Evicted in Dane County, Wisconsin: A Collaborative Examination of the Housing Landscape
UW Memorial Union 800 Langdon St., Madison, Wisconsin 53706
press release: Students and faculty of the UW-Madison Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URPL) released a report today titled “Evicted in Dane County, Wisconsin: A Collaborative Examination of the Housing Landscape.” The graduate-level community-based research course that prepared the report worked closely with the Tenant Resource Center (TRC) to analyze fifteen years of data on eviction notices issued in Dane County. This statistical and spatial analysis of eviction data was supplemented by interviews with nonprofit housing providers, policy analysis of legislation governing landlord-tenant law, and key stakeholder interviews with housing advocates and legal service providers. URPL and TRC will host a panel discussion on Thursday, October 27, 12-2pm in the Festival Room of the Memorial Union to present the major findings of the report and discuss its implications. Major findings of the report include:
Race is the most important factor explaining eviction in Dane County. The most nonwhite neighborhoods experience a disproportionate number of eviction filings.
Income alone does not explain eviction patterns in Dane County-- student-oriented neighborhoods close to campus have some of the lowest median household incomes yet they also have relatively low eviction totals.
A small group of plaintiffs (those seeking the eviction of tenants through the court) account for a majority of eviction cases. Just 100 plaintiffs account for over half (52%) of all cases since 2000 (21,493 cases).
The legal landscape governing landlord-tenant relations and the eviction process has shifted in recent years to favor landlords:
eviction proceedings are happening faster, tenants have fewer options for recourse, and municipalities are afforded fewer opportunities for local regulation;
the powers of landlords to access personal information, dispense with personal property, and make summary judgements regarding tenant behavior have expanded greatly; and
the most recent change, 2015 Wisconsin Act 176, has tremendous potential to displace tenants based on landlords’ perceptions of possible criminal activity.
These findings and more will be discussed at the October 27th panel discussion.