A new report released by researchers at the University of Michigan analyzes trends in eviction filings and outcomes in Detroit, Michigan, between January 2019 and June 2022. Researchers found that pandemic-related eviction interventions, ranging from state and local moratoriums to the provision of legal services through the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program, led to decreased eviction filings and judgments and increased tenant access to legal representation. As interventions have abated, however, evictions are returning to pre-pandemic levels. Researchers also found that landlords increasingly filed evictions for termination of tenancy rather than for nonpayment during the pandemic and that most evictions filed involved properties that were not compliant with local code.
The researchers analyzed a dataset of evictions filed in Detroit’s 36th District Court between January 2019 and June 2022 to compare pre-pandemic and pandemic levels of eviction filings, eviction judgments, reasons for eviction filings, and legal representation. They also matched eviction data to code compliance data to identify landlords who were renting units illegally or who lacked a certificate of compliance, which is required in Detroit to collect rent.
Landlords filed fewer evictions in 2020 compared to pre-pandemic levels, but evictions were estimated to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2022. In 2019, 21.2 evictions were filed per 100 renter households. Due to state and local moratoriums, eviction filings fell in 2020 to 8.1 evictions filed per 100 renter households – approximately one-third of pre-pandemic filing levels. Eviction filing rates have since risen and researchers project that eviction filings will return to pre-pandemic levels in 2022. Eviction judgments also decreased during the pandemic: more than 75% of closed cases resulted in an eviction judgment pre-pandemic, decreasing to only 29% of closed cases during the pandemic. In addition, legal representation for tenants increased during the pandemic, rising from 3% of tenants having legal representation before the pandemic to 20% of tenants during the pandemic.
At the same time, researchers found that landlords increasingly filed evictions for termination of tenancy during the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, more than three-quarters of evictions were filed for nonpayment of rent. During the pandemic, fewer landlords filed for nonpayment of rent, and more filed eviction for termination of tenancy, especially after the state’s ERA program began: such filings rose from 17% to 29% of cases. These cases were more likely to end in a judgment than evictions filed for nonpayment of rent because tenants had no protections under these circumstances. Further, landlords in Detroit are required to have a certificate of compliance in order to collect rent and to evict tenants for nonpayment of rent, yet most (88%) of evictions filed involved properties that lacked the certificate.
The researchers call for better eviction data collection, automatically sealed eviction records, improved enforcement of rental codes, protections against no-cause evictions, appropriate levels of funding for the city’s right-to-counsel ordinance, and the banning of winter and school-year evictions.
The report can be found at: https://bit.ly/3Y54d7U