From [HERE] The constable has been busy this year. Court filings to evict tenants across Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, hit a single-month record of more than 8,000 in January. They have remained at higher than typical levels for much of the year. 

Phoenix has emerged from the pandemic as one of America’s eviction capitals. Among U.S. cities, counties or metro areas for which regular data is available, Maricopa County holds one of the highest eviction rates, at 16 filings per 100 renter households during the past year, according to Eviction Lab, a research group at Princeton University that tracks evictions in 35 U.S. cities and 10 states. Some households receive multiple filings, and not all filings result in evictions.

That ranks Phoenix ahead of other big Sunbelt cities that in recent years have also seen an elevated number of eviction notices, including Houston and Las Vegas. 

Evictions are one outgrowth of the U.S. housing shortage and lack of affordability. Filings went down across the country during the national pandemic eviction moratorium. They have risen everywhere since then, remaining below historical averages in some cities while surging far above those averages in others.

The elevated eviction filings also follow a sharp acceleration in rents, when pent-up demand during the pandemic flooded supply-short housing markets with people looking to rent. Those rent increases have pushed some lower-income tenants to the brink of what they can afford. 

“We are known as a landlord friendly state, and that attracts a lot of capital,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in an interview. In Phoenix, she added, “we don’t control evictions.” Those rules are set by the state. Right. But she controlled the city’s COVID lockdowns, which destroyed jobs and businesses, thereby by preventing working class people from being able to pay rent.

The mayor—whose oft-used motto itself was a false choice: “Lives over livelihoods”—bragged about the virtue of excessive shutdowns and argued that imposing COVID restrictions that were “too drastic” was “a sign of success.” Her spokeswoman threatened those whose actions presented a risk: “…I will track you down, torture and end you. Will hunt you—you will suffer more than you could ever imagine.” Gallego joined an informal coalition colloquially known as the “Lockdown Lobby”—comprised of Democratic politicians, liberal activist groups, and their subservient allies in the local media—which waged a relentless public relations campaign in the months that ensued with the singular goal of pressuring Republican officials to clamp down on Arizonans’ livelihoods, no matter the cost. Their coalition embraced the concept of overwhelming intimidation. [MORE]

Apartment rents in Phoenix rose about 35% from 2019 to 2023, and home sale prices went up more. Both have cooled somewhat recently, but not enough to make a difference for Maricopa County’s population of 4.6 million, which has grown by more than 20% since 2010. Rising rents are one reason Phoenix had the country’s highest increase in overall inflation two years ago. [MORE]

COVID-19 protections for renters did not help thousands in metro Phoenix who were eligible to remain in their homes during the pandemic.

Some Phoenix-area landlords, particularly those who own apartment complexes in lower-income neighborhoods, continued to file for evictions.

Landlords used aggressive fast-track methods to get renters out, even as tenants were protected by federal and state moratoriums for nonpayment.

Some landlords challenged tenants’ eviction-ban protections in court in the later months of the pandemic as 1-year leases expired.

And a few landlords filed to evict the same tenants multiple times, according to an Arizona Republic investigation.

Eviction filings were down about 55% between the end of March 2020, when the first eviction moratorium took effect, and the end of February 2021, compared with the same months one year prior.

But landlords in Maricopa County still filed for almost 30,000 evictions during those 11 months. Most filings cited nonpayment of rent, but some cited breaches of lease or the end of a lease, not lack of payment, as the cause of the eviction.

Tenants who were kicked out of their homes during the pandemic have struggled to find new places to live. Their evictions are public record, and with metro Phoenix’s rental market booming, landlords can choose from many other potential tenants. [MORE]