How does eviction RTC relate to other interventions for the eviction/housing crisis?
Eviction RTC is intertwined with other types of intervention into the eviction/housing crisis.
Eviction RTC laws can be less effective when there aren’t other policies in place to address housing instability, un-inhabitability, and unaffordability. For instance, most evictions are about non-payment of rent. While an attorney will help the tenant navigate the process, raise defenses, and fight for fair treatment, the eviction could potentially be prevented where there are also robust rental assistance programs that can assist with arrears and payments moving forward, strong housing code laws that help tenants get necessary repairs, and affordable housing alternatives for the tenant to choose. By reducing the number of eviction filings, policies like these can ease the burden on eviction RTC programs.
At the same time, eviction RTC laws can help enforce these policies and help tenants make use of existing supportive programs. For example, a Cleveland RTC evaluation found that of the 21% of clients who were unaware of rental assistance at the time they contacted the eviction RTC program, approximately 98% wanted rental assistance, and the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland helped 81% of those clients obtain it. In other situations, cities or states may pass protective laws that tenants are either unaware of or unsure how to assert, like laws prohibiting a landlord from retaliating against a tenant (such as by filing for eviction) for complaining to the government about housing code violations in their unit. Even the best of tenant rights and protections can go unenforced without an attorney if tenants are unfamiliar with them.
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Pairing eviction RTC with other housing issues
Below are some thoughts from advocates we interviewed around the country about how eviction RTC advocacy should be connected with other advocacy around other housing policies, such as rent control, and also with non-housing policies:
“RTC is not a panacea and only helps with one aspect of the housing problem: helping tenants get legal representation. Additional interventions/programs/solutions are required.”
“Our ongoing issue with mass displacement due to the second coming of the tech boom continues to be a problem. The desire for high rents has resulted in bad actor landlords doing whatever they can to push tenants out of their homes.”
“Rent is too high and there are still rent increases of around 20% in some areas … The shortage of rental properties has made landlords much more selective and if somebody makes the wrong move, landlords are just not renewing the lease to find somebody who pays more regularly.”
“Our city has old housing which means there are frequent maintenance issues and these are problems that legal aid would typically litigate.”
“The same organizations that are working to deal with high rents are dealing with evictions and are dealing with habitability issues. There are some organizations that specialize in eviction defense, such as legal organizations, but it’s all so interconnected and so extreme …, especially around rent levels and displacement threats.”
“My experience with the legislature goes back 27 years, as does my relationship with community organizations. I’m also a tenant and a black and indigenous woman, and I spent the majority of my adult life in poverty. I tick all the boxes of the statistics, basically, or I have done at some point in my life. So I have lived expertise and I could see what was happening in the community, and on the policy side…Coming into that legislative session, I think that people expected [Black Lives Matter] to focus solely on policing for that legislative session. Our entire strategy was that we weren’t focused on one thing and we were focusing on the whole of black life, so we were looking at more than 150 bills coming into that legislative session. What I have learned in the legislature, and working with communities of color, is that our asks are usually too small and too narrow; it is usually within one bucket of the many buckets representing the whole of our lives. You can get basically turfed out of the session pretty early on asking just one or two things, and they don’t really want to deal with you - they will try to get rid of you. But, if you ask for a little bit of everything and you really have a solid legislative advocacy and lobbying strategy, you are formidable and are somebody who they have to engage with and the other stakeholders (for whatever the issue is) have to engage with you.”
How does eviction RTC interact with mediation programs?
Eviction RTC laws are sometimes packaged as part of a larger eviction prevention or diversion policy package that includes eviction diversion programs like pre-filing or post-filing mediation. Or sometimes there is already a mediation program in place when an eviction RTC law is passed. While mediation can be a helpful addition to the process, it is not always so.
Pre-filing mediation: Mediation offered before the landlord files for eviction can be helpful: at that point the landlord hasn’t invested money in the eviction (meaning they may be more willing to negotiate) and the tenant isn’t yet under the strain of facing a pending eviction hearing. Philadelphia’s Eviction Diversion Program (EDP) is a good example of a pre-filing mediation program, and in fact landlords are required to apply for and participate in EDP in good faith for at least 30 days before they can file for eviction. A 2023 evaluation of EDP found that cases that went through mediation had higher agreement rates, and cases with agreements resulted in lower eviction filing rates. Elsewhere, an analysis of Hawaii’s pre-filing mediation program found that the rate of tenants vacating their units dropped from 80% to 15%. While pre-filing mediation has benefits, tenants who do not have a lawyer during the process might still waive (give up) more rights than they should.
Post-filing mediation: Only a few studies have looked at the effect of post-filing mediation on tenant outcomes, and they have generally found that post-filing mediation has almost no impact on what happens to tenants unless the tenants have counsel. For instance, a Massachusetts study found that in every post-filing mediation, the landlord was awarded possession and that "most of the mediated agreements were significantly 'pro-landlord.'” One notable exception was a St. Louis mediation program, although it only offered for cases where both the tenant and landlord lacked counsel (which was only 25% of cases in St. Louis City and 10% of cases in St. Louis County). For that program, a 2018 study found that half of all the cases settled in mediation resulted in a dismissal, while 92% of the mediated cases that didn’t settle and went to trial resulted in a judgment for the landlord.
ADVOCACY TIP
If you see a report that says a mediation program was successful based on a high settlement rate, be wary: without knowing the terms of the settlement, the settlement rate is meaningless. For instance, 100% of the “settlements” may result in the tenant moving out with no benefits provided. And in fact, where there is no mediation program, tenants without representation nearly always “settle” their case with landlord because they are either pressured to do so by the landlord’s attorney or judge or because they do not know what else to do.