Editor’s note: This commentary is by Maryellen Griffin and Mairead O’Reilly, who are staff attorneys at Vermont Legal Aid.
In an effort to stop the spread of Covid-19, our state and federal governments have issued eviction moratoriums. These orders to halt most evictions were made to ensure that more people can “stay safe and stay home,” a mandate that is impossible to comply with for those without a home. An eviction is a civil legal process that forces a person out of their home, sometimes for no reason and sometimes for failure to follow the rules of the tenancy.
Lessening unnecessary moves, transience and homelessness is crucial during this time when quarantining and adhering to social distancing guidelines stems community spread of Covid-19 and protects our most vulnerable. In Vermont, the moratoriums have led to a drastic drop in the eviction rate. In 2018 and 2019, approximately 150 eviction cases were filed every month. After the moratoriums went into effect, that number dropped to about 40 cases per month, a startling change with massive social implications we are only beginning to understand.
Evictions have grave consequences for the physical and psychological health of tenants, even in normal times. The process is disruptive and often traumatic for individual tenants and their families. Over 50% of Americans have fewer than $10 in their savings accounts, so it is unsurprising that many people are evicted into homelessness, another discrete traumatic experience. Evictions also deepen poverty. Studies show that low-wage workers who are forced out of their homes due to evictions are at higher risk for subsequent job loss. Children who are evicted lose precious school time, experience higher truancy rates, and suffer academic losses with lifelong implications.
Evictions are also costly for our communities, forcing our public institutions to absorb the downstream collateral expenses. Our hospital systems, health centers, K-12 schools, welfare and mental health agencies, local police, corrections, and courts must pick up the pieces when tenants are displaced from their homes with nowhere to go. As Tom Dalton at Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform put it, “For people who are already vulnerable because of poverty, mental health and substance use disorders and unfair targeting by our criminal legal system, the loss of housing often leads to incarceration or hospitalization. This is both tragic and more expensive than providing supports to landlords and tenants to maintain successful partnerships.”
Most evictions can be avoided with simple interventions. Before the pandemic, 70% of eviction cases filed in Vermont courts were for nonpayment of rent. This is unsurprising given that the Vermont “housing” wage — the hourly wage necessary to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent without spending more than 30% of monthly income — is $22.78/hour, while the average Vermont renter earns $13.40/ hour. Simply put, most renters in Vermont do not make enough money to consistently pay their rent. But eviction actions do nothing to address the root causes of the majority of these nonpayment cases, which is poverty, economic insecurity, and the unaffordable cost of living. The typically voluminous eviction docket is the result of systemic issues that demand systemic fixes.
In response to the pandemic, and to head off nonpayment eviction cases, Vermont’s Legislature created the Rental Housing Stabilization Program. Under the RHSP, in exchange for temporarily giving up the right to evict during the pandemic, landlords have been getting the back rent they are owed. In addition to helping tenants remain housed, the RHSP has benefited landlords in a way evictions cannot. Instead of the time, stress, and expense of an eviction case, after which the landlord would get their unit back but typically not the rent they’re owed, the landlord is paid what they’re owed.
Elia Marquis, a landlord in the Northeast Kingdom, put it this way: “To date we have been able to walk dozens of tenants through the paperwork, which is quite simple, to help them get the relief so many needed. This has not only made it possible for them to avoid an impending eviction when the moratorium ends but it has also made it so our business doesn’t suffer a devastating loss.” Since mid-July, the RHSP has helped over 6,700 pairs of landlords and tenants, with an average payout of $2,300.
The RHSP is a crucial part of reducing evictions. But we also need significantly more safe, affordable, accessible housing and subsidies to safely house everyone in our state. “One thing the moratorium and RHSP program teaches us in spades: the pandemic has uncovered all of the inequalities in our system and our structural deficiencies; we don’t have enough safe and affordable housing, and we don’t have enough physically accessible housing for people with disabilities. And it teaches us that folks on fixed incomes or low wage service sector jobs need [ongoing] assistance in order to afford market rate housing in Vermont,” says Erhard Mahnke, coordinator of the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition. Vermont has worked hard to provide safe, emergency shelter to all who need it during the pandemic, which must continue. But people need affordable places to live.
The eviction moratoriums and related assistance programs provide an invaluable opportunity to observe a statewide experiment, in real time, that replaces the eviction process with alternatives. This moment is demanding that we consider whether our housing-related policy choices in normal times align with our community values and interests. And if we can radically reduce evictions in the name of public health now, why can’t we continue deploying these and other related tools to maintain a lower eviction rate after the pandemic ends?
