Exposing Connecticut’s Eviction Crisis
Understanding the intersection of race and sex in Connecticut’s Eviction crisis
Introduction
In 2016, four cities in Connecticut ranked among the top 100 urban centers with the highest eviction rates in the country. CT Data Collaborative and the Connecticut Fair Housing Center have analyzed five years of eviction court filings to better understand the eviction crisis in Connecticut. The results of this study highlight how decades of discriminatory housing policies and actions continue to directly harm residents of color.
The data in this analysis includes all residential eviction cases filed by landlords from 2017 through 2021. A landlord must file and win an eviction court case to force a renter out of their home. Not all eviction cases result in the renter moving, but the filing of an eviction case can have permanent consequences regardless of the outcome of the case. Most landlords perform background checks on rental applicants, largely relying on third-party tenant screening companies to compile reports that include eviction case records, in addition to criminal records, credit and finances, and more. Often, the existence of an eviction case record alone leads to a renter’s applications being denied, without any consideration given to the outcome of the court case, let alone the facts and circumstances surrounding it.
Main Findings
Black and Hispanic/Latino renters have cases filed against them at the highest rates.
Overall, Black renters are over three times more likely than white renters to face eviction, and Hispanic/Latino renters are over two times more likely than white renters.
Eviction cases are disproportionately filed against females, and even more disproportionately against Black and Hispanic/Latina females.
Renters who do not have a lawyer are nearly twice as likely to have a removal order issued against them.
Nearly half of all eviction cases are filed in just five municipalities: Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury, New Haven, and New Britain.
Overview of Eviction Data
From January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021, landlords in Connecticut filed a total of 75,429 eviction cases.
Because of the state and federal eviction moratoria put in place in 2020, and the historic levels of federal emergency rental assistance distributed through the UniteCT program, the annual number of eviction cases was 67% lower in 2020 than the pre-pandemic average, and continued to remain 53% lower in 2021.
However, following the expiration of the Connecticut and federal CDC eviction moratoria, in June 2021 and August 2021 respectively, eviction case filings have reached their highest monthly totals since March 2020—in recent months, the number of eviction cases filed by landlords has approached pre-pandemic levels. Statewide, landlords filed 1,232 eviction cases in December 2021, compared to 1,498 eviction cases in December 2019. In some cities, eviction filings have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels; in Hartford, for example, landlords filed 207 eviction cases in December 2021, compared to 175 in December 2019.
The increase in eviction cases since the end of the federal and state eviction moratoria suggests that eviction filing rates will continue to rise after Connecticut's remaining emergency eviction protections expire on February 15, 2022 and federal emergency rental assistance funds are exhausted.
Renters are also having more difficulty getting involved in their eviction cases during the pandemic. Even as temporary protections limited overall eviction case filings during the pandemic, renters were less likely to file appearances in their eviction cases, and accordingly more likely to automatically lose. Between 2017 and 2019, a judgment was entered in 30% of cases without any renter in the household ever participating in the case. This figure grew to 39% between 2020 and 2021.
Renters Are Much Less Likely than Landlords to Have Lawyers, and the Disparity is Greater for Black and Hispanic/Latino Renters
Between 2017 and 2021, landlords were over 11 times more likely than renters to have lawyers representing them in court.
Overall, 80% of landlords had a lawyer representing them in eviction cases, compared to only 7% of renters. This means that renters were likely to have to represent themselves against a lawyer in court.
Although the representation rate for renters was low across all groups, hovering around 7% in any given year before the pandemic, white renters were over 37% more likely than Black renters, and 30% more likely than Hispanic/Latino renters, to have had lawyers between 2017 and 2019. Male renters were over 7% more likely than female to have had lawyers.
Renters Without Lawyers Have Much Worse Outcomes
In 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, renters were 89% more likely to have removal orders (formally called “executions”) issued against them if they didn’t have lawyers (45% for renters without lawyers and only 24% for renters with). A removal order allows a landlord to hire a marshal to force a renter to leave their home.
Although the overall rates of removal orders were down during the pandemic due to temporary protections for renters, the disparity in outcomes between unrepresented and represented renters grew substantially, with those who were unrepresented 125% more likely to have removal orders issued.
Additionally, between 2017 and 2021, renters with lawyers were more than twice as likely to have their eviction cases withdrawn and 43% more likely to have them dismissed.
Across All Years, Evictions Are Consistently Filed Against Black And Hispanic/Latino Renters At The Highest Rates
The table to the right shows eviction filing rates by race and ethnicity for each year. Race categories refer to non-Hispanic/Latino.
Black and Hispanic/Latino renters experienced the highest rate of eviction case filings across all years.
From 2017 to 2021, Black renters were over three times more likely than white renters to have an eviction case filed against them, and Hispanic/Latino renters were over two times more likely than white renters.
Before the pandemic, filing rates remained relatively consistent for all race and ethnicity groups. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, all groups saw a 66-68% relative decrease in the rates of eviction cases filed against them, before the rates started ticking back up in 2021.
Although the data give us limited insight into disparities in outcomes between racial and ethnic groups, certain indicators suggest that white renters may be more likely to obtain a better outcome in an eviction case than renters of color. For example, in a normal year, white renters are 50% more likely than Black renters to have the case dismissed by the judge.
Note: Table P2 from the 2020 Redistricting data was used as a proxy for estimating renter-occupied households by race/ethnicity. Table P2 included an “Other” category for race/ethnicity which made up < 1% of the population and was not used in our calculations, as our methodology for assigning a predicted race/ethnicity category only includes the categories listed in the table. Read more about our methodology towards the end of this report.
56% Of Eviction Cases Are Filed Against Female Renters
From 2017 to 2021, we were able to assign sex probabilities to 68,691 filings. Of these eviction cases, 56% were filed against female renters, compared to only 44% against male renters. This means that for every 100 eviction cases filed, there were 12 additional cases against female renters compared to male renters. Female renters were more likely to have an eviction case filed against them across all years of data.
Black and Hispanic/Latina Females Disproportionately Face Eviction
As mentioned previously, 56% of total eviction case filings were against female renters. Eviction case filings were even higher for female renters of certain race and ethnicity categories. While only 51% of eviction filings for Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander and 53% of eviction filings for white renters were female, we see that 62% of eviction filings for Black and 59% of eviction filings for Hispanic/Latino renters were against those headed by females.
Public Housing Authorities File Eviction Cases in Large Numbers
Overall, from 2017 to 2019, public housing authorities filed 3,005 eviction cases, an average of over a thousand per year, with more than 59% of them against Black and Hispanic/Latino renters. The housing maintained by public housing authorities serves as one of Connecticut’s main sources of affordable housing for low-income renters, people with disabilities, and older adults.
CTData cleaned the name of providers to the extent possible. For example, “Housing Authority of the City of Hartford” and “Housing Authority of the City of Harford” (missing “t” in Hartford) were treated as the same provider. Thus, the numbers above represent the lower estimate of the number of filings; the actual numbers may be higher. In addition, private landlords may own several properties with different names for each which would not be included in this chart.
Through the last three months of 2021 (compared to 2019):
Landlords filed 30% fewer eviction cases
Public housing authorities filed 67% fewer eviction cases
One possible explanation for this filing disparity is that private landlords are permitted to file more types of eviction cases than public housing authorities. Public housing authorities may only evict public housing residents for a few specific good reasons, such as failure to pay rent. On the other hand, private landlords generally may evict renters that have done nothing wrong if the lease has expired—these are called “no-cause” evictions.
A recent analysis by the Connecticut Fair Housing Center found that in the months following the expiration of the Connecticut Eviction Moratorium, there was a sharp increase in the overall number of these so-called “no-cause” evictions. Between August and December 2021, just over half as many eviction cases were filed as the same period in 2019 (8249 in 2019, compared with 4738 in 2021), but the number of “no-cause” evictions more than doubled from 763 to 1733 during the same time period of comparison. Accordingly, the restriction on public housing authorities’ power to evict without a good reason, coupled with federal emergency rental assistance distributed through the UniteCT program, appears to be preventing large numbers of public housing residents from facing eviction, even as private market evictions trend toward pre-pandemic levels.
nearly half of all eviction Filings occur in five of Connecticut’s largest Municipalities
Connecticut contains 169 cities and towns, yet nearly half of all eviction cases from 2017 through 2021 were filed in just five: Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury, New Haven, and New Britain. These five cities were consistently highest in eviction filings across all years.
Explore data for your town with the table and map.
Multiple Individuals May Be Impacted By A Single Eviction Filing
In the majority of eviction cases, more than one adult renter is impacted. From January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021, 35% of households that experienced an eviction filing contained one adult at or over the age of 18, 27% contained two, 20% contained three, and 19% contained four or more.
On average, households that experienced an eviction filing contained 2.4 adult residents. These percentages are consistent from year to year. However, this likely underestimates the total number of individuals impacted by eviction because it does not account for children in the household. Eviction cases do not name children under the age of 18 that are living in the household, so the exact number of impacted children is unknown.
Closing Thoughts
The findings in this report reveal a statewide eviction crisis that was not created by the Covid-19 pandemic, but rather has plagued Connecticut renters for many years.
At the same time, court data provide a limited picture of the eviction crisis, and almost certainly understate its magnitude. These data do not capture renters who receive a notice to quit and move out before a case is ever filed in court, let alone situations where a landlord illegally changes the locks or shuts off utilities to force a renter to move. Eviction data cannot tell us how many housing applications are subsequently denied because of each of these 75,000 records, nor how many families end up homeless after being evicted. However, we know from various national studies that evictions can cause housing instability and job loss, lead to poor health outcomes, and disrupt children’s education.
This report does makes clear that eviction in Connecticut is a racial justice issue that disproportionately harms residents of color and further entrenches the patterns of discrimination and segregation that exist in our state.
Notes about the Data
Incomplete Totals
If the data is disaggregated, totals may not add up. For example, renters whose sex cannot be determined are included in the overall total, but not for analyses where we disaggregate by sex. We were able to assign sex probabilities for 91% and race/ethnicity for 87% of the entire data set. Analyses involving race/ethnicity excluded 963 cases (1% of total cases) where the renter’s name was anonymous.
Race/Ethnicity of the Principal Defendant
By applying a Bayesian prediction model that uses a person’s surname and zip code, a method developed by Elliot et al., CTData assigned a predicted probability for race and Hispanic ethnicity of the renter named as a defendant in each eviction court case. This person is normally the head of household.
Male/Female Sex of the Principal Defendant
Because court records do not include sex data of renters named in the case, CTData derived probabilities of defendants belonging to both sexes given their first name based on historic Social Security annual baby names data set, which reports the prevalence of names given to males and females born between 1945 and 2004.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the staff of the CT Fair Housing Center who helped make these data available, and contributed to the story. Many thanks to Jenny Steadman of Aurora Women and Girls Foundation and the National Low Income Housing Coalition for sponsoring this project.
Thank you to the William and Alice Mortensen Foundation for their support of Aurora’s research efforts.
