Contrary to the public image of the homeless, recently evicted Oklahomans might be pushing a cart loaded with an antique clock or an ottoman that was their grandmother’s prized possession. Someone who has been evicted may find themselves with nowhere to go and their belongings packed up, weighing them down on the road near their former home.
Evictions can be a pipeline to homelessness, lingering like permanent stains on a person’s Oklahoma court record.
While groups like Legal Aid Services and Shelterwell track and publicize the state’s ranking as one of the worst for evictions, the problem isn’t going away. In fact, it’s getting worse. A grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could fund a right-to-welfare program in Oklahoma if local lawmakers are willing to create city codes to make it eligible.
Right to Counsel is a nationwide movement to provide free, guaranteed legal representation to tenants involved in eviction cases. Also known as Expanded Tenant Protections, cities that have adopted right-to-counsel ordinances have seen significant positive results with fewer filings, fewer delinquencies, and far more people staying in their homes than cities without right-to-counsel laws.
Oklahoma’s eviction rate is expected to be higher this year than in 2023
In 2023, 48,278 eviction cases were filed in Oklahoma.
A new report from Legal Aid Services Oklahoma shows evictions are increasing in Oklahoma City this year and flat in Tulsa.
Tenant attorneys work hard to provide legal services and mediation to help people through their eviction hearings and prevent eviction filings before they happen. But because there are no ordinances that define tenants’ right to an attorney, people facing eviction are often left to fend for themselves during the complicated eviction process.
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According to the Legal Aid Services report, Oklahoma City courts received more than 5,700 eviction filings between Jan. 1 and April 30. Tulsa is trending toward the same number of eviction cases as last year, with about 4,100 filings during the same period.
While eviction filings do not always result in a judgment against the tenant, as many as 70% of tenants fail to appear at their hearings, resulting in default losses, according to Brad Senters, director of the eviction prevention division at Shelterwell, an agency that collects data from Oklahoma City eviction courts and provides mediation services to tenants and landlords in eviction disputes during their hearings in Oklahoma County District Court.
When tenants’ rights are balanced with landlords’ rights through legal representation, many more defendants appear at their hearings, cases are dismissed due to improper or illegal filings, and tenants and landlords can reach agreements regarding payment of late rent and fees.
Codes could guarantee right to an attorney in Oklahoma
This year, HUD is offering cities $2.4 million in grants for programs that promote eligibility. To qualify, however, Oklahoma City and Tulsa must adopt eligibility ordinances.
Without legislation governing the right to assistance, tenants who do appear in court can get free legal assistance from Legal Aid Services Oklahoma, better known as LASO. However, they must know that they must do so, and there is no guarantee of legal assistance.
Data from the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel shows that only 4% of Americans who need a lawyer to handle their case hire one. 83% of landlords hire a lawyer to handle their case.
Travis Hulse, Tulsa’s housing policy director, said city officials, Legal Aid Services and Tulsa Public Schools have discussed measures to curb evictions. The discussions have become more urgent as evidence, such as the Point in Time counts that track people experiencing homelessness, shows direct correlations between evictions and homelessness.
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Hulse said Tulsa would likely pass changes to the municipal code to address evictions and homelessness. Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum’s office and the Tulsa City Council have expressed support for bills addressing eligibility, he said.
Since August 2022, Legal Aid Services has been running a pilot program for the right to assistance, providing free legal assistance to 1,824 households with 3,749 inhabitants.
Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Right to Counsel pilot program has produced impressive returns on investment. Legal Aid Services spent $860,000 on the pilot between August 2022 and June and estimated a fiscal impact of about $6.3 million, a return on investment of $7.37 for every dollar spent.
“The right to an attorney is like a city service,” said Michael Figgins, executive director of LASo. “Courts cannot deny representation. In the long run, there will be fewer evictions, not just in court, but especially through preventative legal aid to prevent cases from being filed in the first place.”
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Oklahoma City Councilman James Cooper said a nationwide housing shortage is fueling evictions. His district includes ZIP code 73120, one of the counties in the state with the highest monthly eviction filings.
The disproportionate number of evictions in certain zip codes can be attributed in part to the presence of many large, corporate-owned apartment complexes that initiate eviction proceedings after just one month of rent arrears. The state’s low minimum wage of $7.25 an hour also plays a role.
When essential workers like teachers don’t earn the wages needed to maintain a two-bedroom apartment in most parts of the city (estimated to be more than $19 an hour in Oklahoma City), high rent costs force people to make choices between paying rent and other basic needs like food and medicine.
More: Homeless Alliance’s Dan Straughan explains OKC’s Point In Time count
Oklahoma City’s high eviction rate may also be partly due to population growth over the past decade.
According to the Legal Aid Services report, Oklahoma City was one of only 14 cities in the country to see an increase of more than 100,000 residents between 2010 and 2020.
While Oklahoma has suffered from a so-called brain drain for decades, Cooper said that trend is reversing. People are moving to Oklahoma City for positive reasons, including the cultural success of the MAPS projects and an increase in well-paying jobs, he said.
But with high-income earners moving to Oklahoma City, a massive housing shortage and skyrocketing rents, the city’s low-income earners are suffering, Cooper said. While landlords once struggled to fill their units, landlords can now be selective.
If an applicant has an eviction on his or her court record, in many cases he or she is not eligible for rental housing. The state has a shortage of about 77,000 homes.
Cooper said he hopes Oklahoma City, like Tulsa, will see the value in a right-to-attendance ordinance that protects people living paycheck to paycheck and who could become homeless with a single eviction.
“I really think these things are worth investigating,” Cooper said. “We’ve let too many people slip through the cracks for too long. And we need to acknowledge that and then move on.”
Heather Warlick is a reporter covering evictions, housing and homelessness. Contact her at (405) 226-1915 or hwarlick@oklahomawatch.org.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma evictions are skyrocketing. Legal help may be available
