Since January 2021, states and localities around the U.S. have passed or implemented more than 200 new policies and protections aimed at diverting the threat of eviction and keeping renters stably housed. These protections, which have been enacted in 32 states and 92 localities, include laws ensuring the civil right to counsel, measures prohibiting source-of-income discrimination, ordinances related to eviction record sealing and expungement, rent stabilization legislation, and “just cause” eviction laws. The benefits of such protections for tenants were proven during the pandemic, when a federal eviction moratorium combined with a range of other measures implemented in response to the public health crisis prevented as many as 1.5 million eviction filings nationwide between March 2020 and June 2021. To learn more about those protections enacted since 2021, and to stay updated on new protections as they are passed, visit NLIHC’s Tenant Protections webpage at: https://nlihc.org/tenant-protections
NLIHC has supported and tracked the passage of tenant protections through its End Rental Arrears to Stop Evictions (ERASE) project. Created at the height of the pandemic to ensure that the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) funds championed by NLIHC and enacted by Congress reached the lowest-income and most marginalized renters, the ERASE project has partnered with state and local organizations to form an ERASE Cohort, which promotes housing stability beyond the pandemic by finding ways to permanently prevent evictions through outreach, education, and policy advocacy. NLIHC also maintains a State and Local Tenant Protections database, tracking newly enacted or implemented tenant protections.
Over the last year alone, members of NLIHC’s 2022-2023 ERASE Cohort have introduced or helped pass more than 60 pieces of legislation that address the negative impacts of eviction at all stages of the eviction process. In Detroit, for example, the United Community Housing Coalition, a member of the ERASE Cohort, successfully advocated for the passage of a citywide right-to-counsel program that will allow renters with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty guideline to access free legal representation during the eviction process. Cohort members have also advocated for the passage of just cause protections in Los Angeles, source-of-income protections in Hawai’i, and rent stabilization ordinances in five cities across California.
The passage of more than 200 tenant protections since January 2021 shows clearly that laws and policies that address threats to housing security are effective at keeping tenants housed. Today, as renters face new challenges to their housing stability, including rental costs that have increased by more than 17% in the past year, a growing number of lawmakers have shown interest in passing additional tenant protections, like eviction record sealing and expungement protections that ensure that individuals with evictions levied against them do not face barriers when seeking future housing. NLIHC’s ERASE team released an “Eviction Record Sealing and Expungement Toolkit” on April 20 that provides information about such legislation. The database currently identifies 10 jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia, that have passed eviction record sealing and expungement legislation since 2021.
NLIHC will continue to support and track new tenant protections using our State and Local Tenant Protections Database. If you know of any relevant legislation passed in your city, county, or state, please share this information with the ERASE team by contacting [email protected]