Despite calls to stay at home and shelter in place during the peak of COVID-19, eviction filings never stopped in Utah.
By April of 2020 filings did substantially slow to just 216, but as pandemic relief measures end, they are once again spiking, explained Dejan Eskic, senior research fellow at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, during the debut event of the “Storytelling through Data Forum series” on Wednesday. The quarterly events, a collaboration between The Salt Lake Tribune and the Gardner Institute, will focus on data-grounded conversations critical to Utahns’ quality of life.
“We’re seeing evictions explode,” Eskic said. “We’re getting back to the pre-COVID levels, but the caveat is we’ve spent over $200 million and probably even more on rental assistance and that rental assistance expired in February.”
In Feburary, 596 evictions were filed statewide. This past March, the number shot up to 765.