50 signatures reached
To: South Carolina House and Senate
Expunge Evictions in South Carolina
Evictions can impact so many parts of our lives. The process of applying for a new place can be nerve wracking and expensive. From deposits, application fees, and the time it takes finding a place with the right needs is a fight within itself.
Expunging an eviction means that the record is erased from the court system’s public view, treating the eviction as if it never happened. Once an eviction has been expunged, prospective landlords should not be able to see the eviction on the tenant’s rental history. Additionally, an expunged eviction allows an applicant to answer “no” when a landlord or property manager asks if an applicant has ever been evicted.
Expunging an eviction means that the record is erased from the court system’s public view, treating the eviction as if it never happened. Once an eviction has been expunged, prospective landlords should not be able to see the eviction on the tenant’s rental history. Additionally, an expunged eviction allows an applicant to answer “no” when a landlord or property manager asks if an applicant has ever been evicted.
Why is this important?
Who’s Impacted?
The eviction crisis disproportionately harms communities of color and children, who experienced high rates of eviction, housing insecurity, and cost burdens prior to the pandemic.
1 in 5 renters behind on rent and likely to face eviction in the United States are Black women.
Black women, who faced higher rates of job loss during the pandemic and experience one of the most severe wage gaps in the United States, are now more vulnerable to eviction and housing insecurity than they were prior to the pandemic.
A recent study by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) found that in at least 17 states, Black female renters were filed against for eviction at double the rate of white renters, or higher.
Latinas and Asian, non-Hispanic women were also more likely than white, non-Hispanic men or women to report not being current on rent payments.
What’s the solution?
The looming eviction crisis isn’t just about falling behind on rent and losing one’s home to eviction. It’s also about the records of those events, captured in court documents and credit reports, that will haunt thousands of South Carolinan renters.
We are asking our South Carolina renter and residents if they believe our South Carolina Legislature should order that eviction filings be sealed and eligible for expungement from public record, particularly cases where the eviction filing results in dismissal or settlement.
Eviction data is frequently made available to landlords, who routinely rely on screening policies that deny housing to renters who have previously been named or involved in any eviction case—regardless of the outcome or if the eviction was unlawfully filed. In addition, tenant-screening companies, which are given unrestricted access to court records, sometimes create “tenant blacklists'' based on eviction records that are misunderstood, incomplete, incorrect, and outdated. This is particularly damaging for women, people of color, low-income renters, and children who are named on their parents’ eviction filings or complaints.
No one holds a “crystal ball” to determine who will or will not default on a rental agreement. If we look at individual renters as a whole person and evaluate most recent payment history and seal filings and evictions over 3-5 years old, this allows the landlords and property managers to evaluate the applicant’s current standing and financial fitness for renting.
Sealing and expunging eviction records in South Carolina would be an effective way to reduce the lasting consequences and outcomes of eviction. Expunging records makes it possible for people to move on with their lives after a difficult period without having their financial past hang over their heads forever.
Do you agree?
The eviction crisis disproportionately harms communities of color and children, who experienced high rates of eviction, housing insecurity, and cost burdens prior to the pandemic.
1 in 5 renters behind on rent and likely to face eviction in the United States are Black women.
Black women, who faced higher rates of job loss during the pandemic and experience one of the most severe wage gaps in the United States, are now more vulnerable to eviction and housing insecurity than they were prior to the pandemic.
A recent study by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) found that in at least 17 states, Black female renters were filed against for eviction at double the rate of white renters, or higher.
Latinas and Asian, non-Hispanic women were also more likely than white, non-Hispanic men or women to report not being current on rent payments.
What’s the solution?
The looming eviction crisis isn’t just about falling behind on rent and losing one’s home to eviction. It’s also about the records of those events, captured in court documents and credit reports, that will haunt thousands of South Carolinan renters.
We are asking our South Carolina renter and residents if they believe our South Carolina Legislature should order that eviction filings be sealed and eligible for expungement from public record, particularly cases where the eviction filing results in dismissal or settlement.
Eviction data is frequently made available to landlords, who routinely rely on screening policies that deny housing to renters who have previously been named or involved in any eviction case—regardless of the outcome or if the eviction was unlawfully filed. In addition, tenant-screening companies, which are given unrestricted access to court records, sometimes create “tenant blacklists'' based on eviction records that are misunderstood, incomplete, incorrect, and outdated. This is particularly damaging for women, people of color, low-income renters, and children who are named on their parents’ eviction filings or complaints.
No one holds a “crystal ball” to determine who will or will not default on a rental agreement. If we look at individual renters as a whole person and evaluate most recent payment history and seal filings and evictions over 3-5 years old, this allows the landlords and property managers to evaluate the applicant’s current standing and financial fitness for renting.
Sealing and expunging eviction records in South Carolina would be an effective way to reduce the lasting consequences and outcomes of eviction. Expunging records makes it possible for people to move on with their lives after a difficult period without having their financial past hang over their heads forever.
Do you agree?