Eviction records: Long-term impacts of the COVID-19 housing crisis
Many of the estimated 7.9 million U.S. tenants behind on rent breathed a sigh of relief on Aug. 3, when the CDC imposed a new 60-day eviction moratorium. Even with the extended order, millions of tenants will have COVID-related eviction records. Available data from Eviction Lab show that landlords filed over 468,000 eviction cases during the pandemic in the six states and 31 cities where Eviction Lab is able to track. The actual number is undoubtedly many times more than those recorded.
These eviction records will have long-lasting and problematic consequences for tenants and communities including reduced housing choices for renters, greater residential segregation and further family instability. Congress and the Biden administration must take action to limit the impact of eviction records on future housing options for American families.
Companies have provided background checks to landlords for decades, but tenant screening has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. Where once a landlord received a copy of all the relevant records, now tenant screening companies often make the decision for the landlord. In practice, that means that many landlords and tenant screening companies exclude anyone with an eviction record. Credit scores, criminal records and past debt to landlords are also used to exclude tenants, sometimes illegally. Rather than a landlord looking at a range of information about a renter, a computer now excludes the renter based on a box checked or an algorithm.
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