This research studies the mechanisms through which eviction and housing instability affect low-income families. Eviction is a frequent source of housing instability among the urban poor, and recent research suggests that it is a key factor limiting the upward mobility of American families. Yet existing evidence on the consequences of eviction is based on comparisons of evicted tenants to similar non-evicted tenants, making it difficult to isolate eviction as a root cause of urban poverty rather than a symptom of other causes such as job loss or deteriorating health. This research contributes to the existing body of evidence by evaluating the causal effects of eviction on three sets of outcomes: household relocation, financial health, and children's educational outcomes. The investigators use linked administrative data on eviction court cases, outcome data after the court ruling, and a quasi-experimental design. In addition to estimating the causal impact of eviction, this research provides new descriptive evidence on the common pathways into eviction, information on the population facing eviction, and the types of financial stresses that precede an appearance in eviction court.
This research investigates the causes and consequences of residential eviction for low-income American families. The investigators assemble a novel dataset on over 700,000 eviction court cases from Cook County, IL, and link these cases to several administrative datasets, which allows them to measure: (1) household relocation, including neighborhood choice, household composition, and homelessness; (2) financial health, including employment, earnings, public assistance receipt, and access to credit; and (3) children's educational outcomes, including school switching, disenrollment, absenteeism, academic achievement, and behavioral incidents. This research uses a quasi-experimental research design to identify the causal impact of eviction on these outcomes. For identification, the investigators leverage the random assignment of judges to eviction cases, along with variation in leniency across judges. This research uses linked credit data and administrative data to study the population appearing in housing court, the evolution of financial strain in the run-up to eviction, and whether the consequences of eviction differ by the sources of financial distress, contrasting negative shocks from more gradual declines in financial health.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
