Eviction filings can destabilize tenants’ lives – even when they win their case

Cycle of instability

Though participants in our study did not receive eviction orders in court, the majority said they were forced to move after their eviction filing for reasons beyond their control. Most attributed this to their landlords’ failure to make repairs, which rendered their units uninhabitable.

State laws allow tenants to withhold rent if their unit is unfit for habitation and are intended to protect them against retaliatory evictions for doing so. Still, 1 in 4 Pennsylvania tenants in our study faced eviction after withholding rent for repairs.

Charla said she developed stress-related medical conditions and was in and out of the hospital after her eviction filing.

Landlords “put us in situations where we have to move because they don’t want to make repairs. Then they take us to court and try to make it seem like it’s all our fault,” she stated. “The system failed us.”

An array of circumstances led to participants’ evictions. Some faced prolonged pandemic-related hardships such as job loss, reduced work hours and deaths of loved ones. Others dealt with uninhabitable conditions, including lack of heat, running water and mold. In some cases, tenants described being sexually harassed or intimidated by their landlords. Some experienced serial eviction filings, with their landlord filing multiple eviction cases against them at the same property.

In other words, there was often much more to tenants’ stories than simply the nonpayment of rent.

Roughly half of the tenants who moved after their eviction filing described a subsequent period of homelessness.

The desperate need for a stable place to live led some to accept substandard conditions from landlords who would rent to them despite their records. This aligns with prior research showing that landlord eviction practices and code violations concentrate tenants in housing and neighborhoods of last resort that can be detrimental to health and well-being.

Our research also showed that tenants with prior eviction records were often hesitant to assert their right to habitable housing. For example, 43% of participants reported being less willing to advocate for repairs after their eviction filing.

Efforts to seal eviction records

Due to the severity of the eviction crisis in the U.S., significant inaccuracies in eviction court data and widespread use of tenant screening services, at least 12 states, including California, Colorado and Oregon, limit public access to eviction records or regulate how landlords can consider eviction histories in tenancy decisions.

Because tenant screening companies can gather details from eviction records as soon as the information is public, legal scholars and organizations such as the American Bar Association, National Low Income Housing Coalition and Network for Public Health Law have recommended laws that automatically and permanently seal eviction records at the point of filing to keep the information private.

With support from housing justice advocates, Pennsylvania policymakers are considering legislation to seal eviction records but face resistance from the landlord lobby.

Just as Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate legislation, passed in 2018, has enabled people with criminal records to access housing and economic opportunities, eviction record-sealing can remove unjust barriers for people with eviction records. We believe this is a necessary first step to promote access to the safe and stable housing that all Pennsylvanians deserve.

Community Legal Services of Philadelphia provided funding to support this research.

Community Legal Services of Philadelphia provided funding to support this research.