Resources

Statements and Actions Taken to Address the Eviction Crisis

Statement from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on legal professionals & students to help with emergency rental assistance, volunteer with legal aid, and help courts implement eviction diversion programs

Statement from ABA President Reginald M. Turner supporting the Attorney General's call to action

Statement from U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta calling on courts to implement eviction diversion programs

Fact sheet on steps being taken by the Biden Administration to prevent evictions and deliver emergency rental assistance

Call to action by the National Conference of Bar Presidents to mobilize pro bono attorneys to avert evictions and ensure that rental assistance gets distributed to the landlords and tenants it was intended to protect

ABA Studies and Policy on Eviction Response

Study published by the Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program and American Bar Association examining best practices for court-based and court-adjacent eviction prevention and diversion programs

ABA policy urging governments to prevent an eviction crisis, housing insecurity among renters, and destabilization of the housing market, especially the depletion of affordable housing, during and in the recovery from the state of emergency attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic

Resources to Assist Lawyers, Housing Advocates, and Tenants

Program Letter 22-1 Permissibility of texting defendants who have been sued for eviction. This Program Letter discusses how LSC grant recipients can structure a program to text tenants who have been sued for eviction so that the texts do not violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, state telemarketing rules, industry rules, or 45 C.F.R. Part 1638. 

Resources from the National Center for State Courts for courts, attorneys, and tenants seeking assistance

Resources to assist tenants seeking rental assistance from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 

Eviction Trackers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Eviction Lab, Eviction Tracker System 
• Massachusetts: 
• Oklahoma - 1     |     Oklahoma - 2 
• NYC
• Arkansas
• Harris County, TX 
• King County, WA
• Virginia

Multiple sites assist tenants in creating a form to provide to their landlords in order to prevent eviction.

• A2J Tech has created a free, online, multi-lingual COVID-19 Eviction Prevention Form to help tenants generate a declaration that can prevent eviction from their home until January 31st.
• The Kentucky Equal Justice Center built the CDC Eviction Declaration tool to help tenants generate and send to their landlords the declarations necessary to receive eviction protections pursuant to the Center for Disease Control’s September 1st order. This tool should be useful to tenants across the nation, since the CDC order applies nationwide. 
• The Stanford Legal Design Lab built a national Legal Help FAQ platform, with 50-state coverage, of renters’ rights and protections during the COVID-19 emergency. 
• Jacksonville Area Legal Aid has created an online Eviction Court Form Builder program for Florida residents. 
• Fact Sheets and Resources The National Low Income Housing Coalition and Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition has regular webinars on COVID-19 issues.
• Information on relief for homeowners impacted by COVID-19 is available on the Federal Housing Finance Agency website.
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has COVID-19 resources  and fact sheets on relief for homeowners.
• The National Housing Law Project has guidance and resources on renter and homeowner rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• The Network for Public Health Law offers information on housing, emergency declarations, public health surveillance, legal preparedness, data privacy, and more.
• The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty has developed a COVID-19 page on recommendations, resources and their COVID-19 Response Tracker.
• The Urban Institute has resources on COVID-19 Policies to Protect People and Communities.
• A New NCLC Digital Library article explains new protections for homeowners having difficulty making mortgage payments—both those covered by the CARES Act and the millions who are not.
• NLIHC has released online its Advocates’ Guide 2020: A Primer on Federal Affordable Housing & Community Development Programs, a comprehensive resource for advocates and others involved in many aspects of affordable housing and community development.
• Legal Services Corporation, The Effect of State and Local Laws on Eviction 

State-based Diversion Programs

• ARIZONA 
  State-wide eviction prevention program by Arizona Department of Housing
• CONNECTICUT
  Bridgeport Nonprofit Eviction Prevention Program
• MICHIGAN
  Kalamazoo
  Kalamazoo County Eviction Diversion Program
  
  East Lansing
  East Lansing Eviction Diversion Program
• NEW YORK
  Syracuse
  Syracuse.com 
  Syracuse Public Housing Eviction Diversion Program
  Susan McMahon, ESG Program Administrator,
  [email protected]
  
• NORTH CAROLINA
  Durham
  Eviction Diversion Program with Duke Law 
• PENNSYLVANIA
  Philadelphia
  Mayor’s Task Force Report, Summer 2018
• TEXAS
  Texas Eviction Diversion Program
  Help for Texans
• VIRGINIA
  Richmond 
  A Freeze on Public-Housing Evictions in Richmond, Virginia

Research on the Eviction Crisis and Harms

• The Aspen Institute posted an article on their blog on August 7, 2020 entitled, “The COVID-19 Eviction Crisis: An Estimated 30-40 Million People in America are at Risk”.  The article was authored by Emily Benfer, David Bloom Robinson, Stacy Butler, Lavar Edmonds, Sam Gilman, Katherine Lucas McKay, Zach Neumann, Lisa Owens, Neil Steinkamp & Diane Yentel.