As Bans Expire, Eviction Filings Rise

A rental sign is posted in front of an apartment complex Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Phoenix.

A rental sign is posted in front of an apartment complex Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Phoenix. AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

New research sheds light on the trend. Experts have warned that renters are headed towards an “eviction cliff” as the coronavirus crisis wears on and safety net measures end.

Eviction filings are on the rise in places across the U.S. where coronavirus-driven bans on eviction proceedings are expiring, according to new research.

Researchers with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland looked at eviction data for 44 cities and counties where various eviction protections went into effect in the March to April timeframe. Some of these jurisdictions imposed moratoriums on eviction hearings but not filings, others on filings and hearings, and some did not ban either.

At the outset of the coronavirus crisis, the report says that eviction filings dropped sharply even in places that didn’t impose broad eviction bans. But in more recent weeks, evictions have begun to rise again—notably in places where moratoriums have ended.

In places where the bans remain in effect, the filings are still down, the researchers found.

The report uses the city of Cleveland, Ohio as an example of how evictions have trended as the bans went into effect and expired. 

Eviction filings fell when a moratorium policy went into effect in the city in March. In the week after June 15, when the policy lapsed, eviction filings shot up to twice their level for the same time period last year, before falling below pre-pandemic levels in the weeks after.

More broadly the report finds that across the set of places where both filings and hearings were banned, filings were down 99% in the six weeks leading up the expiration of the bans. But in the week after the expiration, filings in those places were up 19% compared to 2019.

“Eviction filings have almost returned to their pre-pandemic levels in jurisdictions with no bans in place. Both filing and hearing bans appear to be effective at temporarily subduing eviction filings,” the report says.

The federal virus relief legislation known as the CARES Act provided a 120-day moratorium on evictions for most tenants in federally subsidized apartments. State and local emergency eviction policies are a patchwork. Around 30 states had no eviction protection rules, or ones that expired before July 1, according to ProPublica.

One issue with the bans is that they don’t necessarily prevent unpaid rent from stacking up even if a landlord can’t act to oust a renter.

A Census Bureau “Household Pulse Survey” conducted during the week of July 2 to 7 found that nearly 18% of renter respondents did not pay rent last month, or had it deferred. About 30% said they had “no” or “slight” confidence that they’d be able to make rent next month.

The Cleveland Fed report cites prior research that indicates nonpayment of rent is the reason behind almost 80% of evictions.

In Wisconsin, an eviction ban that covered Brown County, where Green Bay is located, expired on May 26, after about two months. After the ban ended, evictions increased 23% over the same period a year ago, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported on Monday.

The local nonprofit We All Rise: African American Resource Center was cutting checks to help people cover the cost of hotels and temporary housing. But the group’s executive director, Robin Tinnon, told the Press-Gazette the center is now running low on money and has begun buying tents for people who have become homeless.

"The amount of tents that we're buying," Tinnon told the newspaper. "The amount of safe parking areas that we're trying to find families. Like we're literally buying tents because we're running out of money for emergency funds for hotels."

Americans who’d been laid off and were able to get unemployment insurance benefits had the plus of a federally-funded $600 a week boost to their normal state benefit. But those extra payments are set to go away at the end of this month.

Meanwhile, people in a number of states have complained about persistent problems with actually getting unemployment payments.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested on Monday that the Trump administration and congressional Republicans could be lining up behind the idea of reducing the size of that extra unemployment insurance payment as part of a new relief bill they’re now working on.

“We’re going to make sure that we don’t pay people more money to stay home than go to work,” he said. “We want to make sure that people who can go to work safely can do so.”

The nation’s unemployment rate is very high, at around 11% last month. That’s down from 14.7% in April, but well above the 3.5% rate in February, before the virus tanked the economy.

Housing experts at the Urban Institute warned last week that the nation’s renters are headed towards an “eviction cliff” as the bans and the added unemployment benefits run out.

Steps like a national moratorium on evictions, extending the supplemental unemployment insurance benefits and boosting federal and local rental assistance are among the recommendations they put forward for addressing the issue.

The Urban Institute has estimated that it would cost almost $16 billion per month to meet renters’ needs during this crisis.

A full copy of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland report can be found here.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.