Philadelphia’s Eviction Diversion Program is on its way to becoming permanent

Early in the pandemic, when lots of people lost work and were struggling financially, Philadelphia created what became a nationally recognized program to help renters avoid eviction.

Almost four years and several iterations later, landlords are required to participate in the Eviction Diversion Program, which can include going to mediation and negotiating with tenants, before they file for evictions in court in most cases. Participating landlords also may receive a few thousand dollars from the city for missed rent.

The city has extended the program several times, including most recently in October 2022, when City Council voted to continue it through this June.

Now, the program that has drastically cut the number of evictions filed in Philadelphia is on its way to becoming permanent. On Wednesday, City Council’s housing committee passed a bill on to the full Council that would remove mention of any ending date. Twelve of Council’s 17 members — a veto-proof majority — introduced or cosponsored the legislation, so it is sure to become law.

» READ MORE: Philly lawmakers want to expand eviction diversion and rent relief as Mayor Parker proposes cuts

The bill the committee passed Wednesday continues the program as long as funding is available to run it. At the committee hearing, people representing both landlords and tenants emphasized that the continued availability of direct rental assistance is key to the success of the program. But Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s proposed budget cuts the city’s contribution to the Targeted Financial Assistance program, which gives funds to qualifying landlords in the diversion program.

During a Council hearing in March, Rob Dubow, the city’s finance director, said the city had committed to two years of funding. At the committee hearing Wednesday, Mark Dodds, interim deputy director of the city’s Division of Housing and Community Development, said the agency supports the continuation of the Eviction Diversion Program, which he said is crucial to achieving the mayor’s housing goals. Dodds said continued funding “will need to be part of the annual budget negotiations.”

Council members who introduced legislation to make the Eviction Diversion Program permanent also are advocating for more rental assistance.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia is extending Eviction Diversion Program through middle of 2024

“When coupled with rental assistance, the Eviction Diversion Program is one of our city’s most effective anti-displacement programs ever,” said Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, chair of the housing committee and one of the architects of the program. “And it is a racial justice program, too. Because an overwhelming majority of tenants who face eviction are single Black mothers.”

Tenants with eviction filings on their records have a harder time finding safe and affordable housing in the future, even if the evictions never actually happened or if they occurred years before when the tenants’ circumstances were different. That’s why the city’s program requires landlords to participate before filing in court.

From March 15, 2020, to May 1, landlords have filed for more than 41,400 evictions in Philadelphia, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. That’s less than half the number filed in the same time period before the pandemic. An average of 10,000 fewer evictions have been filed each year in Philadelphia, while other cities’ filings have gone back to pre-pandemic levels.

Landlords are required to send tenants notice of their rights to diversion, and they have to participate in the program “in reasonable good faith” for at least 30 days.

Housing counselors share resources with tenants, and if volunteer mediators are available, they help landlords and tenants negotiate. Those negotiations can result in a tenant staying in a home under certain conditions or agreeing to leave a home without being formally evicted. When mediation is involved, roughly 70% of landlords and tenants in the program have reached agreements.

Landlords whose tenants qualify for rental assistance can receive a few thousand dollars for back rent and up to two months’ worth of additional rent.

» READ MORE: Tenant advocates and Pa. lawmakers want to seal eviction records, which can be barriers to future housing

If issues aren’t resolved within 30 days, landlords can file for evictions in court.

Philadelphia renter Mercedes Peterson testified at Wednesday’s hearing that she lost her job last summer and got a new one that started in January. But soon after that, she said, she was in and out of the hospital because of an illness and lost that job. She fell behind on her rent, and her landlord sent her an eviction notice.

A housing counselor in the Eviction Diversion Program helped her negotiate a payment agreement with her landlord, and she is now current on her rent.

“Through mediation, tenants like me have a chance to save our homes, instead of getting steamrolled through the eviction process,” she said.

Adam Weintraub-Barth, a senior attorney at the SeniorLAW Center, was one of many tenant advocates who expressed support for the program on Wednesday. He said it has saved thousands of tenants from the worst outcomes and will save thousands more. But, he said, clients have shared frustrations.

Landlords sometimes send representatives to mediation meetings who don’t know the facts of cases or don’t have the authority to settle cases, he said. Some participating tenants are told to negotiate directly with their landlords and then don’t hear from them. Some reach and stick to an agreement, he said, but their landlords still file for eviction in court.

Steven Chintaman, vice president of government affairs at the Pennsylvania Apartment Association, which represents more than 38,000 units of rental housing and 49 management companies in Philadelphia, testified Wednesday that the association opposes making the Eviction Diversion Program permanent in its current form because of “regulatory concerns” and wants to work with Council and other stakeholders to address them.

He said the association recommends that the city create a program that applies only to tenants who are facing eviction because of nonpayment of rent and who qualify for rental assistance. The association also wants “a seven-day prescreening period” to determine whether tenants qualify for financial assistance, as well as “a permanent and sustainable funding source for the Eviction Diversion Program.”

Paul Cohen, general counsel for HAPCO Philadelphia, the city’s largest association of rental property owners, agrees with the Pennsylvania Apartment Association’s recommendations and said in an interview that the diversion program’s 30-day delay in the eviction process hurts the small landlords the city relies on to provide affordable housing for residents.

He said eviction is a last resort for most landlords, who already have tried to work with tenants.

“There’s some misconception out there that landlords want to evict tenants,” he said. “When a landlord is evicting a tenant, it’s because there is no other alternative available for the landlord to be able to collect the rent due or to evict a tenant that is causing a problem.”

City Council could vote on making the Eviction Diversion Program permanent as soon as next Thursday.