LDF reports on forced tenant moves due to rent increases, notes RTC connection to rent regulation
Interpreting data from the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey, the Legal Defense Fund found that more than 14 million tenants have reported feeling pressure to move due to rent increases (over 8 million cited a landlord’s failure to make repairs as the cause of the pressure). Studies have estimated informal evictions (where a tenant leaves without a landlord filing in court) may happen at five times the rate as formal evictions, meaning rent increases may be driving tenant displacement at a rate far higher than currently known. The report notes that “informal evictions also weigh more heavily on Black communities. Black households face the highest risk of being severely rent-burdened (spending more than 50% of their income on housing), and the racial gap in cost burdens is increasing.” The analysis concludes by calling for rent regulation and noting that such regulation “can work in tandem with other protections that are growing in popularity like good cause eviction and right to counsel laws.”
