What is going to be the long-term impact if operators require or have guidelines not to accept evictions?

Warning long post:
Coffee thought this morning….
We operate in Houston. Houston JPs are processing over 7000 evictions a month, lets assume just 50% of these make it to the writ stage, that’s 3500 renters a month are coming back into the market to rent at a new place. According to this article the up tick started April of 2022 and just in our operations I can confirm this is continuing.
www.khou.com/.../285-167aea38-bbe3-435a-8b75 ...
Since the eviction holds were lifted, we have seen an increase in application denials (50% at some assets).
What is going to be the long-term impact if operators require or have guidelines not to accept eviction/landlord debt for a period. Where will these renters go? What changes can we make to this policy to not only ensure these renters have housing, but that we don’t have declining occupancy rates?
How can we pivot from our standard practice when our practice is to protect owners from the risk of nonpaying tenants from moving in?
I know we have been able to maintain occupancy and have been seeing heavy increases to traffic, but at some point, I must assume this will come to a head….
I don’t think more relief is the answer… I believe the dependency of government funds, created this problem. But if something doesn’t give… will we loose half of our renters? Where will people go?
Have you made changes to your operations, whats working, whats not?
 

Gonna need more of those Free Stimmy Checks! It’s time to sit down and make changes to the screening. What are you willing to accept? Practical thinking. They’re not all bad, so it’s a matter of sifting though to get to the good ones. Honestly, it’s an opportunity.

Chris Finetto exactly… I’m just curious if anyone has made changes, if so what and how is it going?

Courtney Vitek - I did, although the evictions were dated. Occurring a while back during covid. They basically broken leases due to finances. They didn’t squat, if that makes sense. Handled case by case. No regrets on any of them. They had a good long track record prior to covid. Got the boot at some point. Came to me after bunking up with relatives or friends or rented a real crap-hole place. But had strong current employment. Basically, I disregarded the covid period in evaluating.Yes, fair housing needs told me I’d go to jail. But, I was careful and documented the steps. If I did wind up in court, I had a very defendable position.

Doesn't help that that rent rates in HOU are significantly climbing. When people can't afford rent this is what happens.

Josué Adam the taxes at most of my sites also increases 20-29% This isn’t just Houston, this is happening everywhere

Josué Adam rates in St.Louis are climbing as well

This is what we're seeing in VA as well. It's concerning. Especially with the drastic rent increases. Our renters income isn't going up $300 a month. Hell OUR income isn't. I don't see this being sustainable long term.. But I am very concerned that our homeless population is going to grow significantly and our occupancy rates are going to drop.

Autumn Elizabeth right. I feel like we should be brainstorming

Autumn Elizabeth you are forgetting that every year newly graduated college aged adults, that don't have evictions, are leaving the nest and looking for their first place.

Tim Brookbank newly graduated kids typically don't meet the income requirements. At least not often on our property. And their parents rarely meet cosigner requirements. So those numbers are not a wash. And new waves of residents doesn't change the concern about the growing homeless population.

Autumn Elizabeth would you rather take a chance on a new renter, or one that broke the rules and had to be forced out? As far as homeless goes, nobody made them break the rules, it was a choice. The landlord didn't make them take a vacation, or bring home the puppy, or trash the bathroom.

We’ve seen way too many fake proof of income lately, we’re leasing and denying about 50%. And the free legal aid attorneys are working hard to clear the eviction records for them with our tax $$$

Maria Perla Vazquez sooo many fraud income for us too!!

Our decline rate has grown significantly. 40% decline rate over the last 30 days. So has the occurrences of fake paystubs and bank statements. We have different levels of deposits. Our screening company doesn't screen for evictions. It won't show up unless the judgement is put into place.