For the first time, statewide eviction data are being collected, analyzed, and shared publicly on two new websites. A team of researchers led by Dr. Lisa K. Bates, Professor in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning and in Black Studies, is compiling and analyzing eviction records and making it available for the public, housing advocates and policymakers. Dr. Bates is also an HRAC faculty member.

The need to better track and understand evictions in Oregon has been a leading call of housing activists historically — and with growing urgency since the affordable housing crisis and the pandemic. As lawmakers, municipalities, and nonprofits worked to help keep people housed during the pandemic, it became clear that a lack of data made these efforts all the more difficult. It underscored a need for the public and policymakers to be able to see how, where, and why evictions happen across the state.

“Making eviction court data visible and usable begins to shed light on how evictions are playing out across Oregon; but there is much more to learn and act on. This project will also include community-based research to expand what we know about eviction as one driver of housing injustice and racial inequities,” Bates says. 

The Evicted in Oregon website houses monthly eviction data, graphs and maps; information about how to work with eviction data in organizing efforts and policy recommendations; and educational resources about the eviction process. The team is also collaborating with the Evictions Research Network, a group of researchers at U.C. Berkeley who specialize in analyzing racial & gender disparities in eviction using social & data science techniques.