An article published in Housing Policy Debate, “The Effect of State Housing Policies on Eviction Filings and Judgments in the United States 2001–2018,” indicates that certain state and local policies, such as those that restrict abusive landlord practices, can reduce eviction filings and repeat filings, though their effect on eviction judgments is less certain. The findings suggest that tenant protections can significantly influence housing stability.
The researchers examined the association between housing policies and evictions in U.S. counties from 2001 to 2018 using a panel of state-level landlord-tenant laws as well as data from Princeton University’s Eviction Lab. Researchers also included local housing investment by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (e.g., rent subsidies and units in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program (LIHTC)).
Researchers found that, on average, there was an average of 1,528 eviction filings per county in the U.S. More than 95% of these filings were unique households, with the remaining share representing multiple filings to the same household. The most common tenant protections implemented at the state-level included disallowing evictions to be processed through small claims courts, prohibiting landlord retaliation against tenant attempts to enforce the terms of a lease, and requiring waiting time for eviction filings. Researchers found few eviction protections explicitly targeted vulnerable groups.
States with policies prohibiting landlord retaliation against tenants saw a reduction in case filings of about 11 percentage points. Prohibiting eviction cases in small claims court was associated with a significant reduction in repeat eviction filings. After controlling for other factors, researchers found a 50.6 percentage point reduction in multiple filings in areas with prohibitions against eviction cases in small claims court.
Overall, policies that tended to increase the cost of landlords initiating eviction proceedings were negatively associated with the number of evictions that occurred. Further, prohibiting landlord retaliation was associated with a reduction of eviction judgments by 14.1 percentage points. On the other hand, mandating waiting time between a lease violation and when a landlord is allowed to file for an eviction order was associated with an increase in eviction judgments of 14.6 percentage points.
The nature of the eviction data did not allow researchers to determine the demographic characteristics of households that received a filing; however, researchers estimated the share of minorities in a county to determine whether some tenant protections have a different impact on evictions for Black, Hispanic, and other minority tenants compared to white tenants. In general, researchers found that policies affect eviction filings and judgments in counties with large minority populations to approximately the same degree as they do in other counties.
Researchers note that certain state and local policies can significantly influence eviction filings, offering valuable insights for policymakers aiming to address housing stability. However, the effect of these policies on actual eviction judgments is less clear.
Read the report at: http://tinyurl.com/3668zw96