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Disaster Discordance: Local Court Implementation Of State And Federal Eviction Prevention Policies During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Lauren Sudeall, Elora Lee Raymond, Philip M.E. Garboden

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Eviction sits at the nexus of property rights and the basic human need for shelter—the former benefits from a strong framework of legal protection while the latter does not. In most eviction courts across the country, therefore, the right to housing is unrecognized, while landlords’ economic interests in property are consistently vindicated.

The public health crisis unleashed by COVID-19 temporarily upended that (im)balance. Emergency federal and state eviction prevention policies issued in response to COVID-19 prioritized public health—-and the need for shelter to prevent the spread of disease—-over typically dominant property rights. In doing so, they presented courts with an …