As statutory eviction pauses implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic expire, eviction rates are beginning to rebound to pre-pandemic levels. Though this issue is fraught with an array of legal and policy implications, the topic is also noted for a paucity of empirical research. A recent paper, Rural Renting: An Empirical Portrait of Eviction, by Cassie Chambers Armstrong (Louisville) & Christopher J. Ryan, Jr. (IU-Bloomington), makes a helpful contribution by focusing on rental eviction outcomes in Kentucky. Specifically, the paper analyzes factors "influencing the eviction process in the rental market—and the likelihood that it will result in a judgment against a renter— once a property owner initiates legal proceedings."
To this end, the paper levers data gathered by the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts (“KOC”) from all 120 Kentucky counties from 2018-2022, yielding usable data on 202,572 renter evictions. One data set limitation is that it excludes information on pre-filing interactions and negotiations between renters and property owners.
Key findings include that those living in rural areas were more than 55 percent more likely to experience a judgment of eviction just by virtue of where they lived and those living in jurisdictions that had adopted renter-friendly policies (URLTA) were more likely to avoid a judgment of eviction—even though these laws do not impact the eviction process itself. Interestingly, renters who lived in the same ZIP code and/or state as their landlord were significantly more likely to resolve their case prior to judgment. An excerpted abstract follows.
"... Collectively, these findings, and others, have implications for eviction policy. They suggest that we must pay more attention to rural courts and the factors that lead to disparate outcomes in them. They call for programs that encourage collaboration between property owners and home renters, such as mediation and other types of eviction diversion. These results also must lead to further study of the time period between when an eviction case is filed and when it is concluded to more fully understand how the various parties approach decision-making with this legal process...."
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