Giving Compass' Take:

• Ellen Sahli and Maya Brennan give four strategies to help the success of the Eviction Crisis Act, which proposes creating or testing interventions to help keep families in their homes.

• Will this also be an effective approach to the housing affordability crisis? 

• Learn how local banks fight displacement.

The devastating effects of evictions reach every part of the US. The bipartisan Eviction Crisis Act, introduced in Congress last week, seeks to limit these effects.

The legislation proposes creating or testing new interventions to increase the use of specialized housing courts, expand short-term financial assistance, reduce situations in which eviction filings affect future rental applications, and track the state of evictions in the US.

The success of local eviction prevention efforts in Ramsey County, Minnesota, can inform the national debate about how to best prevent evictions. Ramsey County has many of the elements noted in the Eviction Crisis Act, but many preventable problems remain.

Based on our experience working in and around Saint Paul, we offer four strategies for federal, state, and local decisionmakers to consider as they seek to help communities in need.

  1. A specialty housing court enables more effective problem solving.
  2. Access to a combination of financial assistance, lawyers, and mediators at the courthouse can resolve many cases quickly.
  3. Collaboration or flexibility among emergency funding resources can fill gaps to stabilize tenants and resolve the crisis.
  4. Streamlined processes can increase expungements.

Read the full article about the Eviction Crisis Act by Ellen Sahli and Maya Brennan at Urban Institute.