{"id":74631,"date":"2020-01-30T16:52:05","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T23:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/are-eviction-records-being-misused-lawmakers-think-so\/"},"modified":"2020-01-30T23:52:05","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T23:52:05","slug":"are-eviction-records-being-misused-lawmakers-think-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/are-eviction-records-being-misused-lawmakers-think-so\/","title":{"rendered":"Are eviction records being misused? Lawmakers think so"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Buckley
Buckley Trailer Park, a tiny community of 16 mobile homes perched on a shelf above I-70 near Georgetown, provides housing in Clear Creek County.<\/span>Matt Stensland\/Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those eviction filing records are swiftly scraped up by third-party tenant screening companies that use them to produce rental reports for landlords that aren\u2019t always accurate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so the tenant \u2013 a year and a half, two years, five years later \u2013 may go to get a new place to live and find out that there\u2019s an eviction on their record, when they actually were never evicted,\u201d said Rep. Dominique Jackson, D-Aurora. \u201cAnd certainly at that point, there\u2019s absolutely nothing that they can do about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s tight rental market, this can make it even harder for individuals to find housing. House Bill 1009, now headed for the state Senate, would suppress eviction records while court proceedings are taking place and would remove them if the case is dismissed. If the landlord wins the dispute and an eviction is ordered, the suppression would be lifted unless both parties agree the record should remain sealed.<\/p>\n

The push comes after a handful of laws passed during last year\u2019s legislative session focused on addressing affordable housing, homelessness and renter\u2019s rights, including limiting rental histories to seven years and approving an Eviction Legal Assistance Fund<\/a> to provide services to low-income renters.<\/p>\n

Advocates hope the bill will make it easier for more people to get into, and remain in, permanent housing, but they say Colorado still has a long way to go to equalize the power of landlords and tenants.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Dominique Jackson, D-Aurora, talks with fellow lawmakers on Jan. 8.<\/span>Kathryn Scott\/Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe all know we have a massive housing crisis on our hands. I believe having a safe, affordable place to live is the cornerstone of being self sufficient,\u201d said Jackson, who is leading the effort with Sen. Faith Winter, D-Westminster.<\/p>\n

The bill would also prohibit the courts from publishing the names of involved parties online. And would require the summons in an eviction proceeding to include a notice that informs the tenant that their court records will remain sealed while their case is pending.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill is a reasonable approach to prevent public records from being misinterpreted and to ensure that rental housing providers have an accurate picture of a potential renter\u2019s previous performance,\u201d said Drew Hamrick, with the Apartment Association of Metro Denver, in a prepared statement. AAMD is an affiliate of the Colorado Apartment Association, a trade association that represents over 420,000 apartment homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that we, as an industry, understand the true numbers of evictions, not just eviction filings, so we can evaluate the issue holistically using real numbers,\u201d Hamrick said.<\/p>\n

Unlike last year, when landlord associations pushed back against a slate of renters\u2019 rights initiatives introduced during the legislative session, this bill has warranted initial support from a handful of associations representing the rental housing industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty special that both sides, landlords and renters advocates, agree that this is a sensible and helpful public policy,\u201d said Jack Regenbogen, senior attorney for the legal advocacy group Colorado Center on Law and Policy.<\/p>\n

Tackling the eviction crisis<\/em>An estimated 2.3 million evictions are filed each year in the U.S., according to the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2016, Aurora had the 33rd highest number of evictions in the country, with 3,131 cases.<\/p>\n

Between the years of 2000 to 2016, 36,240 evictions were filed in Colorado, but only 18,195 resulted in an eviction, according to data collected by the Eviction Lab at Princeton University.<\/p>\n

Meaning, out of all the total evictions filed, only half resulted in an actual eviction. The number of evictions represents the number of cases filed, not the number of individuals impacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor each case, there might be roommates, there might be children. So the number of people that are impacted is likely much higher,\u201d Regenbogen said, adding that those numbers also don\u2019t include individuals who leave their homes rather than go before a judge.<\/p>\n

The stigma of an eviction has a rippling effect, explains Regenbogen, and fear of such encourages renters to avoid court involvement, often leading them to endure unfit living conditions or going along with an unlawful lease termination in order to avoid the eviction stamp on their record.<\/p>\n

If a renter has an eviction record, they might be forced to pay more for housing up front in order for a private landlord to agree to rent to them, according to the Eviction Lab.<\/p>\n

Evictions disproportionately impact people of color, particularly woman of color, and perpetuates social and economic inequities within the housing market.<\/p>\n

On average, black renters have twice as many eviction orders filed against them by landlords compared to white renters, according to a recently released report by the ACLU.<\/p>\n

Regenbogen says people with young children are also particularly at risk of eviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s often a source of friction between landlords and tenants, even though that\u2019s not supposed to be the case, as familial status is a protected class,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Others with higher risk include individuals with disabilities, older adults and victims of domestic abuse.<\/p>\n

When a person is facing eviction, they have limited options. They can find a way to come up with late rent, vacate the unit or fight the case in court. But because eviction is often due to financial strains, finding representation for court can be a challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been some strides in that area in the last couple of years in Colorado, but we found in a previous study that about 90% of landlords are represented by counsel, and less than 2% of renters, at least in the Denver evictions that we looked at, were represented,\u201d Regenbogen said.<\/p>\n

Regenbogen says the best option is trying to solve the issue informally with the landlord, but that\u2019s not always realistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are misunderstandings that occur, sometimes whatever the issue was that led to the eviction can be resolved once it\u2019s filed, to the satisfaction of both parties, but then of course the renter is saddled with the burden of having that filing record follow them around for years,\u201d said Regenbogen.<\/p>\n

He says he would like to see legislators address predatory financial strains for renters, such as excessive late fees, hefty security deposits, or unrealistic demands that rent be prepaid for a certain amount of time.<\/p>\n

A handful of other bills are moving through the state legislature related to housing, including House Bill 1035, which aims to expand housing support services for individuals with behavioral, mental health and substance use disorders who come in contact with the justice system. Senate Bill 108, among other things, could prohibit landlords from requiring proof of citizenship when applying for housing. And House Bill 1141 seeks to put restrictions on the amount of fees landlords can impose on renters.<\/p>\n

If the eviction suppression bill becomes law, it would go into effect on Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buckley Trailer Park, a tiny community of 16 mobile homes perched on a shelf above I-70 near Georgetown, provides housing in Clear Creek County.Matt Stensland\/Special to The Colorado Sun Those eviction filing records are swiftly scraped up by third-party tenant screening companies that use them to produce rental reports for landlords that aren\u2019t always accurate. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-74631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74631"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=74631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}