City Council plans to oversee for-profit eviction officer whose deputies shot two people last year

City Council members are moving to impose new regulatory oversight on the city’s little-known, for-profit eviction system.

A new bill unveiled in City Council this week comes less than a year after Angel Davis was shot in the head by a private security contractor working for a lawyer known as the “landlord-tenant officer.”

That case was followed by two more involving private security contractors serving lockout orders: In one, a deputy shot a tenant in the leg. In the other, a shot was fired at but missed a dog. The shootings sparked outrage over the city’s privatized eviction system and raised questions about Philadelphia’s unique reliance on an outside lawyer to handle the bulk of court-ordered evictions.

A spokesperson for the city’s landlord-tenant officer, Marisa Shuter, declined to comment on the bill.

Councilmember Kendra Brooks — who introduced the bill with the support of a majority of colleagues on Council — said the legislation would establish a formal licensing system for the office.

In order to obtain a license from the city, deputized contractors would have to pay a $500 fee and complete a 189-hour basic training course, roughly based on use-of-force course requirements for sworn law enforcement officials who typically conduct evictions, such as deputy sheriffs and constables. They would further be required to present proof of liability insurance and display the license while performing evictions.

Brooks said the “Angel Davis Eviction Accountability Bill” would not transform what she described as a broken system that puts struggling renters at risk of violence. But it was a step toward reform and offered some justice for such victims as Davis.

» READ MORE: Explaining deputy landlord-tenant officers, who carry out evictions in Philly

“Angel suffered permanent physical, mental and emotional damage, and has a long road to recovery,” Brooks said at a news conference Wednesday. “Despite the debilitating injuries, she has expressed a deep desire, not just for her own healing, but for real change for the reckless for-profit system that put her life in danger and continues to endanger the lives of Philadelphians every day.”

The shootings last year triggered a temporary halt to private evictions, and resulted in a barrage of lawsuits as well as state legislation seeking to ban private evictions outright — so far, to little effect.

Shuter and court administrators also declined to attend hearings Council held to probe the office’s role after the Davis shooting in June. A month later, the courts barred Shuter from carrying out evictions after a second tenant was shot, lifting the ban in August after Shuter introduced new guidelines for her deputies.

Brooks said that wasn’t enough.

Although the city’s sheriff is also legally empowered to perform evictions, in practice Philadelphia landlords primarily rely on the landlord-tenant officer. Philadelphia is the only jurisdiction in the commonwealth to use such a system.

Court administrators appointed Shuter to serve as landlord-tenant officer in 2017. She, in turn, has hired contractors, mainly retired police or suburban constables, who are deputized to deliver eviction notices or perform lockout orders approved by judges. In exchange, Shuter is granted the right to collect millions in associated fees from landlords.

Instances of deputies using lethal force were scarce until last year. But the cases raised a deluge of questions about the lack of training, oversight or other regulatory strictures over the office.

If passed, the bill would also require contractors to perform 29 hours of continuing education courses annually, and pay a $300 license renewal fee each year. The legislation would prohibit license renewal for applicants involved in a violent case or malfeasance during an eviction in the year before renewal.

The list of contractors currently working for Shuter is a mystery, as is their training or credentialing. The men are sometimes mistaken for law enforcement, even by police.

Davis, for instance, was shot by a private security contractor who had primarily worked gigs at nightclubs and other businesses and was facing eviction himself before going to work for Shuter. Former deputies described low pay and a crushing workload, sometimes serving up to 10 eviction notices in a single day.

» READ MORE: Philly’s for-profit eviction system slammed in lawsuit after security contractors shot tenants

Other reforms to the office would require action in Harrisburg. State Sen. Sharif Street, who cosponsored a bill to ban private lawyers from carrying out evictions after the Davis shooting, said poor communication with tenants about impending lockouts is also a recipe for violence. He also suggested that the for-profit nature of the system could encourage deputies to cut corners.

“We cannot foreclose the possibility that there are inappropriate fiscal incentives to do things in an inappropriate way,” he said Wednesday.

The landlord-tenant officer came up with a set of new safety guidelines in August, requiring two-member crews to serve eviction notices, including at least one person with law enforcement training. Landlords are now required to fill out “safety forms” in advance of lockouts, while assessed fees were subsequently increased. Evictions resumed shortly afterward.

But a law is needed to keep them in check, Davis said during brief remarks in Council chambers Wednesday.

“Hopefully, no one would have to experience the trauma that I have experienced going through the eviction process,” Davis said. “Hopefully the laws of eviction will be changed everywhere in the United States, starting in Philadelphia first.”