State Landlord–Tenant Policy and Eviction Rates in Majority-Minority Neighborhoods

Breanca Merritt and Morgan D. Farnworth

Housing Policy Debate, 2021, vol. 31, issue 3-5, 562-581

Abstract: This article assesses (a) the extent to which state landlord–tenant legislation may influence local evictions and (b) whether those laws may influence eviction-related outcomes within communities of color. This analysis uses an original data set combining 2016 state- and block group-level data from Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, the American Community Survey, and landlord-tenant policy typologies, based on state statutes related to landlord-tenant law. Using multilevel mixed-effects models, we find that neighborhoods in states with more tenant-friendly policy environments were associated with lower eviction and filing rates compared with those in states with more landlord–friendly policies. However, compared with majority-White neighborhoods, eviction and filing rates in communities of color and majority-Black neighborhoods remained significantly higher—even in states with more tenant-friendly policies. In other words, tenant-friendly policies appear to support the reduction of eviction disparities but not the elimination of them. These findings suggest state housing policy environments matter for eviction-related outcomes broadly and for communities of color. We propose that eliminating racial disparities should include a focus on the implicitly racialized nature of housing and landlord–tenant policy, specifically.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/10511482.2020.1828989 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:houspd:v:31:y:2021:i:3-5:p:562-581

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RHPD20

DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2020.1828989

Access Statistics for this article

Housing Policy Debate is currently edited by Tom Sanchez, Susanne Viscarra and Derek Hyra

More articles in Housing Policy Debate from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().