NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The Harrelson Center’s Housing Navigation program helped 69 out of 73 households avoid eviction or foreclosure, remain in their homes, or find more affordable housing in its inaugural year.
Launched in May 2025, the homelessness prevention initiative completed its first year with a 95% success rate. Housing Navigation is a 90-day case management program that personalizes emergency help for New Hanover County’s residents at risk of losing their homes. It is located in the Harrelson Center, which hosts more than 40 humanitarian nonprofit organizations and provides services and resources to individuals and families in need.
READ MORE: Program to prevent homelessness helps people ‘slipping through the cracks’
The program broke down its metrics from the last year, indicating:
- 19 households remained in their existing rental homes
- 27 households moved into new, more affordable rental housing
- 16 households avoided eviction after already receiving an eviction notice
- 1 household remained in its owned home
- 2 households avoided foreclosure
- 4 households were ultimately evicted
“We could see that many of our Help Hub clients were just one unforeseen circumstance away from losing their housing,” Nikki McLaurin, the Harrelson Center’s housing navigator, said in a release. “Housing Navigation allows us to go beyond addressing the immediate crisis. We work with each household to identify resources, develop a plan, maintain weekly check-ins and provide personalized guidance to help them remain stably housed.”
Demand is exceeding the program’s capacity, according to the program’s officials, though the work continues.
In 2025, New Hanover County ranked 36th among North Carolina’s 100 counties on the number of evictions, and in 2026 it rose to 21st, emphasizing the need for homelessness prevention services.
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