Evictions have a more devastating effect on children

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The Americans most at risk of eviction are babies and toddlers, according to new data that provides the fullest demographic picture yet of who lives in rental households facing eviction nationwide.

Children under 5 make up the largest group by age of those whose households have had an eviction filed against them, weathering instability during crucial years for their development.

These children are typically invisible in legal documents that track eviction cases and that name only adults and tenants summoned to court. But by linking hundreds of thousands of eviction files to detailed census records, researchers at Princeton, Rutgers and the Census Bureau have identified the other people living in these homes.

All children, and especially the youngest, account for a disproportionate share of those threatened with eviction, the study found.

“When I started writing about these issues, I kind of thought kids would shield families from eviction,” said Matthew Desmond, who leads the Princeton Eviction Lab and contributed to the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “But they expose families to eviction.”

That is true, researchers, tenants and lawyers said, because renters with children face added financial burdens, limited housing options, and often discrimination from landlords.

“When I started writing about these issues, I kind of thought kids would shield families from eviction,” said Matthew Desmond, who leads the Princeton Eviction Lab and contributed to the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “But they expose families to eviction.”

That is true, researchers, tenants and lawyers said, because renters with children face added financial burdens, limited housing options, and often discrimination from landlords.

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