End the National Eviction Crisis
How You Can Help Stop Homelessness and Prevent Housing Instability
Since the pandemic began, millions of Americans have fallen behind on rent or mortgage payments. Wage and job losses combined with surging rent and home prices to create the perfect storm. Nearly 7.7 million Americans are behind. Despite this, pandemic-related jobless benefits, renter protections, and a nationwide eviction moratorium came to an end in October 2021. As a result, eviction filings are surging across the country.
Experts warn we are spiraling into an eviction crisis that could take years to recover from. And, as The Atlantic reports, the coming wave of evictions is more than a housing crisis. It could quickly turn into a wave of compounding consequences:
A health crisis: being unhoused is linked to an alarming increase in poor physical and mental health outcomes.
A crisis for children: from premature birth to increased risk of substandard housing (think: lead pipes), and making it harder to attend school.
A work crisis: stress and lack of sleep mean many unhoused people are physically and mentally unprepared for work.
Renters, manufactured home residents, homeowners, and community members are coming together to stop evictions, prevent homelessness, and demand housing justice.
Here’s how you can help.
Let your elected officials know you want housing justice
Contact your elected officials to tell them you are concerned about the eviction crisis and care about people experiencing housing instability and homelessness. Write letters, e-mail, call, or visit public officials at the city, county, state, and federal levels asking what they are doing about it.
Tell Congress to Pass the Build Back Better Act
The Build Back Better Act includes historic investments in affordable housing, including rental assistance, public housing, and the National Housing Trust Fund. Learn more and sign this petition from National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).
Support additional bills to end housing instability and homelessness
There are at least 11 other pieces of legislation that housing and homelessness advocates are pushing for. Learn more and take action with NLIHC.
Encourage people facing evictions and experiencing homelessness to get involved, share their experience with elected officials, and vote.
Become a housing advocate
Engaging in collective action at the community level is a great way to make a difference. Get connected with your local, state, or national housing justice or homeless advocacy coalition. Sign up for their newsletters and action alerts. Join a local community group or initiative to promote housing justice, end homelessness, and support the unhoused. For example, you might learn to:
Push your state to fully fund homelessness prevention programs and healthy housing for all.
Support local efforts to create more affordable housing and convert properties to be permanently affordable.
Raise awareness about eviction prevention solutions such as rental assistance programs, legal aid, landlord and eviction mediation, and renter/tenant education.
Help prevent private equity firms from buying up homes by establishing a first right to purchase that would allow land trusts, tenant cooperatives, non-profit owners, and governments the first right to purchase buildings in order to maintain permanent affordability and put people over profits.
No matter what you are most interested in, there’s a group for you.
Look for local members of the Alliance for Housing Justice, National Alliance to End Homelessness, National Coalition for the Homeless, National Low Income Housing Coalition, and Tenants’ Unions, among others.
Or dig deeper to learn more about what local groups are doing on the frontlines of housing justice in your community. Learn from, take action with, and donate to grassroots organizations in your area.
Volunteer and Donate
Support housing and homelessness organizations
Do you prefer to donate to and volunteer with direct services such as legal aid, shelters, financial assistance programs, food pantries, or homeless services organizations? Or are you interested in systems change and supporting organizations tackling the root causes of evictions, housing instability, and homelessness through policy and advocacy, public education, community organizing, and movement building?
There are hundreds of organizations to choose from. Consider one or more of the organizations highlighted in this guide, or find an organization working in your community.
Learn more about how to decide and increase your impact. Read our guides:
Donate necessities to people in need
People facing evictions and experiencing homelessness need food, clothing, personal hygiene items, and sleeping supplies. Donate to your local food pantry, shelter, homeless services organizations, or directly to people in need. Learn more in our How To Donate Goods guide.
Join the Sleep Out movement
Sleep Out is an international movement to end youth homelessness. By raising funds and giving up your bed for one night, you ensure that youth facing homelessness can sleep safely at Covenant House, a youth housing and supportive services organization. Learn more and find an event.
Provide mutual aid
Search for a mutual aid project in your community that is supporting people facing eviction, housing instability, and homelessness.
Take personal accountability
Become aware of your language
We often prefer to use people-first language instead of identity-first language. It’s a way to avoid using labels to define someone with the intention of recognizing the person instead of their trait. For example, a person experiencing homelessness instead of a homeless person.
Further, some people believe that homeless can have derogatory and stigmatizing connotations by implying that one is “less than”. They might say that since home is where the heart is, people are not actually homeless. They may prefer terms such as houseless, unhoused, or unsheltered. When in doubt, use the term that people with lived experience in your community prefer.
Finally, avoid derogatory terms like bum to describe people and terms like slums or ghetto to describe low-income neighborhoods.
Help dispel myths and stereotypes
When you learn about the root causes of eviction and homelessness and understand who the individuals most impacted are, it becomes harder to judge them, blame them for their situation, or ignore them on the street.
Treat people who are unhoused with dignity
One of the best ways to support an unhoused person is to look them in the eyes and acknowledge their presence. Reaffirm their humanity by treating them how you would want to be treated if you were in their situation. If they are asking for donations, don’t ignore them. Giving to people on the street is a personal choice. If you don’t want to give, you can politely decline and wish them well.
Support revitalization instead of gentrification: Don’t say “not in my backyard”
Affordable housing is often built in areas with high crime, few jobs, and struggling schools, perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Further, gentrification displaces long-time, low-income residents from historically disinvested neighborhoods as they become more affluent. Higher-income communities often restrict the construction of affordable housing in their neighborhoods. Not only does this limit the availability of low-income housing, but it also prevents low-income families from access to safe neighborhoods with high-quality schools. It also causes low-wage earners to live farther away from where they work.
Support affordable housing in your neighborhood and help to revitalize historically disinvested and gentrifying neighborhoods by supporting long-time residents.
Learn what to do if you or someone you know is facing eviction
Follow this advice from housing advocates:
Don’t leave your home: You have rights even if you’ve received an eviction notice, but once you leave your home, you give up those rights.
Know your rights: Housing laws and tenant rights vary from state to state. Do an internet search to learn about your rights depending on where you live.
Get help and apply for aid: Contact your local housing justice or tenants’ rights organization. You can also contact a Legal Aid Society near you or the Legal Services Corporation. Search for an eviction mediation program. Check out this comprehensive list of housing assistance programs and resources.
Prepare for court: Learn what to expect, how to best argue your case, and what documents you need to bring.
Learn about and tackle root causes
According to Eviction Lab, 3.7 million evictions were filed in a typical year, even before the pandemic. And for every formal eviction, researchers believe there are two more informal evictions – where landlords illegally lock people out or turn off their utilities to force them to move. Individuals and families who have been evicted are more likely to become unhoused or spend time in a shelter than their peers.
The best way to stop the eviction crisis and end homelessness is to prevent them in the first place by addressing root causes.
Shortage of affordable housing
To reduce the risk of eviction and homelessness, we need more affordable housing options. A recent study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) reports that a full-time, minimum-wage worker cannot afford a one-bedroom apartment in 93% of U.S. counties. And, there is no place in the U.S. where they can afford a two-bedroom apartment. Regardless of income, more than 25% of renters spend more than half their income on rent (note: experts advise that housing should only cost about 30% of your total income to afford the cost of living).
There are several programs to create more affordable housing. For example, public housing (owned and operated by the government), subsidized housing (privately owned but landlords receive partial payment from the government), or affordable housing (programs to keep rent below market rates such as tax credits for developers and rent control).
The need for affordable housing far outstrips the number of available affordable housing units. People can spend years on waitlists, during which time they are vulnerable to homelessness, spend time in shelters, or live in unstable housing. For those lucky enough to obtain affordable housing, there is significant underinvestment in the properties, leading to substandard housing (see below). And many communities suffer from “Not in My Backyard” (NIMBY). While they may believe in the theoretical need for affordable housing, they are opposed to new affordable housing developments in their own neighborhood.
Substandard low-income housing
Substandard housing poses a risk to people’s health, safety, and wellbeing. It includes things from lead pipes, insufficient heating or hot water, faulty foundations, exposed electrical systems, rodent infestations, mold, gas leaks, to the absence of cooking units or refrigerators, and more. The American Housing Survey estimates that nearly six million homes in the U.S are substandard. Further, low-income people are more likely to live in substandard housing and not be able to afford repairs. The risk of homelessness increases with the number of repairs a home needs and the lack of responsiveness by landlords to fix them. Tenants who complain are more likely to be evicted or have lease renewals denied.
Wall Street/private equity takeover of the rental market
Following the 2007 financial crisis, private equity groups and hedge funds bought large swaths of foreclosed homes across the country turning them into rental units. Corporate landlords are interested in short-term profits, not personal relationships and tenant rights. That means they are less responsive to repairs and more likely to evict tenants late on rent and/or charge exorbitant late fees (vs. creating a payment plan). They are also more likely to impose large rent hikes from year to year, even in the middle of a pandemic.
Lack of renter protections
Strong renter protections and enforcement of tenant rights help prevent evictions and end homelessness. This includes increased protections and mediation programs that can limit unnecessary evictions and unfair rent increases. Protections create and enforce rent control laws, rights for tenants living in foreclosed properties, and access to legal representation in eviction court. They also prevent housing discrimination.
Discrimination and lack of fair housing enforcement
Even though the Fair Housing Act — a law to protect people from discrimination when renting or buying a home — has been in place for more than fifty years, rental and homeowner applicants continue to face discrimination. People are denied housing, charged increased rates, or have their homes devalued because of their race, country of origin, citizenship status, disability, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, source of income, and criminal background, among others.
Support individuals most at-risk of homelessness
Despite misconceptions, the majority of people experiencing homelessness are not chronically unhoused or suffering from substance use or mental health issues. They briefly experience homelessness, often due to job loss and lack of affordable housing, before finding stable housing again.
Although eviction, housing instability, and homelessness can affect anyone, certain groups are more at-risk.
Low-income families and single parents
Lack of affordable housing, low-wage jobs, and reduced work hours are the most significant risk factors for low-income families and single parents. Others may become unhoused due to an unexpected medical emergency or other unanticipated bills. Sometimes it’s because of conflict in a crowded housing situation or violence within the home. Lack of housing is traumatic and destabilizing for anyone. For families, it can mean agonizing decisions about staying together or splitting up to secure safe housing and keep kids in school.
Youth
LGBTQ+ youth, pregnant and parenting youth, and disabled youth who face family conflict are highly vulnerable to homelessness. Young people of color, particularly those who have had involvement with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, are also disproportionately impacted.
Disabled people
Disabled people are at increased risk of becoming homeless due to high levels of stigma and discrimination, lack of access to social supports and services, and inaccessible housing at unaffordable prices.
While we often prefer to use people-first language, many people in the disability community prefer “disabled person” because they feel that identity-first language is destigmatizing and affirming. When in doubt, go with what the people around you prefer.
People who have been to prison
Prison Policy Initiative reports that people who have been to prison are ten times more likely than the general public to experience homelessness. They face barriers to employment and discrimination in housing and rental applications. And given the criminalization of homelessness, and the lack of re-entry services available to the recently released, it means that the formerly incarcerated are more likely to be arrested and imprisoned again. This creates a revolving door of incarceration and homelessness.
Seniors
Older people who rely on social security benefits as their sole source of income face rising food, medicine, and healthcare costs that can push them into poverty. With a lack of affordable housing specific to the senior community, older people living in poverty are vulnerable to becoming unhoused.
Veterans
In addition to overcoming challenges to affordable housing and lack of employment opportunities following deployments, veterans with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder often struggle with housing stability. While Vietnam vets are at the greatest risk, veterans returning from Afghanistan, Iraq, and other deployments are also impacted.
People struggling with substance use or mental health issues
People with substance use and mental health disorders are at the highest risk of chronic homelessness (aka being unhoused for over a year, or repeatedly). Once they lose housing, it is difficult for them to re-enter stable housing. This population is particularly vulnerable because, in addition to their complex health conditions, they are more likely to live in unsheltered locations unsuitable for human habitation (think: on the street, in a park, under a bridge).
Support the Housing Justice National Platform
The Alliance for Housing Justice is a movement of tenants, homeowners, and allies, building power and winning victories for housing justice all across the country. They propose the following solutions:
Create affordable, community-controlled, social housing.
Protect renter and mortgage holders from displacement.
Provide reparations for centuries of racist housing and land policy, and indigenous land theft.
Strengthen and enforce fair housing.
De-commodify housing and regulate Wall Street.
Ensure all homes are healthy and sustainable.
Learn more and get involved at HousingJusticePlatform.org.
Take Action
Choose one action and just do it!
Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. Everyone has something important to offer. We present a range of actions that empower you to help in ways that are right for you. Whether you have five minutes or five hours, you can make a difference.
Learn more in our How To Be An Everyday Activist guide.
Make a difference on the issues you care about.
Become an Everyday Activism Network supporter and receive our Learn and Take Action newsletters delivered straight to your inbox.
About Everyday Activism Network
Everyday Activism Network is a one-stop-shop where you can learn about and take action on a variety of social justice issues and causes. Each week, we publish new pguides designed to support your everyday activism.
Take Action guides provide a variety of purposeful actions to choose from.
How To guides help you learn how to optimize an action for maximum impact.
Terminology guides educate you on terms and concepts related to social justice and taking action.
Inspiration guides spotlight organizations and changemakers doing great work and how to support them.
By doing the research and planning for you, we provide opportunities for you to easily engage on the issues you care about, making better use of your time, talent, and resources. Whether you have five minutes or five hours, you can make a difference.
Read more about How It Works.
Subscribe | Donate
Support this work and receive newsletters delivered straight to your inbox
Learn & Take Action
Explore our archive to learn how to help on a variety of social justice issues and causes.
Follow & Engage
See guides as a graphic slideshows and join a like-minded community of everyday activists.
Originally published December 14, 2021.
Guides identify both fast actions that you can take in under five minutes and more time-intensive actions that deepen your engagement. Our fast actions tend to be time-bound, as a result, some guides in the archive may contain expired links. Not to fret, we also recommend anytime actions that never go out of date.