This article is part of a blog post series, Policy Actions for Racial Equity (PARE), which explores the many ways housing policies contribute and have contributed to racial disparities in our country.
Being evicted is severely destabilizing to an individual or family.
The repercussions include – and are not limited to – long-term financial instability, limited access to affordable housing, psychological strain, physical health problems and child poverty.
Eviction also takes a toll on landlords, leaving them in search of new residents and out thousands of dollars in legal and court filing fees.
For society at large, eviction is the source of millions of dollars in unnecessary taxpayer costs without beneficial outcomes.
Our research has found that high-impact interventions can prevent eviction and in some cases even address the root causes of eviction. A proactive approach rather than a reactive one supports residents as well as landlords and communities.
By moving “upstream” from emergency eviction-prevention tactics to more systematic and sustainable strategies, we can ensure renters have the resources they need to remain housed.
A new publication from Enterprise catalogues a broad range of upstream, preventative policy and programmatic measures.
A Roadmap to Prevent Eviction and Promote Housing Security is designed to equip policymakers, practitioners and advocates with a comprehensive set of available tools.
This research was made possible through the generous support of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The guide identifies which interventions to employ at a given point in the eviction process. It also features a set of parameters to assess the interventions, based on level of effort, cost of implementation and scale of impact.
The roadmap is the first installment of an Enterprise-led research project to identify successful policy and programmatic strategies used across the country to help renters remain stably housed.
We'll publish a more comprehensive analysis and set of recommendations on housing stability and eviction prevention strategies in early 2022.
Eviction Prevention Webinar Series
The new publication builds on our 2021 eviction prevention webinar series. The series launched this summer with a panel on Eviction Prevention as a Preservation Strategy.
Panelists examined the connection between housing stability and eviction prevention as tactics for the long-term preservation of the nation’s affordable housing stock.
How to Harness the Legal System to Prevent Evictions offered ways to help prevent evictions through, and in partnership with, the judicial system.
The third event in the series, Landlords as Stewards of Housing Stability, provided a landlord’s perspective on housing stability and explored strategies landlords can utilize to help residents stay in their homes.
The series concluded with Moving Upstream: Housing Stability to Prevent Evictions and Address Racial Disparities, featuring a panel of leading researchers and practitioners from across the nation.
We encourage all who believe in creating a just society to read, discuss, and share the PARE blog series as we learn and act to address the impacts of housing policies on racial equity in America.
We also invite you to join us in this conversation, by suggesting additional topics and sharing resources for how we can advocate for greater racial equity. If you’d like to offer feedback on our body of work, please reach out to the Public Policy team.
You can also check out our blog and subscribe to our daily and bi-weekly policy newsletters for more information on Enterprise’s federal, state, and local policy advocacy and racial equity work.