Economic Insights — Every year, over a million renters, mostly low income, face eviction. To evaluate policies designed to protect these households, we need to understand why they miss rent in the first place and how landlords respond to policies.
The rapidly rising cost of housing strains many households, especially low-income renters, and when these households cannot make their housing payments, they risk eviction. But when these renters miss a rent payment, are they truly on the road to eviction? Or are they implicitly borrowing money from their landlord in the expectation that they will catch up on rent once their situation improves? And if it’s the latter, are they still able to catch up during a recession? We need to know the answers to these questions in order to evaluate public policies designed to protect renters from eviction.
This article appeared in the Fourth Quarter 2024 issue of Economic Insights. Download and read the full issue.
