By Michelle Blouin
Housing insecurity in the form of eviction filings affected 2.7 million households in the U.S. from 2007 to 2016, the most recent year in which estimates are available. Those filings hit households of color disproportionately, with Black households facing 51 percent of eviction filings despite representing just 18 percent of renters nationally. In Harris County, where Houston, TX, is located, statistics may not account for “informal evictions” in which renters leave their residence due to illegal landlord activity outside of a formal legal process. In addition to the magnitude of housing insecurity issues, the speed in which summary eviction cases are filed and the time span in which tenants are required to vacate —sometimes just a few days —creates a situation that points to upstream legal intervention as the best option.
With this socioeconomic problem having potentially numerous contributing factors, the Access to Justice Lab and research partners at the University of Houston Law Center targeted legal literacy as a potential key to addressing housing insecurity. The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, J-PAL North America at MIT, funded the pilot study. Dubbed the Eviction Diversion Study, the pilot explored the use of a light-touch intervention—text messaging—as an inexpensive, upstream solution that could be extended into a full study in the hopeful near future.
Study Overview
The study connected researchers with Connective, a Houston-based organization focused on sharing social service resources initially as part of disaster relief efforts. Connective already had established itself as a trusted resource following Hurricane Harvey, where it sent out disaster relief services; it has since shifted its model to include community resources and legal services as well.
With legal literacy in mind, the study aimed to share legal information proactively via text messaging to help avoid legal eviction proceedings and improve overall housing security.
“If people knew about their rights as tenants and about resources that were available in the community to help them when they’re housing insecure, would they take up those resources…and use that information to avoid evictions?” said Renee Danser, an A2J Lab researcher on the project. “That’s really the premise behind this particular evaluation.”
The study had three outcomes the researchers planned to examine:
- Adoption of services
- Avoidance of future court proceedings
- Improvement on housing security
The next step after determining the intention of the study was to identify participants. The text messaging had to be sent to a targeted population of individuals at high risk for housing legal challenges. Using Connective’s built-in community, the study sent screening questions that helped narrow the population to 101 participants at risk of eviction, of which 31 individuals were already formally evicted. This filtering of the text recipients proved to be a successful strategy in identifying a population invested in the messaging.
Methodology
In the most recent Proof Over Precedent podcast episode, Danser called the text messages, which were designed by the researchers and sent from Connective, “the most economic way to try to intervene in a preventative way.”
Once the study reached its goal of 100 participants and received consent from the enrollees, the individuals completed an initial survey, as well as follow-up surveys by text. They were randomized into two groups: One group would continue to receive the regular Connective text messages, while a second group would receive these same messages plus additional housing-focused messages on a semi-regular basis. Such messages could ask, for example, “Did you know that your landlord can’t force you to move by changing the locks?” It might then offer links to legal service providers and legal aid agencies offering a clinic.
Despite success in enrolling participants, it became evident that maintaining engagement and improving survey responses required more outreach effort like personalized reminders or follow-up calls.
In addition to having Connective as a field partner, the lab worked with data partner HMIS Services (Homeless Management Information System), a clearinghouse of records related to housing-related, community-based services. The study also relied on court records maintained by January Advisors, which aided researchers in understanding the eviction process and housing mobility trends among participants.
Pilot vs. Full Study
The Eviction Diversion Study is a pilot study, meaning the researchers tested the feasibility of the study on a smaller scale. Thus, results at this time are more insightful than conclusive. However, Danser noted a few observations:
- Study participants were highly vulnerable to housing insecurity, often facing poor housing condition issues and high expense-to-income ratios
- Participants tended not to be seeking legal services or housing resources (though reasoning for this may differ among individuals)
- The jurisdiction may have been particularly pro-informal evictions
The pilot proved successful in determining the likelihood of achieving conclusive results in a full-scale study, which would be needed to determine the effectiveness in increasing legal service uptake, reducing court proceedings, and improving housing security overall. The missing link in a full study that could impact policy changes to housing legal issues? Funding.
Danser noted the study’s relatively low-cost intervention as an attractive feature for potential funders, as well as the promise that the pilot showed.
“I also hope that even the pilot kind of highlights the speed with which housing legal matters take place and just gives folks opportunity to contemplate that,” she said. “And maybe there’s some opportunity for change.”
If you’re interested in more details of this study, listen to our Proof Over Precedent podcast episode on the topic.