The eviction crisis in the United States is a serious public health issue that affects millions of people each year. The eviction process is regulated by a patchwork of state and local laws and court rules that govern the judicial process, but little is known about the ways in which these laws affect the likelihood of evictions.
The database consists of two datasets: the first covers eviction laws, regulations, and court rules that were in effect as of January 1, 2021 in all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau. The second is a local dataset covering eviction laws, including those at the county and local level, in 30 jurisdictions in effect as of January 1, 2021. These areas were chosen to represent the demographic, socioeconomic and legal differences across the country.
These datasets were created in partnership with the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), an independent nonprofit organization established by Congress in 1974 to fund civil legal aid for low-income Americans. LSC is conducting a congressionally-directed study to investigate the unmet legal needs surrounding eviction in the United States. Additional information about LSC’s Effect of State & Local Laws on Evictions Study can be found here.
To explore the datasets on LawAtlas.org, visit https://lawatlas.org/page/state-territorial-and-local-eviction-laws-database