Evictions

07/30/20 • 29 min

In South Carolina, renters have to be armed with cash to fight an eviction.
When tenants facing removal from their homes want to have their case heard in a higher court, they're often required to come up with thousands of dollars in a matter of days.
Ambiguities in the law make the issue particularly murky and lead to wide disparities in what tenants are required to pay. It could be as little as $0, or as much as all of the back rent a landlord says the tenant owes, plus another three months' rent up-front.
It's all up to the judges who handle these cases.
This week, we talked to reporter Thad Moore who recently read through court records from across the state to look for these types of cases. He found that, since the beginning of 2019, more than 120 tenants in South Carolina who were appealing their evictions had their cases thrown out because they couldn't come up with the money required.
We asked him about how this policy compares to the way other states handle eviction appeals, why some housing attorneys say the practice is unfair and what our watchdog reporters are looking out for as evictions become a key indicator to watch during the coronavirus pandemic.

Previous Episode

Should schools reopen in fall?

At this time last year, parents and students were picking up fresh packs of pencils and notebooks, starting up fall sports practices and gearing up for another first day of school in August.
But in 2020, the traditional back-to-school period has become a ticking clock on major decisions facing school boards, teachers and parents about how and when to bring students back to the classroom amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The already contentious debate intensified last week when Gov. Henry McMaster gave a press conference announcing that he wanted to see all public schools in the state offer in-person classes five days a week this fall.
Criticism was swift.
South Carolina's largest school district, Greenville County Schools, pushed back almost immediately, and the state's top education official, Molly Spearman, chose not to attend the press conference and instead put out a statement objecting to McMaster's request.
Most agree that students learn better in a classroom than they can online. What isn't agreed upon is when it's safe to make that transition.
We turned to education reporter Jenna Schiferl and projects reporter Avery Wilks for some insight on what parents, politicians, schools officials and educators are thinking. We discussed how school districts are responding to the governor's call to reopen, what classrooms might look like this fall and why so many parents in South Carolina are feeling frustrated.

Next Episode

Hurricanes

Last week, Hurricane Isaias brushed past the Lowcountry but left a mess in the Grand Strand. And while it didn't prompt evacuations or major panic, Isaias was a clear reminder of the kind of storm season that's been brewing in the Atlantic Ocean.
It was the earliest "I" storm on record, meaning eight other named storms had already formed before it this year. During a typical year, named storms would only be on the letter "B" by early August.

The Aug. 3 storm also made 2020 the sixth straight year that a tropical storm has affected the Palmetto State's coast.

It traced a similar path to a couple close calls for the Charleston area in recent years: Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Dorian last year.

Senior projects reporter Tony Bartelme and reporter Chloe Johnson, who writes about the coastal environment and climate change, were able to offer some insight on what could be ahead in the months of hurricane season that are still yet to come.

We also talked about how the pandemic could play into evacuation plans if South Carolina ends up in the potential path of a larger storm this year — and what we should be considering now so that we're prepared.

Listen now to find out.