67 hearings

We hope you are holding up as the summer comes to a close. We've still been keeping busy over here at Jesse Tree.

This week, there are 67 eviction hearings set in the state of Idaho. The past few weeks have set the highest record of eviction hearings in the state since May, when the temporary moratorium on eviction hearings in Idaho first lifted. We estimate that this most recent surge is a result of the end of the federal moratorium and the reduction in unemployment benefits that both converged on July 31.

While evictions continue to increase, tenants are still receiving inadequate notice of their eviction hearings. Tenants are receiving their eviction summons in the mail, and hearings are being held via Zoom. In the cases we've worked on, eviction summons still instruct tenants to appear at the courthouse. Further, eviction summons fail to notify tenants of their rights and consequences of failing to show up for court - a default judgement - and community resources they can access to catch up on back rent. Tenants attending eviction court must then defend themselves against landlords and property management companies who are usually represented by counsel.

The stakes are high for tenants in eviction court. Eviction is costly, traumatizing, and stays on a renter's record for years. Unlike other civil offenses, an eviction can impact tenants as drastically as a criminal conviction by precluding them from future housing and employment opportunities. The experience is expensive and time-consuming for landlords as well. In addition, tenants are rarely represented by counsel in court, and the inherent imbalance between pro se tenants and attorney-represented landlords forces tenants to navigate a fast-moving environment with little information and inadequate resources.

Evictions will likely continue to increase. The housing crisis, combined with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, will likely continue to show a drastic increase in the number of evictions occurring across the state. As businesses remain shutdown and unemployed tenants use up their savings and fall further behind in their bills, Jesse Tree anticipates hearing from more people in the weeks to come. Our call volume on the Housing Crisis Line continues to be at 300% of its pre-COVID numbers. Jesse Tree volunteers report that calls continue to get more complicated, with people further behind in rent, and an increasing number of tenants needing to move because their landlord has increased the rent or is selling the property.

We are doing what we can. Jesse Tree continues to facilitate mediation between tenants and landlords, often preventing the need for eviction court. Our case managers act as a neutral arbitrator prior to court, facilitating landlord-tenant conversations and financial assistance so that both parties can resolve their issues and avoid court entirely. When court is unavoidable, we work to ensure tenants are connected to social, financial, and legal support. Jesse Tree’s case managers work to support tenants to review their income and expenses, provide needed support to find housing stability, and discuss potential move-out options. When Jesse Tree is able to assist in the eviction court process, tenants are much more likely to avoid receiving an eviction on their record, while landlords are paid and avoid the costs of unit turnover.

Jesse Tree is attempting to make inroads to reach out to tenants, landlords, and attorneys prior to eviction court, but contacting tenants prior to their court dates continues to be a major challenge. We requested the court provide tenants with information about rental assistance and other community resources with their court summons, but the Idaho Supreme Court denied the request because it sees rental assistance as a “non-neutral” resource. We will continue to work on advocating for system and process changes within the court, and as a temporary work-around we are pulling court records to find clients' and landlords' contact information. (Unfortunately, tenants’ contact information is rarely on the court documents.) Jesse Tree then reaches out to parties prior to the court dates to see if they are willing to work with their tenants.

We are hopeful. Jesse Tree hopes the state of Idaho can work together to ensure every tenant going to court has access to social, financial, and legal support in the future. Targeting efforts at keeping evictions from happening to people will benefit landlords and tenants, as well as our community, in the years to come. We are also concerned that the current trend will continue, and more of our neighbors will be evicted and lose their homes. Nonetheless, we will continue doing all that we can to stem the tide.

Home is everything. Keeping tenants in their homes is more important now than ever before. Without a home, it's impossible to do anything else. We hope you enjoy the video we're including in this month's newsletter, which helps demonstrate the juxtaposition between home and homelessness.

Thank you for staying engaged with our mission and for your ongoing support. We have been able to continue to grow our mission to meet the community's need for what we do during this difficult time because of our partners, funders, and volunteers. Let's continue keeping the traumatic, life-altering experience of eviction and homelessness from happening to our neighbors, and to our community.