Residents slapped with eviction notices after AP story

CORRECTS TO LESANE, NOT LESEUNE - In this photo taken Wednesday, May 29, 2019 resident James Lesane stands at the entrance to his mobile home in Lumberton, N.C. Every month, Lesane pays what he can afford for his mobile home lot rental_$150. But, after the Florida-based company Time Out Communities bought the park, he got a notice in the beginning of this year that his lot rent would be increasing to $465 a month. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

RALEIGH, N.C. — Two mobile home residents in North Carolina have been hit with eviction notices shortly after complaining to The Associated Press about spikes in their monthly lot rental.

The notices from Florida-based company Time Out Communities were delivered Thursday, two days after the residents were prominently featured in an AP story on those living in hurricane-ravaged Robeson County.

Both residents said their rent had doubled or tripled and that they had few other affordable housing options available after the low-income county was devastated by hurricanes Matthew and Florence in recent years.

Both evictions were filed on the day the article came out, which a lawyer representing both clients called “suspicious.”

But Time Out says they started the paperwork for both beforehand and that other evictions were also filed that day.

Amanda Morris, The Associated Press