A Detailed Account of Why We Need Right to Counsel
I. Why we need Right to Counsel in Winston Salem
II. Evictions disproportionately affect marginalized groups
A. Black people and Hispanic people
E. Single parents (especially single mothers)
III. The effect of evictions on pregnant women and children
IV. The effects of being evicted on families
Why we need Right to Counsel in Winston Salem
Forsyth County has the 16th highest county eviction rate nationally.
Eviction court proceedings are skewed to favor landlords and evict people from their homes
90% of landlords are represented by legal counsel in evictions, but fewer than 10% of tenants have representation.
Tenants often lack the ability to go to court due to employment, childcare, or transportation restrictions, but if they had a lawyer, the lawyer could go to court even if the tenant could not.
Without representation by someone with extensive legal training (ie. an attorney), tenants lack the ability to access and prove common defenses in eviction cases, and may even increase their own chances of being evicted.
Right to counsel substantially reduces the amount of people evicted.
86% of tenants who had representation as a result of New York City’s right to counsel legislation were able to remain in their homes.
93% of represented tenants avoided eviction or an involuntary move as a result of Cleveland’s right to counsel in just the first six months.
Right to Counsel would actually save the city money (see section: Evictions and Economics).
Evictions disproportionately affect marginalized groups
Black people and Hispanic people
In 2020, 48% of Black people and 33% of Hispanic people in Forsyth County were cost burdened compared to 21% of white people (Economy and financial stability).
Cost-burdened households spend at least 30 percent of income on housing costs such as mortgage or rent payments, taxes, and utilities. As such, cost-burdened households have less available income to spend on necessary expenses such as nutritious food, health care, education, and transportation.
From 2011-2015 in Forsyth County, 23% of African American and 16% of Hispanic people were living in concentrated poverty, compared to 3% of white people (Forsyth County Poverty Study).
“Among all of the variables we examined, race was by far the strongest predictor of housing loss across the county. Census tracts with a higher percentage of Black households were substantially more likely to see both evictions and foreclosures; in fact, this relationship was more pronounced in Forsyth County than in any of the other counties we examined. By contrast, census tracts with more white households have a strong, inverse relationship with housing loss” (Displaced in the Sun Belt).
Black residents make up 78% of evictions in Winston-Salem and 70% of evictions in Forsyth County, but make up only 34.9% of Winston’s population (Evictions continue in Winston-Salem as National Moratorium nears its end).
Women
From 2011-2015 in Forsyth County, about 20% of women were in poverty compared to 15% of men (Forsyth County Poverty Study).
Even though the economy in Forsyth County has improved since 2009, the rate of poverty among women has increased (Gender lens report).
In 2015, 22% of the women in Forsyth county were in poverty: over 50% of Hispanic women, 34% of African American women, and 16% of Caucasian women in poverty (Gender lens report).
Black women
Black women are the most likely demographic to be evicted. Black women are more than twice as likely to have evictions filed against them as white people
Black women are less likely than Black men to be able to negotiate late rent payments (Ruiz-Goiriena & Torrey, 2022).
Families with children
Renters who have more children are more likely to be evicted: those with two children having an 11.7% chance of facing eviction, those with one child having a 9.5% chance of facing eviction, and those with no children having a 7.3% chance of eviction (Desmond & Gershenson, 2016).
In places that have more children, eviction rates increase: when less than 10% of the population consisted of children, 1 in 123 households were evicted; when 25 percent of the population consisted of children, 1 in every 18 renting households was evicted; when 35 percent of the population consisted of children, 1 in every 14 households was evicted; and when 40 percent of the population consisted of children, 1 in every 12 households was evicted (Desmond et al., 2014, p. 312).
Eviction is the leading cause of homelessness for families with children.
51 percent of children who are homeless are under the age of 5 (The Bassuk Center).
Approximately 8% of households in Forsyth County with at least one child present had at least one unemployed individual living in their household compared to 4% of households without children (Forsyth Futures).
22% of Forsyth County households that have children also have at least one household member experiencing poverty compared to 16% Forsyth County households that do not have children (Forsyth Futures).
Single parents (especially single mothers)
In Forsyth County from 2010-2014, 44% of single mothers and 28% of single fathers were in poverty, compared to 11% of married couples (Forsyth County Poverty Study).
In 2015, 48% of single mothers and their children were in poverty, a rate 4 times higher than the poverty rate among two-parent households.
Children
In Forsyth County from 2010-2014, 28% of those under the age of 18 experienced poverty, compared to 17.5% of those aged 18-64 and 7.5% of those aged 65 and older (Forsyth County Poverty Study).
LGBTQIA+ people
In 2020, 47% of LGBT people and 46% of cisgender, heterosexual people behind on rent feared being evicted (Wilson et al., 2021).
In 2020, 19% LGBT renters were behind on rent compared to 14% of cisgender, heterosexual renters (Wilson et al., 2021).
Evictions especially affect LGBTQIA+ people of color.
In 2020, 30% of LGBT POC renters were behind on rent compared to 10% of white LGBT renters (Wilson et al., 2021).
“More than one in ten (transgender people) have been evicted from their homes, because of their gender identity” (Housing & Homelessness).
The effect of evictions on pregnant women and children
Pregnant women who are evicted are more likely to have adverse outcomes for their children.
When people experience housing insecurity during pregnancy, they face a 73% higher risk of preterm births and their babies having low birth weights (Leifheit et al., 2020).
Facing eviction results in higher rates of respiratory problems, fever, longer neonatal intensive care unit stays, more emergency department visits, and higher annual health costs (Clark et al, 2019).
75% of children under the age of five experiencing homelessness have at least one major developmental delay (Grant, 1990).
44% of children under the age of five experiencing homelessness have two or more major developmental delays (Grant, 1990).
Children experiencing homelessness are four times more likely to score at or below the tenth percentile in reading comprehension, (Molnar et al., 1990).
Children experiencing homelessness are three times more likely to experience emotional and behavioral problems than their housed peers, (Zima et al.,1994 ).
Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2018-2019 school year shows that an estimated 34,765 North Carolina public school students experienced homelessness over the year: 1,211 students were unsheltered, 3,334 were in shelters, 4,986 were in hotels/motels, and 25,234 were doubled up. U.S. Interagency Council on the Homeless (North Carolina homelessness statistics).
Forsyth County has an overall child poverty rate of 29%, with some tracts having as high as a 61% poverty rate (Census profile: Forsyth, NC).
The effects of being evicted on families
Families are unable to expunge civil court records, even after paying outstanding court costs. These civil court records often have detrimental effects on families who have been evicted, such as:
Difficulty in finding future safe and affordable housing due to a reported eviction published by credit reporting agencies, often forcing families to choose poorer quality housing, overcrowded housing, or homelessness.
Facing eviction leads to numerous negative mental and physical health outcomes, such as:
Psychological distress, suicidal ideation, high blood pressure, and child maltreatment (Vasquez-Vera et al., 2017).
Being evicted is directly correlated with an increase in the number of visits to the hospital for both physical and mental conditions (Collinson et al., 2022).
Evictions & Economics
Evicted tenants are placed at considerable risk of facing houselessness or housing insecurity/instability (Collinson et al., 2022).
Evicted tenants are more likely to stay in emergency shelters than non-evicted tenants.
Evicted tenants are much more likely to use homeless-related services than those who are not evicted.
Evicted tenants are even more likely to experience a change in address, ie. a forced move.
Evictions lead directly to decreased income (Collinson et al., 2022).
For those whom have had an eviction filed against them, earnings decrease by $323 per quarter.
This decrease grows to $613 per quarter in the subsequent year.
Evictions can worsen job prospects (Collinson et al., 2022).
Individuals who have experienced a forced move are between 11-22% more likely to lose their jobs.
Evicted individuals are more likely to experience a forced move, and as such are more likely to lose their jobs.
Evictions weaken financial health (Collinson et al., 2022).
Being evicted leads to increases in debt and decreases in credit score, with this effect increasing in intensity every year after eviction filing.
Being evicted also leads to a decrease in likelihood of having an auto loan or lease, demonstrating a likely overall decrease in durable goods consumption.
Studies by the advisory firm Stout Risius Ross have shown that right-to-counsel laws actually save jurisdictions money.
Baltimore’s effort is expected to cost $5.7 million annually, but is projected to save $35.6 million in costs associated with evictions.
Baltimore saved at least $6.24 for every dollar spent according to Stout Risius Ross.
References
Census profile: Forsyth, NC. Census Reporter. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://censusreporter.org/profiles/
Clark, R. et al. (2019). "Infants exposed to homelessness: Health, health care use, and health spending from birth to age six" Health Affairs 38(5) 721-728.
Desmond, M., & Gershenson, C. (2017). Who gets evicted? Assessing individual, neighborhood, and network factors. Social science research, 62, 362-377.
Desmond, An, W., Winkler, R., & Ferriss, T. (2013). Evicting Children. Social Forces, 92(1), 303–327. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sot047
Displaced in the Sun Belt. New America. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.newamerica.org/future-land-housing/reports/displaced-sun-belt/forsyth-county-north-carolina/
Economy and financial stability. Forsyth Futures. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.forsythfutures.org/economy-and-financial-stability/
Evictions continue in Winston-Salem as National Moratorium nears its end. Triad City Beat. (2021, December 31). Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://triad-city-beat.com/evictions-winston-salem-july-2021/
Forsyth County Poverty Study - Forsythfutures.org. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.forsythfutures.org/1581467641456/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Forsyth-County-Poverty-Study-2017-Key-Findings-No-Annotations.pdf
Gender lens report (2015). issuu. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://issuu.com/winston-salemfoundation/docs/gender_lens_report_2015?fr=sNTE3YjEzMzMwOA
Grant R. "The special needs of homeless children: early intervention at a welfare hotel." Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 10(4) 76-91 , 1990.
Housing & Homelessness. National Center for Transgender Equality. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://transequality.org/issues/housing-homelessness
Leifheit, K. M., Schwartz, G. L., Pollack, C. E., Edin, K. J., Black, M. M., Jennings, J. M., & Althoff, K. N. (2020). Severe Housing Insecurity during Pregnancy: Association with Adverse Birth and Infant Outcomes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), 8659. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228659
North Carolina homelessness statistics. Homeless in North Carolina Statistics 2019. Homeless Estimation by State | US Interagency Council on Homelessness. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/nc/
Molnar JM; et al. "Constantly compromised: the impact of homelessness on children." Journal of Social Issues 46(4): 109-124, 1990.
Ruiz-Goiriena, R., & Torrey, A. (2022). An eviction crisis for Black Women. USA Today. Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://www.usatoday.com/storytelling/graphic-novels/news/nation/black-women-evictions/1647538176682/
The Bassuk Center. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2022, from https://bassukcenter.org/
Vasquez-Vera H., Palencia L., Magna I., Mena C., Neira J., Borrell C. (2017) The threat of home eviction and its effects on health through the equity lens: A systematic review. Social Science & Medicine. 175, 199-208.
Wilson, B., O’Neil, K., & Vasquez, L. A. (2021). LGBT Renters and Eviction Risk. The Williams Institute.
Zima BT; et al "Emotional and behavioral problems and severe academic delays among sheltered homeless children in Los Angeles County." AJPH 84(2); 260-264, February 1994
https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/nc/