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Eviction rates rank above US average
YOUNGSTOWN
Although Ohio’s economy has improved since the economic downturn, eviction rates in much of the state, including Mahoning County, have not recovered.
According to national data on evictions and related court filings collected by Princeton University, Mahoning’s 2016 eviction rate hasn’t changed much since it spiked from 1.7 percent to 4 percent after the recession began in 2008.
The county’s unemployment rate, however, has rebounded to 5.5 percent in November, down from a high of 14 percent eight years ago.
Donna Wells, vice president of family services for Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley, said eviction is a common contributor to homelessness for many who come through the mission.
“Many times, they’re repeats,” she said. “They have a place and – either for reasons such as they may lose their job, there may be substance abuse – they end up getting evicted from their apartments or they lose their homes.”
An annual count of the county’s homeless population in 2017 reported a total 262 people didn’t have permanent shelter, according to the Mahoning County Continuum of Care, which conducts the count and offers services to help connect homeless people with permanent housing or help mediate between landlords and renters who are at risk of eviction.
Colleen Kosta, Continuum program manager, said she feels there is a dearth of jobs offering livable wages in the area, along with a shortage of affordable housing that accommodates those with physical disabilities – people who more often end up homeless due to an inability to work.
The Ohio Housing Finance Agency reported Mahoning County was short more than 5,200 affordable and available rental units for extremely low-income households between 2010 and 2014.
“Our county, obviously, is targeted high for the opioid epidemic. A lot of people come through our program for substance abuse,” Kosta said. “It all goes hand-in-hand, too. Once you get to the point you’re getting evicted, you’re stressed out and trying to cope.”
In 2016, the most recent year recorded, the county’s eviction rate was 3.7 percent, according to the data. It peaked at 4.2 percent in 2011. The state average eviction rate in 2016 was 3.4 percent. The national average, however, has declined since 2008 to 2.3 percent in 2016.
The rate of court eviction filings on behalf of landlords is higher, but follows the same trend. County landlords filed nearly 2,000 eviction cases in 2016, according to an Ohio Housing Finance Agency report.
More than 600 eviction cases were filed in county area courts between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30 of this year, according to court bookkeeper Robin Santiago. The vast majority of those cases were filed in the area courts in Austintown and Boardman, which have the highest concentration of rental properties among municipalities with area courts.
Wells said she feels the majority of evicted county renters weren’t dumped unfairly – more likely they were unable to manage finances, or were never taught how.
John Muckridge III, president of the Rescue Mission, said the 150-bed mission places clientele in one of several tracks designed to help them find work, set aside a financial “safety net” and learn financing skills.
It’s designed “not just to give a handout but give a hand up,” he said.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to help these folks transition out of the shelter,” Muckridge said.