Eviction Records and Homelessness
By Patti La Cross
On Sept. 7, I joined Shel Gross, Talib Akbar, and Pam Gates of MOSES, as well as many others both pro and con, in the Wisconsin Supreme Court Hearing Room in the state Capitol to speak in favor of a petition filed by Legal Action Wisconsin. We had learned from the Legal Action lawyers of their effort to change ready public access to eviction-petition filings from 20 years, which has been the norm for quite some time, to one year.
This advocacy was successful!
On Oct. 10, the Wisconsin Supreme Court voted to reduce the time most eviction records must be kept on the state court website (CCAP) from 20 years to 2 years. The ruling applies to cases in which there is no money judgment against a tenant. In 2022 in Wisconsin, there were 25,819 filings for eviction, but only 1,621 filings resulted in an eviction being granted. So, under the new rule, the vast majority of filings would be kept on CCAP for only 2 years. MOSES worked with Legal Action of Wisconsin to press for this rule change.
Below is, essentially, my statement to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In my testimony, I spoke of the impacts of rising homelessness on families with young children, which often results from landlords seeing eviction records and dismissing potential applicants. I witnessed this regularly in my last 10 years with the Madison Metropolitan School District, where I worked largely in homeless shelters supporting families with young children. There I provided early childhood educational opportunities and parenting programs and resources, often collaborating with the schools’ homeless services liaison, Head Start, UW Hospital, and other community resources. I am now active in MOSES, a community organization working in Dane County to eradicate the childhood-to-school-to-prison pipeline.
Carrying the stories of the hundreds of families I have known and informed by current studies on the impact of poverty and insecure housing on young children, I urge the court to reduce from 20 years to 1 year the records of eviction-petition filings. There are lives at stake in this decision.
Evictions, or eviction-petition filings, are directly correlated to poor nutrition, poor sleep habits, and poor school or work attendance. In children, these lead to stress-generated behavioral difficulties, diminished capacity to learn and thrive in school, and overall poor health for both children and parents.
With an eviction on one’s record, housing becomes inaccessible – particularly in this time of housing shortages. A filing often keeps a family without a home for years; a 20- year retention exceeds the life of a child! Overwhelmed parents do not have energy for all that parenting requires.They may lose their job and/or childcare due to transportation issues. This occurs in the very years when young children need reliable schedules and undivided attention from a parent or caregiver to create emotional and social well-being. Stress steals those!
Doubling up of families strains social networks and puts host families at risk of losing their own leases. No woman should ever have to consider whether she should sell her body to get a motel night to keep her children safe and warm in a Wisconsin winter.
It is long known that Black women in Wisconsin are more likely to have eviction petitions filed against them. In our competitive housing market, this leads to even greater racial disparity for adults and their precious children. Individuals exiting jail or prison with an eviction filing have the greatest difficulty finding housing, which is critical to avoiding reincarceration. This further stresses families and communities.
Wisconsin, we can do better! This vicious cycle is unnecessary, and it is time to disrupt it. Ruling to remove these filings from the records in a timely fashion is an urgency of now! Thank you.