Transdisciplinary research team evaluates Knox County eviction defense program
A transdisciplinary team of three University of Tennessee researchers – Dr. Stephanie Casey Pierce (Political Science), Dr. Solange Muñoz (Geography & Sustainability), and Professor Wendy A. Bach (Law) – have been asked to develop and lead a rigorous evaluation of a new initiative to expand access to legal counsel for tenants facing eviction in Knox County, Tennessee.
In October 2023, Knox County announced a partnership with Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) to increase the number of lawyers and paralegals at LAET who will offer legal counsel to income-eligible tenants at various stages of the eviction process. Pierce, Muñoz, and Bach were already working in coalition with other local advocates, researchers, and policymakers to study and improve local housing policy when Knox County announced this new initiative, and as such, were asked to lead the evaluation of the initiative.
The team’s transdisciplinary approach, which will involve both qualitative and quantitative evaluation strategies, offers a practically and academically significant opportunity to evaluate the effects of legal representation on tenant outcomes. The evaluation will add rigorous evidence as to the effectiveness of legal representation in terms of case outcomes, housing stability, housing quality, and client satisfaction. In addition to these outcomes, the evaluation will document client experiences with housing instability and eviction as well as their experiences of going through the legal process, with the goal of understanding how legal representation contributes to clients’ knowledge about housing rights, resources and services attained during the legal process, their ability to understand and access these resources and services, and how this ‘social capital’ leads to more stable housing and an increased quality of life.
“The eviction rate is just one piece of data, and we can look at other data pieces related to eviction outcomes. But really, there’s still a dearth of academic research understanding the experience of the tenant. So the things that they are dealing with when they are renting, particularly renting lower income units in lower income communities and how those challenges relate to their risk of eviction. And that’s important because I think eviction is a symptom and not just an outcome,” said Pierce. The researchers suspect that the qualitative part of the study will not only reveal the effects of access to counsel but the very many needs still present for low income families experiencing housing instability.
Much of the evidence on access to legal counsel for tenants focuses on major cities and uses historical court data to estimate potential outcomes of these kinds of programs. This evaluation, however, will be conducted in a mid-sized Appalachian city and will provide data about the actual impact of expanded legal counsel on tenant outcomes. This practical evidence will be essential to organizations and policymakers considering whether to expand access to legal counsel in their jurisdiction and designing programs and supports that might meet the broader needs of communities experiencing housing instability.
“I think really being able to document the experiences of the clients will help lawyers in a very practical way to understand what this process looks like from the client’s perspective,” said Muñoz. “And, to be able to produce research that is for the people, by the people, and about the people in this region is extremely important.”