Biederman to Participate in Legal Aid of NC Roundtable

Donna Biederman, associate professor, will be part of a "Connecting Health and Home: Medical and Legal Professionals in Conversation" roundtable hosted by the Legal Aid of North Carolina on June 23 from noon to 1 p.m. The session will be moderated by Scheree Gilchrist, and the roundtable will also include Madlyn Morreale and Denise Lockett. 

Having secure housing makes all the difference to individuals and public health. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, elected officials and local leaders stressed the importance of everyone having a safe and secure place to call home to prevent viral spread. The federal and state governments passed moratoria on evictions, ensuring that families and residents could remain housed and thereby slow viral transmission. Our unhoused neighbors, however, were unable to safely isolate, quarantine, or even wash their hands. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, those living without housing experienced higher rates of hospitalization, medical emergency, and injury.

The roundtable conversation promises to explore the multiple legal definitions of homelessness, legal protections extended to those who are or are about to be unhoused, medical studies on the experience of adverse health effects following writs of possession, and differences in access to resources in rural vs urban parts of the state.

While this event is free and open to all, advance registration is required. Register online.