MAP: Eviction filings are above normal in South Florida. See where the highest rates are.

With South Florida’s steamy rental market showing little sign of relief, landlords have been filing a higher-than-normal number of evictions in the past 18 months, according to a new nationwide database.

The filings — one step in the process required for a tenant to legally be kicked out — have been on the rise across the country as rental relief programs all but expired after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the Miami metropolitan area, more than 100,000 evictions were filed since March 15, 2020, according to new data from The Eviction Lab.

“People are struggling without the help,” said Grace Hartley, an Eviction Lab research specialist. “Housing is not affordable nationally, and that certainly applies to South Florida.”

An analysis of the data shows eviction filings in South Florida were higher in each of the first six months of 2023 compared to the same months in 2022, Hartley said.

Beyond the end of pandemic-induced rental assistance and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium, the rising number of filings is largely influenced by the exceedingly high rents in the region.

“Rent is just going up everywhere, and certainly Miami is no exception,” Hartley said.

A high rate

Real estate economist Ken H. Johnson said more filings are also expected because South Florida’s population has “increased pretty significantly in the last few years,” and incomes are scrambling to catch up with the influx of growth.

The end of rental assistance, rising rent costs, lagging income and competition for open space have contributed to a 5% eviction filing rate in the Miami metro area since mid-2023.

That means five out of 100 renters are filed against, Hartley said, adding that 2 to 3% is considered high.

Eviction Lab’s data is only a partial picture of the situation, since it only tracks official residential eviction filings. Some landlords evict tenants in unofficial — or under-the-table — ways.

“A landlord isn’t necessarily going to always file,” Hartley said. “This is all definitely an understatement. For every one eviction filed in court, there’s at least one other that is not.”

These “under-the-table” evictions — where a tenant leaves the unit without having gone through the legal process initiated by the landlord to file a formal eviction — often happen because tenants believe they don’t have legal standing to push back.

“We know filing on its own is definitely an indicator of stability,” Hartley said. “Even if it doesn’t get through the court, people still might leave, might be forced out, and it’s enough to kind of give people a kick down that is really harmful.”

Eviction causes and impacts

Some areas have higher eviction filing rates than others, and that is “almost certainly directly tied to income,” Johnson said.

“You’ll find higher wealth averages as you move toward the coast and higher incomes,” he said. “Unfortunately, evictions have been higher as income and wealth go lower. So there’s an inverse relationship between those two.”

Johnson pointed out that areas with more affordable housing may actually have higher levels of eviction filings because that type of housing is often built where incomes are lower.

“Affordable housing isn’t going to be in toward the beach,” he said. “Land costs less as you move inland, but there’s still going to be this trend that has been there forever that as you get to lower average incomes, lower average wealth, that’s going to be inversely related to evictions.”

Kevin H. Fabrikant, a lawyer with the Eviction Law Firm, which has an office in Hollywood, said landlords in lower-income areas often rent to high-risk tenants because the risk outweighs the cost of having vacant units.

“The last thing a landlord really wants is a vacant unit,” he said. “That does them no good.”

As for specific areas in South Florida, Fabrikant said no one city emerges as the epicenter of eviction filings because large cities such as Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale often have pockets of low-income areas.

Johnson said the data does not suggest an eviction crisis. “Of course I would like to see lower evictions,” he said. “But I don’t think we’re on the verge of an eviction crisis.”

Who gets evicted?

Even though the situation is not a crisis, renters are feeling the effects of a harsh market, Hartley said, and many people are just one emergency away from an unavoidable eviction.

“A lot more people are becoming burdened,” Hartley said. “The smallest thing might come up — your kid breaks an arm and you’re out $3,000 for the hospital — and then all of a sudden you can’t pay your rent and you’re evicted.”

Families are often among the groups bearing the brunt of evictions, Fabrikant said, because moving to a new apartment is usually more difficult for them than for an individual.

“It’s not so easy for a family of two, three, four to just grab a new place, pack the kids up, get the toys, get the diapers, get the changing table, get all this stuff, throw it in the car and find a new place,” he said.

A large number of elderly people face evictions too, he said, perhaps because they’ve become so accustomed to where they live they become steadfast in not wanting to move, even if the price has soared.

Fabrikant said he also sees “roommate situations” where one roommate in a unit of a few can no longer pay rent, effectively placing the financial load on everyone else.

Getting evicted often has lasting impacts. Eviction filings are associated with increased homelessness and people tend to experience general health declines following an eviction, including suicide and depression, Hartley said.

“It’s not like, oh, poor people get evicted, it’s that you get evicted for some circumstance,” Hartley said. “(It can) ruin people’s lives very quickly, especially because so many Americans are living right on the edge of their budget.”

Fabrikant said he always encourages tenants to reach out to their landlord, even if the tenant does not have the means to make their monthly payment.

“You don’t know what the landlord’s thinking,” he said. “A lot of tenants are either embarrassed or they’re afraid to hear the response that the landlord is saying, ‘No, I’m not reducing anything if you can’t pay, get out now.’ And so tenants are often afraid, but I tell them, do what you got to do, get yourself pumped up, listen to some good music, have a shot of whiskey, do something and then make that call to the landlord.”

For those facing eviction or who may need rental or homeless assistance, the Eviction Lab has a website for resources by state at justshelter.org/community-resources. Services are available in each county at: miamidade.gov or 786-469-4600, broward.org/RentAssistance or 954-831-3727, and rentalassistancepbc.org. or 561-355-4700.