Eviction Filings Have Largely Returned to Prepandemic Levels as Eviction Restrictions Ease

Eviction filings have largely returned to their prepandemic levels in 2022 after a long period of being below trend. In this Economic Commentary, Cleveland Fed researcher Hal Martin finds that policies which limited evictions during the pandemic were effective at doing so. Likewise, Martin establishes that landlords in markets with higher recent rent increases are more likely to pursue eviction than those in markets with lower rent increases.

In the early days of the pandemic there was no large-scale system in place to conduct real-time surveillance of evictions. Since 2020, the Cleveland Fed has examined weekly trends from over 44 cities and counties across the nation. In a new analysis, Martin examines what factors have affected evictions during the pandemic by combining data on eviction filings from the Cleveland Fed and Princeton’s Eviction lab with rental market data, local policies on evictions, and data on emergency rental assistance disbursements.

“This exercise confirms some of the basic relationships that theory might predict,” says Martin. “I show that restrictions on evictions are associated with lower levels of eviction filings; that recent rent-price growth is associated with higher levels of eviction filings; and that the timing of eviction trends varies in response to the federal emergency rental assistance program in a way that is consistent with the program’s design.”

Read more: Making Sense of Eviction Trends during the Pandemic

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that along with the Board of Governors in Washington DC comprise the Federal Reserve System. Part of the US central bank, the Cleveland Fed participates in the formulation of our nation’s monetary policy, supervises banking organizations, provides payment and other services to financial institutions and to the US Treasury, and performs many activities that support Federal Reserve operations System-wide. In addition, the Bank supports the well-being of communities across the Fourth Federal Reserve District through a wide array of research, outreach, and educational activities.

The Cleveland Fed, with branches in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, serves an area that comprises Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.

Media contact

Doug Campbell, doug.campbell@clev.frb.org, 513.218.1892