Facing an eviction? How Louisville landlords and renters can avoid it altogether

Bailey Loosemore, Louisville Courier Journal
·3 min read
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Every week, hundreds of eviction cases make their way through Jefferson District Court, where struggling renters are often ordered to move out while some landlords never receive the money they're owed.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

A new program from Louisville Metro Government is aiming to resolve rental issues before they ever make it to a docket – allowing property owners to save money on court costs while keeping evictions off tenants' records.

The eviction mediation program, which quietly launched at the beginning of April, is being funded with $2 million from the city's American Rescue Plan allocation and is similar to programs already showing success in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. It's expected to run as a pilot through at least June 2024, said Marilyn Harris, director of Develop Louisville.

A mediation program also recently started in Lexington, where city officials committed $1.9 million in federal funding to services provided by Legal Aid of the Bluegrass and the Kentucky Equal Justice Center.

More: How Louisville's housing authority went from hundreds of evictions to zero

"It's been well documented that every eviction on your record reduces your quality of housing," even if a judge dismisses it, said Harris, who initially proposed starting an eviction mediation program in early 2020, just before the pandemic. "What we want to do is encourage landlords to come through mediation, not have to pay to file an eviction, not have to pay to hire an attorney. ... And hopefully (both parties) get made whole through the mediation."

Louisville is contracting with local company resolve: Restorative Practices to implement its program, which is free to both landlords and tenants. For the pilot, mediation services will be offered only in cases involving past due payments, and rental assistance will be available to tenants who have not already reached their 18-month limit through the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program, Harris said.

Here's how the program works:

  • Landlords can request mediation through the resource page at StopMyEviction.org.

  • Landlords and tenants will both be asked to fill out an online assessment ahead of their appointment.

  • The parties will meet with a mediator in person, typically within two weeks of requesting a session.

  • If a resolution is reached, both parties will sign an agreement to hold up their end of the bargain.

  • If a resolution is not reached, landlords will receive priority on the next Friday's eviction court docket.

Related: Evictions are rising. And Louisville isn't doing enough to prevent them, nonprofits say

Megan McGinn, a project manager involved in distributing rent assistance through Louisville's Office of Housing, said eviction cases currently take more than four weeks to reach the district court docket. And going through mediation should be quicker and more cost-effective, especially for small landlords.

Shannon Floyd, principal mediator for resolve: Restorative Practices, said she knows it will take some convincing to get property managers and owners on board. But as she's already asked some, "What do you have to lose?"

"When you have an eviction on your housing record, it's almost like having a felony," said Floyd, a licensed social worker who's been a mediator since 2020. "It's going to forever impact you. Where you live, how you live. ... We also see it from the perspective of you've come into a contract with this landlord and signed off on it and you are bound to it. Just like you, the landlord has bills to pay too.

"When we come at that table, we see both aspects. Both sides are humanized. That's the whole goal."

Floyd said she's hired three mediators to handle eviction cases for the city's pilot program. And while interest from landlords has been slow to start, she's confident the program will help reduce the number of evictions filed in Louisville.

"I have high expectations for us," she said.

Reach reporter Bailey Loosemore at bloosemore@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4646 or on Twitter @bloosemore.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville starts eviction mediation program using federal ARP funds