks already here,” Gunter said.
Gunter said those flushed with cash can pay more for rent and it drives others out like De Jesus.
“It sucks because with everything shifting here in Wilmington they are raising the prices for housing and its everyday people like me, I’m a medical assistant there’s firefighters, there’s officers who are struggling with trying to find who are struggling to find housing that they can afford,” De Jesus said.
Gunter said outside of economics, state law is also skewed toward landlords rather than tenant rights, which can cause more problem for someone with an eviction filed on their record.
