Since 2012, more than 6,800 renters and their families have been evicted annually in the city, according to a report from the Public Justice Center released this month.
News Story (Maryland)
Julia Craven
Huffington Post
December 10, 2015
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: Housing: Eviction, Rent Court, Research/Data
Organizations mentioned/involved: Public Justice Center (PJC)
DETAILS
Only Detroit has more renters in danger of losing their homes.
“Many of these struggling renters feel that the public has tuned out their stories or flipped those stories against them.” the report says. “They face complex legal challenges on their own, without an attorney or even legal information to know their rights. At the same time, city leaders show little interest in understanding the cause of these evictions and their effects on community, family, employment, health and education.”
These issues are a reflection of Baltimore’s housing market. Over half of the city’s households are renting, and most of them fall into the “very low income” category. The median income for renters sits at $27,000, the report found. Three in every five households in the city earn under $35,000. Citywide, around 25 percent of renting households spend at least 50 percent of their annual income on rent.