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A recent report found that a corporate landlord in the Atlanta area has been evicting Black renters at significantly higher rates than white renters during the pandemic. While there are already very serious consequences for evicted people from a financial perspective, evicting people during the pandemic also adds the danger of catching or spreading COVID-19. Unfortunately, this corporate landlord is not the first to evict more Black tenants than white tenants, as racial disparities among evicted Americans are common across the country.
The Private Equity Shareholder Project, a nonprofit advocacy group, released a report that found the corporate landlord was “filing to evict residents at rates four times as high in majority-Black counties.” The report compared two mostly Black counties in Georgia against two mostly white counties in Florida. While the median incomes of both counties were similar, the corporate landlord was evicting 10-12% of their residents in predominantly-Black counties in Georgia, while only evicting around 2% of those in their predominantly-white counties in Florida.
While this data is incredibly problematic, it does not come as much of a surprise as racial disparities in evictions are very common across the United States. According to Peter Hepburn, a researcher at Princeton University, “nationwide, on average, we're seeing eviction filing rates against Black renters that are about twice as high as what we see for white renters.” While a portion of these disparities can be explained by economic reasons such as income and employment disparities, these factors do not explain why Black renters are twice as likely to find themselves facing eviction. Hepburn noted that he thinks there’s “reason to suspect that landlords may be quicker to file for eviction against a Black tenant who's fallen behind on rent than a white tenant.”
“Nationwide, on average, we're seeing eviction filing rates against Black renters that are about twice as high as what we see for white renters.” - Peter Hepburn, a researcher at Princeton University
According to the Eviction Lab, there are both racial and gender disparities present among evicted Americans. A study by the Eviction Lab found that:
Filing and eviction rates were, on average, significantly higher for Black renters than for white renters.
Nearly one in four Black renters lived in a county in which the Black eviction rate was more than double the white eviction rate.
Among renters, women—especially Black and Latinx women—faced higher eviction rates than men.
Across the 1,195 counties in the Eviction Lab’s sample, they predicted that 341,756 women were evicted annually — approximately 16% more than the 294,908 evicted men.
Black and Latinx renters who were filed against for eviction were most likely to be repeatedly filed against at the same address.
Get to the point: A recent report by The Private Equity Shareholder Project found that a corporate landlord in the Atlanta area has been evicting Black renters at much higher rates than white renters during the pandemic. Unfortunately, this landlord in Georgia is not the first to evict more Black tenants than white tenants, as racial disparities among evicted Americans are very common across the country. According to the Eviction Lab, there are both racial and gender disparities among evicted Americans, with significantly higher eviction rates for Black renters than for white renters.
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