Land Use Regulations, Housing Supply, and County Eviction Filings

Abstract

The eviction crisis has attracted significant scholarly attention, but less is known about the links between evictions and policies that promote or impede housing supply. This research uses data from a large time-series, cross-sectional sample of U.S. counties to address this research gap. The results from several linear regression models suggest that restrictive land use regulations increase eviction filing rates, whereas elastic housing supply and inclusionary zoning reduce eviction filing rates. Controls for housing supply constraints also reduce the effect of median rents on eviction filings. Pro-renter state landlord–tenant laws have no effect on eviction filing rates.

Where Do They Go? The Destinations of Residents Moving from Gentrifying Neighborhoods

“…The level of involuntary moves may still be of concern in both gentrifying and nongentrifying neighborhoods, and something that policymakers should address. Research suggests involuntary moves are more prevalent in areas with restrictive land use regulations (Dawkins 2022) and that such moves are predicted by job loss and neighborhood crime rates (Desmond and Gershenson 2017). Officials seeking to reduce displacement regardless of a neighborhood's gentrification status may seek to address these factors.…”

The Racially Disparate Influence of Filing Fees on Eviction Rates

“…Rental subsidies, in particular those that offer deep subsidies that make rent payments affordable to very low-income tenants, such as public housing and project-based Section 8, have been shown to reduce eviction rates for subsidized tenants (Harrison et al, 2021;Preston and Reina, 2021). Dawkins (2022) argues that restrictive land use zoning increases eviction rates by limiting housing supply and increasing rents, and Miller et al (2021) shows that Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act reduced eviction rates for those who enrolled.…”

“…These describe the number of rental units in each tract that are subsidized via public housing, housing choice vouchers, or another program, in 2018. To operationalize government regulations other than filing fees that might affect eviction rates, we draw on Hatch's (2017) typology of state-level renter protections (for other uses of this data see Merritt andFarnworth, 2021 andDawkins, 2022). Hatch collects information on 22 types of renter protections and uses cluster analysis to develop three categories of rental market policies, labeled protectionist, contradictory, and pro-business.…”