Addressing the Eviction Crisis and Housing Instability Through Mediation

Abstract

The United States faces a massive eviction crisis. There were 128.6 million households in the United States in 2019, of which 37% were renters; of those 47.6 million renter households, more than two million, or one in every twenty-five, were at risk of losing their homes through evictions. Current and future economic challenges, such as that brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, will inevitably increase evictions and exacerbate housing instability. While eviction lawsuits are an important legal remedy, evictions lead to homelessness, harm family member health, cost landlords money, destabilize the housing market, disrupt neighborhoods, increase crime, and overwhelm the courts. Many aspects of mediation make it a more just and effective dispute resolution approach than court evictions. This Article demonstrates the effectiveness of mediation and advocates for increased use of mediation to decrease evictions and housing instability.

Keywords: housing, eviction, mediation, housing crisis, covid-19