LSC’s Eviction Project Publishes Analysis of Court Data

WASHINGTON — The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) today released the latest update from its congressionally directed Eviction Study. The just-published analysis looks at LSC’s process for collecting court records on evictions and the challenges for research.  

Information about eviction filings will enable civil legal aid providers to make more informed decisions about client services, case acceptance, resource allocation and outreach. It will provide legislators, policymakers and researchers with increased insight into the eviction crisis and access-to-justice issues at both the national and local level.  

LSC’s Eviction Study relies on state and local court data as a critical component to understanding the unmet legal needs associated with the eviction crisis in the United States. But the fragmented nature of national court data complicates efforts to understand eviction trends. 

According to LSC’s research, 35 states and territories release annual county-level eviction statistics through a public report, dashboard or other reporting tool. The other 21 states and territories do not release eviction data in this way. 

Of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories studied, LSC found that only 25 offer a consolidated, free and publicly accessible website for searching historical civil records for the courts that primarily hear eviction cases. Additionally, not all jurisdictions report official case statistics in a manner that facilitates verification. Data verification is an important part of LSC’s efforts to understand the eviction crisis. Researchers must be confident that datasets of court records contain close to the full caseload if they are to accurately analyze trends.  

LSC’s analysis focuses on court data availability, quality and documentation. It also includes a case study of a data-sharing effort in Phoenix, where the courts are increasing access to case records and improving data quality.   

Read LSC's Eviction Court Data Analysis.  

The analysis is the latest step in LSC’s ongoing Eviction Study. Congress directed LSC to conduct the study in FY 2020 appropriations legislation to address concerns about the high rate of evictions in the country and the patchwork nature of local laws and regulations governing the eviction process. COVID-19 has only worsened the housing crisis in the U.S. and cast a spotlight on the wide variations in eviction laws.  

Learn more about LSC’s Eviction Study, research briefs and tools.