“Everybody Loves the Landlord”: Evictions & the Coming Prevention Revolution

By
Brian G. Gilmore
41 Mitchell Hamline L.J. of Pub. Pol’y and Prac. Symp. 201 (2020)

 In the 1960’s and early 70’s, landlord-tenant law experienced a legal revolution. Tenants secured procedural rights and substantive rights they had never before been able to assert in landlord-tenant proceedings. This development resulted in major changes in how landlord-tenant cases were litigated and many jurisdictions across the country embraced developments in other state courts by codifying some of the changes to the law. However, forty years or more later, the benefits of that first revolution in the law are minimal to most tenants facing eviction. In addition, the country is currently facing an eviction epidemic in many jurisdictions. This article asks the most basic questions regarding this rise in evictions. Is it time for a second and more substantial legal revolution in landlord-tenant law and policy to address the eviction epidemic? Also, what current positive developments have been successful in reducing eviction?