National, State, and Baltimore Evictions
Evictions Rise Above Pre-Pandemic Levels
The study by the Princeton University's Eviction Lab has found that the rate of eviction filings has returned or exceeded pre-pandemic levels in many U.S. cities recently, stimulated by the historically high cost of housing and other basic necessities. The Lab's aims to fill the "information hole in the center of the evictions crisis" by collecting data from court filings and other sources.
The Lab's estimated national number of evictions for 2018 was 3,656,427.8 filings affecting an estimated 46,902,048 households, with a rate of 0.078. An estimated 2,734,662.8 households were threatened with eviction. For Baltimore, there were 52,200 Baltimore households threatened by eviction, with a 36.6% threatened rate compared to the national 7.8%. According to the Lab for 2018, Baltimore had a rate of 92.3 evictions filed for every 100 residents, with 132,000 evictions filed that year. The is extremely high, however, but because of the way Maryland records eviction notices, it has a much higher filing rate than elsewhere, but not necessarily more evictions. In Maryland, the eviction process starts with an eviction filed in court rather than most other states filing an out-of- court notice delivered to a tenant. Many landlords file against their tenants every month, resulting in a very high case volume. Here, the number of filings is inflated because of unique court procedures, resulting in a high rate.
During the recent - and continuing - COVID pandemic, widespread official local and national eviction moratoriums helped keep many families in their homes. Now, however, those moratoriums have expired in most areas, and many are faced with the threat of displacement. This is particularly bad now because the high rent costs have renters spending a historic percentage of their paychecks on monthly housing bills.
The study found that the eviction crisis tends to disproportionately affect minority groups — particularly Black women. In the Twin Cities, for example, a weekly average of around 300 evictions have been filed over the last four weeks. This is compared to 20 per week during the moratoriums.
Philadelphia, Cleveland, and some others have recently started or expanded programs to help tenants access financial relief, stay in their homes during eviction disputes, or mediate tenant-landlord disputes. Some other recently-enacted "good cause" bills restrict evictions to cases where tenants violate their lease agreements, as well as limit major rent increases.
It is important to note that the Eviction Lab's 34-city data set does not include illegal evictions or cases where renters are forced out primarily because of large rent hikes. However, the Eviction Lab's data set is the nearest equivalent to a nationwide evictions database. It contains a newly updated map of all 50 U.S. states & D.C., with the ability to search for an individual "county, compare data across regions, interact with demographic characteristics, and create local reports." Recently added features also include data from 2000 to 2018, estimated data for every county in all states & D.C., and the new variable of households threatened with eviction.
While the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is working on new data-collection efforts, there is currently no government national database with full coverage. As a result, the available data always understates the eviction problem and makes policy development more difficult.
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