Columbus tenants face eviction, rising rent prices

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Every morning, James Mackey sets up shop at the Franklin County Municipal Court to help central Ohioans avoid being evicted from their homes.

Attorneys with The Legal Aid Society of Columbus, like Mackey, represent upward of 100 tenants in eviction court right on the spot. With no call ahead or preparation required, they connect people facing eviction each day with assistance programs to help cover the rising cost of rent, Mackey said.

Although eviction filings have decreased by about 10% from 2017 to 2021, records from Franklin County Municipal Court indicate that landlords filed for 1,677 evictions in January — the most the court has seen since March 2021.

Despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide eviction moratorium from September 2020 to August 2021, Mackey said the “unclear” ruling — whose interpretation was largely left up to the courts — didn’t have much of an impact on the number of evictions filed by landlords.

“Landlords were still free to file evictions, have eviction hearings every step of the way,” he said.

The moratorium, he said, only blocked a court from approving the physical removal of a tenant from their home — which also required tenants to “jump through some hoops” and file the correct paperwork to avoid being kicked out.

As landlords’ evictions filings steadily rise, Mackey said tenants facing evictions, who are disproportionately mothers of color, are not only met with a shortage of affordable housing in central Ohio, they’re also witnessing skyrocketing rents.

“The lowest-cost rentals in Columbus are sometimes renting $800 to $1,000 or more — which is not nearly enough for people making minimum wage or on disability,” Mackey said.

If a landlord raises rent, Mackey said they only have to provide tenants with 30 days’ notice, which doesn’t provide renters with much cushion.

“In my experience, it’s absolutely not enough time, especially in a rental market where the market is so tight,” he said. “It takes tenants often months just to get approved for a new apartment.”

While Mackey and The Legal Aid Society of Columbus have been able to connect tenants with rental assistance programs that have provided them with up to 15 months of funding, he said he’s skeptical that evictions and rental prices will spiral downward in the near future.

“It’s a wave that I don’t see stopping anytime soon,” Mackey said. “Rents are only going up while wages are not following them, so I think this is a problem people need to turn their attention to before it gets out of control.”

Contact The Legal Aid Society of Columbus at 614-224-8374.