9 ms·

The Eviction Tracking System: Monitor the number of U.S. eviction cases

119 points by hhs 6y ago

klmadfejno 6y ago
The main page says there's a housing crisis caused by COVID but then every single city, with one exception, shows a relatively sizeable decrease in number of filings. Maybe there's a lag in the data, but I don't understand why they would show the data like this if it didn't remotely correspond with their thesis.
- thephyber 6y ago
  When I clicked thru from main page to a municipality, I see > Eviction filings in Boston, MA have fallen sharply since eviction proceedings were suspended across Massachusetts on March 17. I think it's perfectly fine (even more desirable) to show accurate data rather than only show data which "corresponds with their thesis". It's probably more valuable to have the data for this lull before the homeless cliff happens.
  - klmadfejno 6y ago
    I mean, yeah, obviously you should show all of the data. But if the data is that across the board, evictions are down, you shouldn't headline it with "In the midst of a pandemic, a growing number of families face the threat of eviction.". The opposite is true. The point that eviction proceedings are suspended is also totally relevant, and their thesis in the long term may be accurate. But their way of showing data here is counterproductive to conveying that understanding. Worse, if we imagine that the pandemic has had no impact on evictions and that things will just resume to normal levels once the suspensions are over, the dashboard is going to flare red and look apocalyptic. For the record, I do think the pandemic is going to have a fairly severe impact on housing problems. I just don't think this is a good way to show it. You need charts over time with well labeled events that are affecting the data.
- rurp 6y ago
  From the site... >Some states have passed temporary eviction moratoria >Once these measures expire, however, millions of renters will owe significant amounts of back rent. For many, a displacement and eviction crisis will follow the public health crisis.
- caymanjim 6y ago
  Eviction courts have been closed in NJ for months. Same is true in many states and localities.
hpoe 6y ago
So I read how they get their data which is from city court systems that allow their data to be extracted programmatically. Then I wondered why dont we just put in the effort to standardize on a common data format and start making government info available across multiple levels of government. I mean most government forms could be replaced with a pretty simple html form. Then I realized how many people would fight till their last dying breath to keep that data from coming to life to prevent the exposure of their crimes. And I don't just mean high level national officials but the thousands of county and municipal people all across the country that have their little practically harmless side graft going on.
- jasonjayr 6y ago
  I'm gonna spam out my new favorite quote from a week ago "When you get the data into a nice, clean, dense form, stuff just falls out of it" - Saul Pwanson (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-plagiarism-scandal-is-unfolding-in-the-crossword-world/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-plagiarism-scandal-is...)
  - randycupertino 6y ago
    > A Plagiarism Scandal Is Unfolding In The Crossword World Huh! I recently "discovered" this myself because sometimes when I was stuck on crosswords I would google the clue and the answers would show all the different places and puzzles the clue has appeared. I just assumed that all crosswords everywhere sourced the same question databank and everyone stole clues and reprinted them everywhere else based on how many times they've appeared in various places. Didn't realize crosswords were even supposed to be originally written! Fwiw, have been more into NYTimes Tiles games lately :) Interesting link- thnx!
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - coolgeek 6y ago
    That article was from four years ago. More importantly, prior to clicking on the article, I would have bet a lot of money that Saul Pwanson was Paul Swanson's Twitter handle.
lerie1982 6y ago
"get the data", https://evictionlab.org/eviction-tracking/get-the-data/ https://evictionlab.org/eviction-tracking/get-the-data/
- feep 6y ago
  A dataset for NYC evictions. https://qri.cloud/xristosk/nyc_evictions_2020 https://qri.cloud/xristosk/nyc_evictions_2020 disclaimer: I work for qri.io.
aww_dang 6y ago
The intro content suggests that this site may have a political bias. Otherwise I would find the data interesting. However the map only has data up to 2016.
- mikeyouse 6y ago
  What in the world shows a "political bias" in this paragraph? Caring about homelessness? > The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened America’s housing crisis. The nation’s most severe public health emergency in a century may cause large spikes in eviction and homelessness. In response, we have created the Eviction Tracking System to monitor weekly updates on the number of eviction cases being filed across the United States. Scroll down to view full reports on the cities in which we are operating, and to learn more about the project.
  - jccooper 6y ago
    Depends what you mean by "political". It clearly has a bias towards "eviction moratoria", going so far as to publish a "scorecard" in which that's basically the only criteria. One should always be suspicious of data from someone with a policy axe to grind.
    - mikeyouse 6y ago
      The scorecard on the website "EvictionLab.org" is focused on evictions.. The scorecard has ~20 categories that might be important to renters. Again, not seeing how it's political beyond being biased toward "evictions are bad." https://evictionlab.org/covid-policy-scorecard/ca/ https://evictionlab.org/covid-policy-scorecard/ca/
  - II2II 6y ago
    > What in the world shows a "political bias" in this paragraph? Caring about homelessness? They are aligning themselves with one side of an issue. Whether you agree with them or not, it does demonstrate a bias. The language used is editorialized. Words like "crisis" or "large spikes" express an opinion rather than a fact. They could have made quantitative statements about homelessness, evictions, or the shortage of housing to let the reader decide whether this is a crisis or what constitutes a large spike. Even if you agree with their bias, it is important to avoid expressing bias since it may undermine the very issue that you want to address. For example: landlords may be unsympathetic to this language, even though it will affect them negatively.
jimbob45 6y ago
Anecdote: eviction was never a huge threat against me. I have parents who I could stay with if things came to that. It was the early termination fees ($3000+ non-negotiable) that caused me to lose the most sleep.
- pnutjam 6y ago
  and good luck renting anywhere else if you have that on your credit report, at least anywhere desirable. You'll end up in crappier housing for a minimal reduction in rent.
- hash872 6y ago
  I mean, you could easily not pay the 'early termination fee', and dare the landlord to do something about it. Not advocating for skipping out on debts, but just from a practical point of view (having worked in the real estate industry): very unlikely they'd be able to enforce it, and if they did go to court and you told a judge you didn't have the funds, it would almost certainly be dismissed. You could just e-mail the landlord 'sorry, I'm broke and don't have any money right now, feel free to waste time in court if you'd like'. 80-90% chance they'd just let the fee go. Then if they did, another 70-80% chance it'd be dismissed by a judge or magistrate. People put one-sided things in contracts, but the odds are very high that they could never actually enforce them
  - AmericanChopper 6y ago
    > You could just e-mail the landlord 'sorry, I'm broke and don't have any money right now, feel free to waste time in court if you'd like'. You'd be better off offering to pay some very small amount, pretending as though you were acting in good faith. Regardless of the merits of the contract, judges tend not to like 'I dare you to enforce the law' taunts.
    - hash872 6y ago
      Sure, yeah, I wouldn't put 'I dare you to enforce' in writing. And paying a small amount is a good idea. I just think people on HN being unrealistic about how real estate law actually works is part of why these comments sections are filled with 'landlords are evil', left-wing populism. A huge huge number of tenants are going to simply not pay their landlords in this recession, and in practice the landlord has zero recourse. Millions of tenants are going to skip out on billions in rent, and it's not like a judge is going to enforce all these judgments in over-crowded housing court or small claims court or something. When the courts reopen, months from now, with a massive backlog. This is doubly true for blue state judges. If you add up all the court cases in blue states where the defendant says 'sorry, I lost my job, I can't finish my lease or pay the termination fee or whatever', their win rate is like 90-95%+
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

119 points by hhs 6y ago

The main page says there's a housing crisis caused by COVID but then every single city, with one exception, shows a relatively sizeable decrease in number of filings. Maybe there's a lag in the data, but I don't understand why they would show the data like this if it didn't remotely correspond with their thesis.

thephyber 6y ago
When I clicked thru from main page to a municipality, I see > Eviction filings in Boston, MA have fallen sharply since eviction proceedings were suspended across Massachusetts on March 17. I think it's perfectly fine (even more desirable) to show accurate data rather than only show data which "corresponds with their thesis". It's probably more valuable to have the data for this lull before the homeless cliff happens.
- klmadfejno 6y ago
  I mean, yeah, obviously you should show all of the data. But if the data is that across the board, evictions are down, you shouldn't headline it with "In the midst of a pandemic, a growing number of families face the threat of eviction.". The opposite is true. The point that eviction proceedings are suspended is also totally relevant, and their thesis in the long term may be accurate. But their way of showing data here is counterproductive to conveying that understanding. Worse, if we imagine that the pandemic has had no impact on evictions and that things will just resume to normal levels once the suspensions are over, the dashboard is going to flare red and look apocalyptic. For the record, I do think the pandemic is going to have a fairly severe impact on housing problems. I just don't think this is a good way to show it. You need charts over time with well labeled events that are affecting the data.
rurp 6y ago
From the site... >Some states have passed temporary eviction moratoria >Once these measures expire, however, millions of renters will owe significant amounts of back rent. For many, a displacement and eviction crisis will follow the public health crisis.
caymanjim 6y ago
Eviction courts have been closed in NJ for months. Same is true in many states and localities.

hpoe 6y ago

So I read how they get their data which is from city court systems that allow their data to be extracted programmatically. Then I wondered why dont we just put in the effort to standardize on a common data format and start making government info available across multiple levels of government. I mean most government forms could be replaced with a pretty simple html form. Then I realized how many people would fight till their last dying breath to keep that data from coming to life to prevent the exposure of their crimes. And I don't just mean high level national officials but the thousands of county and municipal people all across the country that have their little practically harmless side graft going on.

jasonjayr 6y ago
I'm gonna spam out my new favorite quote from a week ago "When you get the data into a nice, clean, dense form, stuff just falls out of it" - Saul Pwanson (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-plagiarism-scandal-is-unfolding-in-the-crossword-world/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-plagiarism-scandal-is...)
- randycupertino 6y ago
  > A Plagiarism Scandal Is Unfolding In The Crossword World Huh! I recently "discovered" this myself because sometimes when I was stuck on crosswords I would google the clue and the answers would show all the different places and puzzles the clue has appeared. I just assumed that all crosswords everywhere sourced the same question databank and everyone stole clues and reprinted them everywhere else based on how many times they've appeared in various places. Didn't realize crosswords were even supposed to be originally written! Fwiw, have been more into NYTimes Tiles games lately :) Interesting link- thnx!
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- coolgeek 6y ago
  That article was from four years ago. More importantly, prior to clicking on the article, I would have bet a lot of money that Saul Pwanson was Paul Swanson's Twitter handle.

lerie1982 6y ago

"get the data", https://evictionlab.org/eviction-tracking/get-the-data/ https://evictionlab.org/eviction-tracking/get-the-data/

feep 6y ago
A dataset for NYC evictions. https://qri.cloud/xristosk/nyc_evictions_2020 https://qri.cloud/xristosk/nyc_evictions_2020 disclaimer: I work for qri.io.

aww_dang 6y ago

The intro content suggests that this site may have a political bias. Otherwise I would find the data interesting. However the map only has data up to 2016.

mikeyouse 6y ago
What in the world shows a "political bias" in this paragraph? Caring about homelessness? > The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened America’s housing crisis. The nation’s most severe public health emergency in a century may cause large spikes in eviction and homelessness. In response, we have created the Eviction Tracking System to monitor weekly updates on the number of eviction cases being filed across the United States. Scroll down to view full reports on the cities in which we are operating, and to learn more about the project.
- jccooper 6y ago
  Depends what you mean by "political". It clearly has a bias towards "eviction moratoria", going so far as to publish a "scorecard" in which that's basically the only criteria. One should always be suspicious of data from someone with a policy axe to grind.
  - mikeyouse 6y ago
    The scorecard on the website "EvictionLab.org" is focused on evictions.. The scorecard has ~20 categories that might be important to renters. Again, not seeing how it's political beyond being biased toward "evictions are bad." https://evictionlab.org/covid-policy-scorecard/ca/ https://evictionlab.org/covid-policy-scorecard/ca/
- II2II 6y ago
  > What in the world shows a "political bias" in this paragraph? Caring about homelessness? They are aligning themselves with one side of an issue. Whether you agree with them or not, it does demonstrate a bias. The language used is editorialized. Words like "crisis" or "large spikes" express an opinion rather than a fact. They could have made quantitative statements about homelessness, evictions, or the shortage of housing to let the reader decide whether this is a crisis or what constitutes a large spike. Even if you agree with their bias, it is important to avoid expressing bias since it may undermine the very issue that you want to address. For example: landlords may be unsympathetic to this language, even though it will affect them negatively.

jimbob45 6y ago

Anecdote: eviction was never a huge threat against me. I have parents who I could stay with if things came to that. It was the early termination fees ($3000+ non-negotiable) that caused me to lose the most sleep.

pnutjam 6y ago
and good luck renting anywhere else if you have that on your credit report, at least anywhere desirable. You'll end up in crappier housing for a minimal reduction in rent.
hash872 6y ago
I mean, you could easily not pay the 'early termination fee', and dare the landlord to do something about it. Not advocating for skipping out on debts, but just from a practical point of view (having worked in the real estate industry): very unlikely they'd be able to enforce it, and if they did go to court and you told a judge you didn't have the funds, it would almost certainly be dismissed. You could just e-mail the landlord 'sorry, I'm broke and don't have any money right now, feel free to waste time in court if you'd like'. 80-90% chance they'd just let the fee go. Then if they did, another 70-80% chance it'd be dismissed by a judge or magistrate. People put one-sided things in contracts, but the odds are very high that they could never actually enforce them
- AmericanChopper 6y ago
  > You could just e-mail the landlord 'sorry, I'm broke and don't have any money right now, feel free to waste time in court if you'd like'. You'd be better off offering to pay some very small amount, pretending as though you were acting in good faith. Regardless of the merits of the contract, judges tend not to like 'I dare you to enforce the law' taunts.
  - hash872 6y ago
    Sure, yeah, I wouldn't put 'I dare you to enforce' in writing. And paying a small amount is a good idea. I just think people on HN being unrealistic about how real estate law actually works is part of why these comments sections are filled with 'landlords are evil', left-wing populism. A huge huge number of tenants are going to simply not pay their landlords in this recession, and in practice the landlord has zero recourse. Millions of tenants are going to skip out on billions in rent, and it's not like a judge is going to enforce all these judgments in over-crowded housing court or small claims court or something. When the courts reopen, months from now, with a massive backlog. This is doubly true for blue state judges. If you add up all the court cases in blue states where the defendant says 'sorry, I lost my job, I can't finish my lease or pay the termination fee or whatever', their win rate is like 90-95%+

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]