To prevent an eviction nightmare, utilize the nation’s court systems

One of the great fears throughout the ongoing pandemic was that millions of renters forced out of their jobs would be unable to pay rent, triggering a wave of evictions and homelessness. Government action, thanks to the tireless efforts of housing advocates and lawyers, prevented such a nightmare scenario. Still, rather than a tsunami of evictions, what emerged was a hastily dammed reservoir. Watertight or built-to-last? It was not. But millions avoided eviction, nonetheless. 

Now, that dam is fit to burst as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s order prohibiting the physical eviction of tenants expires on Saturday. The federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program promises to get relief to tenants and landlords. At its current pace, however, programs will run out of time before they run out of money, leaving eviction as the likely outcome for tenants with unpaid rent. 

Keeping families in their homes saves local government and communities money that they would have to devote to supporting homeless families. Tenants with legal representation — which currently represents only 10 percent of tenants — means smoother, more efficient and effective, court proceedings. It also helps tenants avoid eviction 92 percent of the time. Landlords getting paid means they can make their mortgage payments and support their own families and businesses. Stable families mean stable employees that are an asset to local businesses and the local economy. Stable communities mean safe, strong, and prosperous neighborhoods.

Last month, I had the privilege to represent Michigan’s judiciary at the White House Eviction Prevention Summit. There, leaders from court systems, legal aid providers and national housing policy experts met with administration officials to chart a course to avoid a mass eviction of renters that plunges our nation into yet another crisis.

The answer to avoiding this catastrophe lies in state court systems. President Biden and Congress have provided financial relief and a pause in evictions; now courts must act to get these resources to landlords and tenants to prevent a homelessness crisis the likes of which this country has never seen.

Collaboration and innovation is the only way state courts can play their role in preventing an eviction crisis. Changing the process of eviction and forming new partnerships with other branches of government has been central to the Michigan judiciary’s response to this crisis. 

In Michigan, all three branches of government worked together to design, enact, fund and implement our statewide eviction diversion program. For the first time, local housing agencies, legal aid, and courts were connected and collaborating in a common effort. Through administrative order, Michigan courts have slowed the typical fast-track of landlord-tenant cases so that tenants can access counsel and rental payment options. Landlords are able to recover full payment from the program’s funding, and tenants are given help navigating the process and staying in their homes. 

Other jurisdictions have taken similar action: in Philadelphia, a court rule now requires landlords to file for government rental assistance before filing an eviction against a tenant. 

Diversion programs, reforming court processes, and prerequisites to filing an eviction are all the kind of court-led solutions that can help communities around the country tackle this next phase of the pandemic-driven housing crisis: draining the reservoir without a catastrophic failure of the dam. 

Of course, such a metaphor obscures the reality that these are families who have fallen on hard times and been forced into a position to choose between putting food on the table or paying rent. These are property owners, some whose life savings are invested in a handful of properties, where the monthly income now no longer covers the mortgage. And these are court personnel, tasked with delivering justice once those landlords file for eviction. 

Extraordinary times like these require courts at all levels, from local housing courts to state supreme courts, to protect public health and welfare from the devastating consequences unabated and unregulated evictions would have on communities across the country. Courts cannot avoid the coming wave of eviction proceedings, but they can collaborate and innovate to use the funding Congress has provided to provide solutions before it is too late. 

Bridget Mary McCormack is Chief Justice of Michigan and co-chair of the Post-Pandemic Planning Technology Workgroup, an initiative of the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators.