Eviction and Poverty in American Cities

Robert Collinson, John Humphries, Nicholas S. Mader, Davin K. Reed, Daniel Tannenbaum and Winnie van Dijk

No 30382, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: More than two million U.S. households have an eviction case filed against them each year. Policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels are increasingly pursuing policies to reduce the number of evictions, citing harm to tenants and high public expenditures related to homelessness. We study the consequences of eviction for tenants using newly linked administrative data from two major urban areas: Cook County (which includes Chicago) and New York City. We document that prior to housing court, tenants experience declines in earnings and employment and increases in financial distress and hospital visits. These pre-trends pose a challenge for disentangling correlation and causation. To address this problem, we use an instrumental variables approach based on cases randomly assigned to judges of varying leniency. We find that an eviction order increases homelessness and hospital visits and reduces earnings, durable goods consumption, and access to credit in the first two years. Effects on housing and labor market outcomes are driven by impacts for female and Black tenants. In the longer-run, eviction increases indebtedness and reduces credit scores.

JEL-codes: H0 I30 I32 J01 R0 R28 R38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published as Robert Collinson & John Eric Humphries & Nicholas Mader & Davin Reed & Daniel Tannenbaum & Winnie van Dijk, 2024. "Eviction and Poverty in American Cities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol 139(1), pages 57-120.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Eviction and Poverty in American Cities* (2024)
Working Paper: Eviction and Poverty in American Cities (2023)
Working Paper: Eviction and Poverty in American Cities (2022)
Working Paper: Eviction and Poverty in American Cities (2022)
Working Paper: Eviction and Poverty in American Cities (2022)
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