Cincinnati data flags troubling eviction stats, positive representation results

An 2018 eviction study commissioned by Housing Opportunities Made Equal Cincinanati and the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio notes that fewer than 3 percent of tenants have counsel, and that tenants lose their cases 99 percent of the time.  It also determined that race is a stronger predictor of eviction rates than poverty.  Towards the end, it includes a right to counsel as one of its proposed recommendations.  

Additionally, a 2023 study looked at evictions in Hamilton County and found that:

• Only 7% of tenants had representation, compared to 93% of landlords;

• Representation dropped the issuances of eviction writs from 49.6% to 8.02%.

• "Tenants with legal representation were less likely to experience physical eviction as well. During the period of the study 2,403 physical evictions were executed, 98.5% of which happened to tenants without lawyers.”