Evictions, regardless of outcome, can limit a renter’s available housing options. While the number of evictions in Minnesota has decreased slightly over the last few years, approximately 16,000 evictions were still filed in 2017. An eviction action can lead to the short term disruption of a household, including a forced unplanned move. It can also lead to long-term instability and barriers to access. Even the mere filing of an eviction may limit future access to housing.
The City of Minneapolis Innovation Team’s recent eviction study showed the harmful impact of evictions on low-income communities of color. Up to 50% of tenants in two North Minneapolis ZIP codes were evicted in a two-year span. This is devastating not just for families, but also for the communities in which they live and the schools that their children attend.
This report focuses on the same issues considered in the Minneapolis Report; however, it excludes the 11 Minnesota counties comprising the exurbs, suburbs, and central Twin Cities communities (Anoka, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Isanti, Ramsey, Scott, Sherburne, Washington, and Wright). Instead, this report examines eviction data in the remaining counties using statewide eviction data and data gathered from individual case files collected from 102 cities in 47 different counties from 2016, examining trends related to residential evictions in Greater Minnesota while comparing these trends to those in Minnesota as a whole and Minneapolis specifically in order to better understand the eviction process in general and move towards fewer eviction filings.
This study found the following:
- Cases filings are disproportionately high in the metro county area. The cumulative eviction rate (2015-2017) in the metro county area is 3.3%, just over double the eviction rate in Greater Minnesota which is 1.6%. Reducing the metro county eviction rate to the Greater Minnesota eviction rate for that three-year time period would have reduced the number of evictions by 18,978—a 38% reduction in total evictions filings.
- 3 months’ rent or approximately $1,500 stand between tenants and eviction in Greater Minnesota. Non-payment cases account for 89% of eviction filings in Greater Minnesota, most of which had no other reasons identified. (This 3 figure is higher than the actual amount of rent owed, as court fees of approximately $300 are typically included in the total amount owed.)
- More than three out of four evictions filed ended in tenant displacement in Greater Minnesota. This number is likely even higher as unclear or unknown settlement agreements were not counted towards tenant displacement.
- Showing up matters. Tenants showed up in 56% of cases. In 92.7% of cases where the tenant did not show up but the landlord did, the tenant was displaced. When both parties show up to the hearing, 36% of cases result in a settlement. When the tenant showed up, they had a one in four chance of avoiding displacement.
- There were unique differences between Minneapolis and Greater Minnesota indicating areas for further study. Settlements were more likely in Minneapolis cases; however, settlements in Minneapolis cases were also more likely to fail. Writs were much more likely to issue in Minneapolis cases that did not settle when compared to Greater Minnesota. Landlords in Minneapolis were less likely to mention other reasons for evictions besides non-payment (76% non-payment only compared to 46%).
- Landlords in Minneapolis evicted tenants faster for non-payment than landlords in Greater Minnesota. 74% of cases in Minneapolis were filed when tenants were only two or less months behind compared to only 51% in Greater Minnesota.
Preventing and addressing the damaging consequences of evictions must be part of a comprehensive approach to increasing housing stability, access, and quality. We hope this report will raise important public policy questions and areas for future study. We are currently researching and preparing similar reports for the cities of Brooklyn Park and Saint Paul, to be released fall 2018.
The full report is available here: Evictions in Greater Minnesota Report with Appendix
For media inquiries contact:
- Eric Hauge, HOME Line’s Executive Director
phone: 612-255-8863
email: erich@homelinemn.org - Samuel Spaid, HOME Line’s Research Director
phone: 612-728-5770 x112
email: samuels@homelinemn.org
As a tenant over in North Minneapolis, I was treated better when I was on welfare. It seems as soon as your not getting any assistance landlords to do things like selling the property without written notice. The New landlord doesn’t know you and changes how you were living. Once the property is sold neither the new landlord or old landlord can account for your deposit. There are many factors to why Afro-Americans withhold rent but always lose in court even if you are correct and they didn’t fix the property they still want your rent. They take you to court as soon as your name is in the system then it is an Automatic UD… This is when it will never be far for Afro-American’s, now just because you have a UD your no good. The next landlord who will rent to you want an extra 500.00 just for you to live with your kids. Yet you still have the UD you need to pay back to the court in payments because you still have to pay rent at the current residence that sucks because this landlord lives an hour away and never comes to the residence unless you’re late on rent. So now the Afro-American is in this bad neighborhood, in a nasty unkept home, working full time, and on top of that still in dept. Let us not forget the kids Afro-American’s have got to support them and educate them, so they will never experience this type of life that they think is so great it is not. We work so hard to teach our kids not to go through the same oppression that we have, but when your child see what the landlords do to you they ask us their parents Mom/Dad can they just not fix things on time within the 14-day law. This is what Our Kids will say to us I’m tired of living in this house it’s just nasty. Now you have an angry Afro-American child mad they see now they are getting put out as well as their Mom/Dad and now are either homeless or staying with family. Day in and out the kid see the mistreatment on their parent by the landlords over and over again. The Afro-American child can go for months without heat in a room, in the winter in Minnesota and their Mom/Dad don’t get any money off the rent at all. The Sadness of this cycle is hard. The Afro/American Mom/Dad can’t afford to even take the landlord to civil court, because we Cant miss work, we are already underpaid as it is and getting minimum wage at the same time paying back the last UD-current rent-lights-gas-cell phone- internet.
When everything in life is stacked against you what do you do?
Who wins in this situation the Landlord