NLIHC’s ERASE project hosted on July 27 the second session of a three-part summer webinar series focused on the successes of 2022-2023 ERASE cohort members in advocating for permanent tenant protections in their jurisdictions. Attendees heard from NLIHC staff, members of housing-based advocacy organizations, and community partners about their efforts to secure state and local legislative investments aimed at protecting tenants from the wide-ranging impacts of the eviction process. Attendees also heard from panelists about strategies they used to advocate for the passage of legislation that limited or prohibited rental application fees, created statewide rental registries, and sealed eviction records. A recording of the call can be found here.
ERASE Senior Project Coordinator Victoria Bourret began the call by providing a brief overview of the various resources available on the ERASE website. Victoria spoke about NLIHC’s State and Local Tenant Protections Database, as well as the five main tenant protections tracked by NLIHC, including the civil right-to-counsel, source-of-income protections, “just cause” eviction standards, rent stabilization ordinances, and laws that expunge or seal eviction records. Victoria noted that the database also tracks a variety of other protections as well, including laws related to code enforcement, habitability standards, and anti-retaliation measures. She also spoke about the inclusion in the database of preemption laws – that is, laws that are passed at the state-level and that are intended to regulate the power of a lower level of government to enact certain other laws. The State and Local Tenant Protections Database identifies 36 state and local laws passed nationwide that preempt the enactment of source-of-income protections or rent stabilization laws, including the State of Florida’s recent preemption law “House Bill 1417,” which impacts all tenant protections in the state.
Next, Kayla Laywell, a policy analyst with NLIHC, spoke about the lack of tenant protections at the federal level, emphasizing the need for state- and local-level tenant protections. During her presentation, Kayla discussed the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) Request for Input (RFI) and surveyed ways housing advocates can provide input about tenant protections that can be created by FHFA to regulate multifamily properties with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Kayla shared ways to get involved with the RFI process, including signing on to NLIHC’s organizational sign-on letter and submitting a comment directly to FHFA on its website. Kayla reminded attendees that the deadline for submitting comments to FHFA was July 31.
Angelica Moran, a policy specialist at the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy (Center), spoke next about the Center’s support for “Senate Bill 1039,” a key piece of legislation that limits excessive rental application fees. During her presentation, Angelica told a story about a young boy who found a praying mantis, put it in a jar, and decided to keep it as a pet in his home. Angelica stated that once the landlord found out about this “unauthorized pet,” the family was charged a monthly lease violation fee. As a result of the story of the praying mantis, which eventually became a virtual mascot for “Senate Bill 1039,” the legislation garnered the support it needed to pass. Angelica stated that because of her organization’s advocacy work in support of “Senate Bill 1039,” landlords are now required to disclose to tenants all rental fees up front. Additionally, landlords must give tenants 30 days’ notice about changes in rental fees.
Katie West, the director of strategic initiatives at the Housing Network of Rhode Island (HNRI), joined the call to discuss several legislative wins secured by her organization for tenants during the most recent legislative session. Katie stated that the political landscape in the State of Rhode Island was balanced in favor of strengthening tenant protections and passing housing-related policies, with the Speaker of the House making housing a priority the 2023 legislative session. Of those bills supported by HNRI, the state was able to pass three. In 2023, Rhode Island passed “House Bill 6329,” barring landlords and property managers from charging prospective tenants rental application fees. The bill also allows tenants to provide a landlord with their own background check and/or credit report. Katie stated that the bill was inspired by a family who after being evicted from their home was made to pay more than $5,000 in rental application fees during the search for a new home. The state also passed a rental registry bill, “Senate Bill 804,” to protect families in older homes who are at-risk of lead poisoning. Under the law, every rental property in the state is required to register with the state’s Department of Health. Finally, the state also passed “Senate Bill 912,” a piece of legislation that would allow individuals under certain circumstances to apply to seal their eviction record. Katie stated that the successful passage of these pieces of legislation was due to cross-sector collaboration and to the fact that people were willing to talk publicly about their experiences with eviction. Katie also stated that efforts by the state’s attorney general to support the rental registry bill were essential in ensuring its passage.
Andrew Bradley, the policy director at Prosperity Indiana, spoke about his organization’s work to pass a statewide eviction record sealing and expungement bill, “House Bill 1214.” During his presentation, Andrew spoke about how the presentation of data helped get the bill passed. Andrew stated that providing quantitative evidence highlighting the eviction problem in Indiana – for example, data from Princeton University’s Eviction Lab – helped generate support for the bill. He also talked about the importance of using qualitative data to show the need for eviction record sealing legislation.
Tonya Meyers Phillips, an attorney from Detroit, joined the webinar to talk about her work supporting the passage of a right-to-counsel ordinance in her city. Tonya, who is also a member of the city’s Right to Counsel Coalition, reviewed the process that resulted in Detroit becoming the eighteenth city nationwide to pass a civil right-to-counsel. In particular, she spoke about how the Right to Counsel Coalition worked to center the voices of tenants who are most marginalized and most likely to experience the threat of eviction and about additional successes that arose out of advocacy efforts to pass right-to-counsel, including the ability to collaborate with other citywide organizations to improve outreach and education.
The ERASE project will hold one more call as part of its summer webinar series. On August 24, the final installment of the series will focus on 2022-2023 ERASE cohort members’ efforts to sustain emergency rental assistance programs over the long term. Presenters will discuss their efforts not only to sustain eviction prevention and court-based eviction mediation programs but also to secure funding for emergency rental assistance programs.
Register for the upcoming call here.