ABSTRACT
Evictions are a common contributing factor to homelessness and are experienced overwhelmingly by vulnerable populations, including low-income households, single parents, and minority groups. At the same time, social and affordable housing providers serve increasingly vulnerable populations. Although all evictions are potentially problematic, those that occur in social and affordable housing can carry particularly severe consequences. Little research exists on evictions in social and affordable housing, and there is even less on eviction prevention practices in this sector. This project seeks to fill this research gap by exploring emerging eviction prevention practices in social and affordable housing in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Our findings show that evictions are a complicated process for both tenants and housing providers, and most commonly occur because of rent arrears. Housing providers try to prevent evictions, and toward this end, they have adopted four broad eviction prevention practices, centered on financial management, regular communication with tenants, provision of tenant supports, and community development. However, housing providers are often constrained in their ability to prevent evictions, in particular by human resource and financial limitations. These challenges lead to complex negotiations between housing providers’ social mandates to provide affordable housing to vulnerable households and their regulatory and operational environments.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Damian Collins
Damian Collins is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Alberta.
Esther de Vos
Esther de Vos is Director of Policy, Research and Education at Capital Region Housing.
Joshua Evans
Joshua Evans is Assistant Professor of Human Geography at the University of Alberta.
Meryn Severson Mason
Meryn Severson Mason is a Policy and Research Analyst at Capital Region Housing.
Jalene Anderson-Baron
Jalene Anderson-Baron was a Policy and Research Analyst at Capital Region Housing.
Victoria Cruickshank
Victoria Cruickshank completed a BA (Hons) in Human Geography at the University of Alberta.
Kenna McDowell
Kenna McDowell is an MA student in Human Geography at the University of Alberta.