Eviction Moratoria & Housing Policy: Federal, State, Commonwealth, and Territory

Researchers employed longitudinal policy surveillance to comprehensively describe state responses to the eviction crisis resulting from the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing through the end of substantive state intervention. The study relied on an exhaustive collection of all emergency orders and legislation that controlled the eviction process, related to protections under federal moratoria, or provided support to tenants and that were issued by state governors, courts, and legislative bodies between March 13, 2020 and March 1, 2022. Researchers developed a dynamic, novel dataset consisting of over 50 indicators which captured the temporal and substantive features of these moratoria and renter-supportive measures. To confirm that the dataset was complete, researchers provided state governors and court officials with lists of collected orders from their states and incorporated any needed additions. From this validated dataset, researchers created a time series cross-sectional dataset that tracked changes in a state’s overall eviction moratoria and supportive measures over time. For a complete description of the variables tracked, please see the codebooks included with the dataset.<br>