“Civil government . . . is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.”
Adam Smith wrote this in The Wealth of Nations, which was published in 1776. And before the United States celebrated its 25th birthday, cities, counties and states had passed laws to guide the eviction of tenants.
Andrew Scherer, who teaches law at the New York Law School, argues that the ghost of those early laws are present in today. In the article linked below, he sets out a case for abolishing evictions.
Scherer argues that the punishment of eviction is disproportionate to the crime. The issue is ‘not paying rent,’ a matter of financial debt. Instead, the law views the financial debt of ‘not paying rent’ as a super-crime. Eviction proceedings vary from one place to another, but three examples illustrate ways the processes serve landlords, not tenants:
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- Most jurisdictions have special courts that are designed to deal with eviction cases quickly. Scherer reports on studies of cases in eviction courts in New York and Chicago. The average hearing time was five minutes and less than three minutes, respectively.
- In some jurisdictions, once the eviction process starts, there’s no turning back, even if the arrears are fully paid off before the case is heard.
- In eviction courts, tenants are rarely entitled to legal representation.
Then there’s the execution of judgement, when armed men escort tenants out of their homes and then throw the tenant’s furniture and personal possessions into the street.
The violence of the eviction process continues beyond the actual event. Landlords and employers can deny housing and jobs to people who have been evicted. Mental and physical health suffers. And let’s not forget that a substantial proportion of the people who are evicted are kids. When kids lose their housing, they miss out on school and their friends and family.
In place of the current system, Scherer presents a replacement that is rooted in the United Nations’ Right to Adequate Housing1.
One of the central measures in Scherer’s proposed system is right to legal representation for tenants in eviction proceedings. His article includes a list of places where legislation that guarantee a tenant’s right to representation during an eviction has been passed in the United States.
Scherer’s article is obviously intended for the United States, but his list of measures to replace eviction law could apply in other countries.
You can read Scherer’s full argument in the Fordham Urban Law Journal: Stop the Violence: A Taxonomy of Measures to Abolish Evictions
Footnotes
- For more, see at the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights: The Right to Adequate Housing
