U.S. Department of the Treasury

Partnerships with Broader Eviction Diversion Programs

Many grantees have found that partnerships with their local court systems and legal services organizations are critical tools for preventing housing insecurity and helping landlords recover from rental arrearages. While court systems and eviction procedures vary across states and localities, these grantees have engaged with local courts, legal aid organizations, and other stakeholders to reach households with the greatest need for assistance—those facing imminent eviction. These partnerships have often included streamlined procedures that reduce the eligibility documentation required from households in these situations. 

Efforts by ERA grantees are sometimes complementary to broader eviction diversion programs.  These efforts play an important function in cases where the landlord had already started eviction proceedings.  In addition to expediting ERA applications, they often prevent evictions by utilizing the support of legal service professionals and mediators in interventions at the early stages of the court process.  ERA grantees have also found court data helpful for informing targeted outreach efforts to landlords and/or high-need geographic areas.

Focus on mediation

The State of Massachusetts

The State of Massachusetts has developed a two-tiered eviction process that has integrated the ERA program into eviction proceedings. In the first tier, landlords and tenants work with a mediator who can direct them to ERA resources to cover qualified rental arrears. This state-funded program also engages legal aid services, as well as housing reinstatement services, for those cases where tenants ultimately experience eviction.

Focus on data sharing with local courts

The city of Memphis and Shelby County, TN

The city of Memphis and Shelby County’s joint program includes a data sharing relationship with the local court system. This partnership affords ERA program administrators real-time information about neighborhoods with increased eviction activity, allowing more targeted outreach towards tenants and landlords.  Using this data, the ERA program administrators have been able to foster effective relationships with larger apartment complexes and engage directly with tenants on the premises. Memphis and Shelby County have also contracted with a local nonprofit organization with experience providing legal services to tenants facing evictions, helping them to reach settlement and avoid evictions. Further efforts to expand tenants’ access to legal services have included enlisting faculty and student volunteers from the local law school.  The Memphis and Shelby County ERA program expedites ERA applications that come through these channels, allowing many households to use ERA funds to remain stably housed rather than enduring the hardship of a court-approved eviction.

View the full case study from U.S. Digital Response that details their work with Memphis and Shelby County: "Keeping Families in Their Homes by Scaling Workflows"

The city of Philadelphia, PA

The city of Philadelphia’s ERA program is also integrated directly into the city’s eviction court system. The court requires defendants to apply for the city’s ERA program before allowing the eviction to proceed. Further, all landlords who enroll in the city’s ERA program are automatically enrolled in the eviction diversion system, alerting them to the resources offered by the city to help avoid tenant evictions, such as nonprofit mediation services.

Focus on a multi-faceted approach

The city of Louisville, KY

Louisville, KY is utilizing a multi-pronged approach to eviction diversion that includes legal representation for tenants, community based outreach, and collaboration with local courts. The city has allocated $400,000 of their ERA funding to enact a right to counsel program for tenants with children who are facing eviction. Their Office of Resilience and Community Services has partnered with the Office of Women, Office of Housing, Neighborhood Place, and the Coalition for the Homeless to target and reach out to Louisville residents at risk of eviction. The collaboration with the Office of Women was born out of the recognition that female led households, especially those headed by African-Americans, are disproportionately targeted for eviction. Outreach includes knocking on doors, sending texts, and making phone calls to encourage these tenants not to miss their court dates. Staff also attend eviction court on a daily basis and can coordinate with the judges to stay eviction for tenants who could benefit from emergency rental assistance. To aid tenants who “self-evict”, by moving when they receive an eviction notice, the city has put in place a rapid-rehousing program that provides a rental deposit and the first month’s rent to help people relocate.

Eviction diversion maturity levels

The following maturity model can help grantees shape a strategy and have actionable steps to address eviction diversion. A maturity model is a tool that helps organize strategy, practices, and process into a framework that can act as a blueprint for building up stronger capabilities. This model is intended to aid ERA grantees and stakeholders in determining their program’s current development stage and identify improvements that will facilitate increasingly robust, comprehensive, and effective approaches to ensuring housing stability within their jurisdictions.

Disclaimer: The practices referenced in this model may contemplate the leveraging of ERA funding with other federal, state, and local resources. The model’s reference to an example practice should not be construed as confirming such practice’s eligibility for any particular type or category of federal funding. Grantees should consult the governing federal program authorities for additional guidance before expending funds for such purposes to confirm eligibility.

• Eviction Diversion Maturity Model

  The maturity model is also provided in a PDF to take away and use your with team to discuss strategies and approaches

  View the maturity model PDF

White House Eviction Prevention Summit