New research published in Housing Policy Debate, “The Racially Disparate Influence of Filing Fees on Eviction Rates,” examines how eviction filing fees impact the prevalence of eviction filings, eviction judgments, and serial eviction filings by landlords. The study further examines how these effects vary according to neighborhood racial composition. Higher eviction filing fees appear to significantly reduce eviction filing rates and eviction judgments, while lower fees are associated with higher rates of serial eviction filings by landlords. All three effects appear to be larger in majority-Black neighborhoods compared to majority-white neighborhoods. The authors argue that filing fees are an important local policy lever for addressing housing instability, especially for Black renters, who are disproportionately impacted by evictions.
The authors obtained data on eviction filing costs from online resources and local court officials, eviction filings and judgements from Princeton’s Eviction Lab, and neighborhood characteristics from the American Community Survey (ACS). Serial eviction filings were defined as instances in which a landlord made more than one eviction filing against the same tenant within a year and rates were inferred in the aggregate from the eviction data. To conduct their analysis, the authors compared eviction filing costs with eviction filing, eviction judgement, and serial eviction filing rates at the neighborhood level (census tracts), while controlling for other factors such as rental market characteristics, tenant protection laws, political context, race, income, and household composition.
Filing fees ranged from $15 to $350. After controlling for other factors, the authors found that a $76 increase in eviction filing fees was associated with a 1.71 percentage point decline in eviction filing rates and a 0.49 percentage point decline in eviction judgements. A $76 increase in eviction filing fees was also associated with 3.11 percentage point decline in the share of serial eviction filings. Eviction filing fees were also found to have greater impacts on eviction filing rates (357%), eviction judgement rates (361%), and serial eviction filing rates (107%) in majority-Black neighborhoods compared to majority-white neighborhoods.
These findings strongly suggest that eviction filings fees are an effective policy lever for addressing housing instability at the local level, especially for Black renters, who suffer disproportionately from evictions. The authors argue that localities should consider increasing eviction filing fees to reduce eviction filings, eviction judgements, and serial eviction filings. However, the authors caution that landlords might resort to informal evictions in communities where eviction filing fees increase. Complimentary measures, such as tenants’ rights education campaigns and greater oversight of utility shutoffs, are needed to inhibit landlords from resorting to informal evictions.
Read the report at: https://bit.ly/3IQv6WZ