Zach Zarnow
Principal Court Management Consultant
National Center for State Courts
303.308.4334
Danielle Hirsch
Principal Court Management Consultant
National Center for State Courts
303.308.4318
NCSC offers eviction diversion resources
Williamsburg, Va., June 18, 2021 — Landlords file about 3.7 million eviction cases a year, and studies show the subsequent evictions often trigger job losses and depression, not to mention homelessness.
If the Centers for Disease Control eviction moratorium ends on June 30, as many expect, eviction cases may flood, if not overwhelm, courts nationwide.
The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) urges court leaders to implement diversion programs -- a win-win for courts, which can lessen their workloads, for landlords, who can receive rental assistance funds, and for tenants, who can avoid eviction, said Zach Zarnow, an NCSC consultant who is working on this issue.
To that end, NCSC has created an eviction diversion diagnostic tool, which provides court leaders with a document that provides guidance, best practices and information from other, similar courts. It also offers advice on how court leaders might cooperate with legal aid and rental assistance and presents them with a model eviction diversion program structure that they can implement.
Besides the tool, NCSC is providing courts with other eviction-related resources, including:
Four short explanatory videos:
- Five Key Considerations for Court Eviction Response;
- Eviction Diversion;
- Procedural Considerations for Evictions; and
- CDC Eviction Moratorium.
And three webinars:
- Handling High Volume Dockets: Spotlight on Eviction Diversion Programs (Part 1) and related materials;
- Spotlight on Eviction Diversion Programs (Part 2) and related materials; and
- Policy Briefing by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The National Center for State Courts, headquartered in Williamsburg, Va., is a nonprofit court organization dedicated to improving the administration of justice by providing leadership and service to the state courts. Founded in 1971 by the Conference of Chief Justices and Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger, NCSC provides education, training, technology, management, and research services to the nation’s state courts