Tenant Evictions Surge in Sunbelt Cities

New York, NY, July 19, 2024-"Tenant evictions look stuck at elevated levels in several corners of the U.S., showing little sign of returning to what was typical before the pandemic,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

“Eviction filings over the past year in a half-dozen cities and surrounding metropolitan areas are up 35% or more compared with pre-2020 norms, according to the Eviction Lab, a research unit at Princeton University.

“This includes Las Vegas, Houston, and in Phoenix, where landlords filed more than 8,000 eviction notices in January. That was the most ever in a single month for the county that includes the Arizona capital. Phoenix eviction-court hearings often run for less than a minute. One judge signed off on an eviction after the tenant admitted to missing two rent payments.

“‘How long until I have to move out?’ the tenant asked during a publicly available broadcast of the hearing this month. 

“‘It could be Tuesday,’ the judge responded, suggesting she should try to work out a deal with her landlord before then.

“Overall, eviction notices were up 15% or more compared with the period before the pandemic for ten of the 33 cities tracked by the Eviction Lab, which looked at filings over the past 12 months.

“Even with the higher eviction rates in several major cities, evictions more broadly have settled to roughly where they were before the pandemic. The first five months of the year had about 422,000 filings for eviction across the 33 cities and an additional ten states tracked, down slightly from prepandemic norms in those same places. 

“In New York City, Philadelphia and some other cities, filings have stayed down due in part to increased protections for renters.

“The elevated eviction filing rates in some places follow a sharp acceleration in rents, after pent-up demand during the pandemic flooded supply-short housing markets with people looking to rent. Those rent increases have pushed many lower-income tenants to the brink of what they can afford to spend. 

“Despite a softening over the past year, asking rents for houses and apartments nationwide rose 30% in the four years spanning 2020 to 2023, according to the Zillow Observed Rent Index. 

“‘Increasing rents have made it difficult for a lot of households in many areas, and you can see that reflected in the eviction filing increases,’ said Jacob Haas, an Eviction Lab researcher. 

“Most cities seeing more evictions are in the Sunbelt, but Columbus, Ohio, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul area also have elevated rates.”