Rental households, especially those with extremely low income and disabilities, are particularly vulnerable to homelessness if they are evicted. When households are evicted, they not only lose their housing stability, but they may also forfeit security deposits and incur recorded debt and a negative rental history. This affects not only the individual responsible for violating lease conditions, but also other household members. Communities can balance rental requirements and responsible property management with efforts to prevent homelessness by partnering with tenants, landlords, and service providers. These partnerships can ensure vulnerable households are provided with the support they need to successfully maintain housing.

Nationally landlords either have been or are still under a wide variety of federal, state, and local moratoriums on evictions, late fees, and penalties related to nonpayment of rent. As those moratoriums are lifted or expire, communities should anticipate a rising demand for eviction prevention assistance as the COVID-19 outbreak continues and unemployment remains high. There is also a wide variety of federal, state, and local legal protections for renters regarding applications, deposits, habitability standards, security, privacy, evictions, and retaliation. While communities develop and implement strategies for eviction prevention, they should also invest in renter protections for Continuum of Care (CoC) and Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) program participants, as well as the general public. This document addresses strategies to reduce evictions and exits from housing programs and includes a community profiles of Chicago’s Re-ntervention program.

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