Preventing evictions benefits both landlords and tenants. For landlords, evictions can cost thousands of dollars. For tenants, an eviction can have consequences that reach far beyond losing their home. Without a stable place to live, families could lose their possessions, be forced to move to a less safe neighborhood, and have a hard time maintaining or finding a job, and children may have to switch schools, compounding families’ stress and financial strain. An eviction can follow the tenant for years, appearing on tenant screening checks, preventing them from finding new housing, and affecting their credit.

During the pandemic, a nationwide eviction moratorium was in place, which kept people safely housed and out of congregate settings. Since the federal emergency rental assistance program funds were depleted, DC housing providers have struggled to balance increasing costs and higher rates of unpaid rent.

In response, housing providers advocated for speeding up evictions, and Mayor Bowser and DC Council responded by passing the Rebalancing Expectations for Neighborhoods, Tenants, and Landlords (RENTAL) Act, which reduced the prefiling notice timeline.

But the root causes of eviction are complex, and for tenants, housing affordability challenges persist. Here are three things candidates should understand to help reduce evictions.

1. With evictions exceeding prepandemic levels, better data are essential to improving outcomes

As is true elsewhere, getting data on the DC eviction process is challenging. DC Superior Court lacks the to fulfill all internal and external data requests. The federally funded court has faced budget cuts over the past decade, and requests to Congress (PDF) for additional staff to advance analytic capacity, create public dashboards, and respond to requests were not fulfilled in fiscal year 2026 (PDF).

But since the moratoria ended, evictions have increased every year, with completed evictions in 2024 and 2025 exceeding their 2019 prepandemic levels. Some of this increase likely stems from case backlog and a period when the court was required to enter a stay if a tenant had a pending emergency rental assistance program application. But many people still struggle to afford their rent, and now, significant job losses may be contributing. 

During the pandemic, DC Superior Court moved to virtual hearings, improving tenant participation and making proceedings fairer, but reducing the daily volume of cases heard. A lack of data on the eviction process and bottlenecks will make it challenging to assess the efficacy of the RENTAL Act or any future changes. The court also has 12 judicial vacancies (PDF) across divisions that require Senate confirmation, which makes it even more difficult to accommodate more hearings.

In addition to pushing for fully funding court operations, policymakers could consider funding or working with philanthropy to bring a data fellowship to the court to augment its analytic capacity in the short term and give policymakers the information they need to reduce evictions.

2. Tenants with housing assistance may still struggle with housing instability

Most eligible tenants don’t receive housing assistance, but even those who do—through programs like public housing, housing choice vouchers, or the DC Local Rent Supplement Program—can still struggle to pay rent. In fiscal year 2023, nearly one-quarter of DC’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program recipients (PDF) received housing assistance of some kind. Nationally, public housing authorities file evictions at disproportionately high rates. Data show the DC Housing Authority (DCHA) is among the top 10 housing providers for evictions filed between June 2025 and February 2026.

In many programs, tenants can request increases in housing assistance if their income drops, but legal services providers, housing counselors, and housing providers all report issues with income recertification. It requires extensive documentation, can be disrupted by property manager turnover, and can be complicated by lack of trust between tenants and property managers.

The consequences of eviction are harsh for tenants with housing assistance: They lose their subsidy, face steep barriers to finding another affordable unit, and are disqualified from any DCHA or federally assisted programs anywhere (PDF) until they have paid all debt.

In recent years, new pressures have emerged that increase household instability: “hidden” or “junk” fees, such as common space utility fees that are mandatory but not part of a unit’s rent or utilities, and therefore not covered by a tenant’s voucher or DCHA-provided utility allowance.

To reduce evictions among households with housing assistance, the council and new mayor should ensure strong leadership at and oversight of DCHA, encourage housing providers to rebuild relationships with tenants, and clarify and improve the recertification processes. Candidates can also consider requiring disclosure of fees at lease up or banning junk fees, which would benefit all renters.

3. Intervening earlier could keep people housed and help stabilize landlords

Evictions for nonpayment of rent are driven by a range of factors, including junk fees, a lack of emergency savings, and tenants withholding rent if the landlord isn’t appropriately addressing safety and sanitary issues. Addressing them requires a collaborative, cross-sector approach that engages legal and social services providers, DC agencies, and landlords early—ideally before an eviction is filed in court—to increase the chances of finding a resolution that satisfies landlords and tenants. 

Candidates could consider scaling local efforts or adopting approaches from other communities. For example, Philadelphia’s Eviction Diversion Program connects tenants with housing counselors, and mediation occurs before an eviction is filed in court, increasing agreements between parties and reducing court filings (PDF). HomeStart’s Renew Collaborative, first implemented in Boston, has landlords pay for housing counseling services for tenants at risk of eviction to help them avoid costly evictions and unit turnover. Here in DC, Housing Counseling Services’ Residents Increasing Stability through Engagement program provides individual housing counseling and works with whole buildings to rebuild trust between tenants and landlords to increase tenants’ on-time payments. Though conducted after a case is filed, DC Superior Court also developed the Eviction Diversion Program to bring parties to mediation before the initial hearing.

More can be done to support tenants and landlords

Given how eviction destabilizes tenants, landlords, and cities, DC’s next mayor and council should consider all policy levers to reduce evictions and increase tenants’ housing stability and landlords’ financial stability. Investing in early cross-sector interventions is critical to reducing rent delinquency and keeping DC’s residents most vulnerable to displacement stably housed.