A significant portion of people in Montana who faced eviction during the pandemic were either single mothers, very low-income, had mental illness issues in their household before they lost their housing or fell into all those categories. Many also ended up homeless, according to a new report from a team of data analysts and civil legal aid providers.
The Montana Eviction Impact Report was released in November by the nonprofit Montana Legal Services Association and sciGaia, an analytics company.
The report’s main conclusion was that evictions stem mainly from working-class people not being able to afford basic necessities.
The study’s authors got back responses from 65 households across the state who had reached out to the association between March of 2020 and September of 2022 for help in dealing with eviction. Every single respondent said they had experienced increased expenses before the eviction, including for medical emergencies, added child care expenses, domestic violence, divorce or added elderly dependents. Almost half of all households facing evictions had at least one child, and 69% had a mental illness in the home.
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“The results, and the stories shared by the respondents, make it clear that an eviction can be hugely traumatic to the affected household and can increase their risk of poverty and homelessness,” explained Emma O’Neil, a development association at the Montana Legal Services Association. “Of the eviction clients who responded to our survey, 30% reported that they were either homeless or temporarily housed with family and friends as the result of facing an eviction.”
The nonprofit, which provides civil legal representation and advice free of charge to low-income people across the state, worked with 480 clients dealing with an eviction proceeding from April of 2020 to August of 2022.
Daniel Webster, a housing attorney with the association, said they formed the Montana Eviction Intervention Project after the pandemic to try to keep people housed. With federal American Rescue Plan Act funds given to the nonprofit by the Montana Department of Commerce, the association is able to pay contract attorneys to help people understand and navigate the eviction process, enforce renter rights to safe housing, negotiate with landlords and assist clients in finding alternative housing.
“The Montana Legal Services Association is the only legal option for tenants facing eviction who can’t afford an attorney,” Webster explained. “They’re often dealing with a host of other issues. 100% of respondents said there was an increase in child care, food and rent expenses before eviction even came into play. They get served with an eviction court complaint they don’t fully understand and it can be difficult.”
Most of the survey respondents made less than $35,000 per year. More than half of respondents said the total cost of the eviction amounted to more than 10% of their yearly income.
When people become homeless because they were evicted, taxpayers in their community often shoulder the burden of providing services like emergency shelter and medical treatment.
“Evictions can impact families and the community as a whole,” Webster said. “It increases the unsheltered population in the community. A lot of our clients have children. That increases child homelessness. People already struggling to pay for child care also struggle to retain stable employment. It affects everybody.”
Montana is in the midst of a severe affordable housing crisis, and wages aren’t keeping up with the increased costs of rent or a mortgage.
The Montana Legislature, made up of many lawmakers who are themselves landlords, did little to help renters in the last session. In May of this year, Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill, HB 282, that was introduced by Rep. Steven Galloway, a Republican from Great Falls who is a landlord. The bill reduced the amount of time a tenant has to respond to an eviction filing in court from 10 days to five days under certain circumstances, and gave other protections to landlords.
Webster said he encourages everyone who gets an eviction notice to contact the Montana Legal Services Association, even if it’s late in the process.
“Even if we can’t keep them in their old place, we can reduce the chance of an eviction judgment if they come to us for help,” Webster explained. “That can hurt their credit.”
To view the full report, visit mtlsa.org/.