Each year, landlords file around 3.6 million eviction cases — and that number is on the rise. Not only does an eviction have a detrimental effect on a person’s immediate housing stability, but just one eviction on a person’s record has the potential to lock them out of future housing opportunities, sometimes forever. Many housing providers have a blanket policy refusing to rent to any applicants who have a prior eviction on their record. While some see no issue with this type of policy, others argue that blanket bans on past evictions can violate a person’s fair housing rights.
Although people with past evictions are not explicitly protected by the Fair Housing Act, tenant selection policies that automatically deny anyone with a past eviction have the potential to violate fair housing law due to the disparate impact they have on applicants. Disparate impact refers to the adverse effect of a facially neutral policy on people belonging to a protected class. In this case, blanket bans on previous evictions have a disparate impact on Black, Latinx, and female renters, since these groups experience higher rates of evictions. A study on Racial and Gender Disparities among Evicted Americans found that “Black and Latinx renters in general, and women in particular, are disproportionately threatened with eviction and disproportionately evicted from their homes.” Additionally, blanket bans on applicants with past evictions have a particularly disproportionate impact on Black women, 1 in 5 of whom experience an eviction filing at some point in their lifetime.
Black and Latinx renters in general, and women in particular, are disproportionately threatened with eviction and disproportionately evicted from their homes.
Eviction Lab
In Chicago, landlords are being held accountable for the discriminatory effect these policies are having on tenants. Just last month, legal aid groups in Chicago filed a lawsuit and a complaint with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development against corporate landlords for automatically rejecting prospective tenants with “any prior connection to an eviction case.” The legal claims allege that the practice violates the Fair Housing Act by having a disparate impact on Black and Latinx renters. Legal Aid Chicago, who filed a lawsuit against Hunter Properties, Inc., alleges that the company has a policy of rejecting all applicants who have ever had an eviction filing against them – even in cases where the eviction was sealed, the landlord withdrew the filing, or the judge tossed out the case. Additionally, the company allegedly rejects applicants without considering how long ago the eviction case occurred, or whether or not the applicant could pay the rent and fulfill the terms of a lease.
Similarly, HOPE Fair Housing Center, an Illinois-based nonprofit fair housing agency, filed a first-of-its-kind federal complaint against Oak Park Apartments for their blanket policy against any previous evictions. Through fair housing testing – a method commonly used by fair housing agencies to evaluate disparate treatment in the rental application process – HOPE found that Oak Park Apartments offered no opportunity for applicants to share mitigating information about their eviction history. Instead, testers were told that they would be automatically disqualified from tenancy if they had an eviction filing against them. While these cases are still ongoing, a ruling in the plaintiffs’ favor has the potential to impact millions of American renters who have been locked out of housing opportunities due to a past eviction filing.
As rents continue to skyrocket and housing remains widely unaffordable, we are seeing a rise in evictions, as well. According to Eviction Lab, eviction filings are now more than 50 percent higher than the pre-pandemic average in some cities. Daniel Grubbs-Donovan, a research specialist at Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, noted, “Across the country, low-income renters are in an even worse situation than before the pandemic due to things like massive increases in rent during the pandemic, inflation and other pandemic-era related financial difficulties.” As eviction rates increase, more people will be impacted by blanket bans on evictions, leading to increased housing instability and homelessness, and further exacerbating housing inequities.
Across the country, low-income renters are in an even worse situation than before the pandemic due to things like massive increases in rent during the pandemic, inflation and other pandemic-era related financial difficulties.
Daniel Grubbs-Donovan, research specialist at Princeton University’s Eviction Lab
At this time, blanket ban eviction policies have never been deemed explicitly illegal by the federal government and courts. However, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued guidance cautioning that blanket policies like these could potentially violate the Fair Housing Act. As a best practice, landlords should avoid any type of blanket ban on tenants and, instead, engage in the interactive process with applicants to get a fuller picture of the applicant’s individual circumstances. By conducting individualized assessments and allowing applicants who may have had a past eviction filing to present additional information, housing providers can create a more equitable tenant screening process. It should be noted that housing providers are always encouraged to reach out to their local fair housing agency with any questions they may have on how to equitably screen tenants.