Via Twitter, Housing Justice Now Winston-Salem reports on 65 eviction cases heard this afternoon in Forsyth County. The hearings fall on the Friday before all courthouses close for 30 days, and three weeks before a CDC moratorium on evictions is set to expire on Dec. 31.

Despite this federal moratorium, Forsyth residents like Sierra Graves were still evicted from their homes.

During the pandemic, some states put eviction moratoriums in place to offer tenants relief. In North Carolina, an order in March by NC Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley put a halt on evictions through June 23. Federal eviction protections ended in late July under the CARES Act. Then, in September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the unprecedented move of temporarily halting evictions through Dec. 31 to curb the spread of COVID-19. Despite the CDC moratorium however, many tenants like Graves are still being evicted out of their homes because they don’t know about the CDC mandate and their landlords are not telling them. For more reporting, read our previous story here.

This is a developing story.

HJN activists and others protested Friday afternoon outside the Forsyth Government Center.

[Photos by Orlando Davis]

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