In Idaho, evictions dropped in April and May 2020 as most courts closed during peak COVID-19 lockdowns.
When courts reopened, evictions neared 2019 levels and as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's eviction ban expiresSaturday, renters in Idaho could face eviction once again.
“Now we're seeing that the rates of evictions are about equal to what they were before the pandemic,” a Research Associate at Idaho Policy Institute at Boise State University Ben Larsen said.
In 2020, eviction filings and formal evictions decreased by 30% from 2019 in Idaho. The state averaged 3.1 evictions per day despite the federal eviction moratorium in place.
“The moratorium was not really enforced here. It wasn’t very effective in court and wasn’t really upheld in court. We don’t know that it made a huge difference here in Idaho,” Jesse Tree Executive Director, Ali Rabe said.
“Last year in 2020 there were about 1,200 evictions across the state, even when the eviction moratorium was put in place and there's been 10’s or even hundreds across the state who are being evicted every week or every month,” Larsen said.
With the CDC moratorium reaching its end, another eviction spike is predicted.
"There's no one size fits all to the eviction crisis."
— Nicole Camarda (@CamardaNicole) July 30, 2021
Ben Larsen, a Research Associate at @idaho_policy at @BoiseState, and I spoke about the eviction moratorium and how now Idaho is seeing that rates of evictions are about equal to what they were before COVID. pic.twitter.com/SXaUwHwxnZ
“It's hard to know how much of it is due to the pandemic and how much is due to the just rapidly increasing housing costs that we are experiencing all across the state of Idaho and particularly here in the Treasure Valley,” Larsen said.
It's more important than ever to get help from facing an eviction notice, as it will remain on your public record.
“Once someone gets an eviction filing, it becomes much harder to then find stable housing. Even if tenants aren’t actually evicted, that record stays with them for years. In a housing market that’s so tight as this one, anything can disqualify you from getting an apartment or getting a stable place to live,” Larsen said.
Here are some resources for help:
