Following two years of temporary bans and rental assistance programs prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, evictions skyrocketed across the United States in 2022. Court filings rose by double- or triple-digit percentages in 32 metro areas tracked by Eviction Lab, a research group at Princeton University. Overall, 14 cities saw more filings than would have been normal before the pandemic, with Las Vegas leading the pack.
More than 57,000 cases flooded Las Vegas eviction dockets last year, compared to the area’s historic annual average of 36,500 filings. Southern Nevada’s busiest court reported decade-high filings again this January and February, although court officials said many tenants face multiple cases.
In Minneapolis and Austin, Texas, eviction filings increased fivefold between 2021 and 2022. They more than doubled in Houston, Philadelphia and New York—although only Houston has passed pre-pandemic levels. Legal aid organizations in some states told Newsweek the numbers show no signs of slowing this year. “I keep thinking each month is going to be lower, but the last couple of months are actually higher,” said Mary Kaczorek, managing attorney for Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid.
The surge could spell disaster for tenants. Beyond the immediate threat of homelessness, many landlords won’t rent to people with an eviction on their record, limiting housing options for years to come. Once they find a new place to live, displaced families often enroll their children in new schools and travel further to work. Rent across the nation is, on average, more than $400 a month higher than it was in early 2020. “We’re seeing an even more difficult situation than we were in before the pandemic,” Eviction Lab research specialist Daniel Grubbs-Donovan said.
Read more at Newsweek.com
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