While the state of Ohio did not institute a general eviction moratorium, the courts in Franklin County (Columbus) halted the processing of non-emergency eviction filings between March 16 and June 1, 2020. To maintain social distancing, court operations shifted to the Greater Columbus Convention Center after reopening.
More detail on eviction protections in Ohio can be found on the COVID-19 Housing Policy Scorecard.
* Filings in the last week may be undercounted as a result of processing delays. These counts will be revised in the following week.
Eviction filings in Columbus were very close to historical averages in January and February of 2020.1 Filings dropped dramatically in March and have mostly remained below average as eviction processing resumed.2
Columbus is divided into 284 census tracts. In each of those tracts, we map the number of eviction filings over the last four weeks. If you toggle below you can see these numbers as eviction filing rates—the number of eviction filings divided by the number of renter households in the area—or compared to the typical number of filings in the average year.1 2
American Community Survey (ACS) data allow us to categorize neighborhoods by their racial/ethnic majority: White, Black, or Other/None. In January and February 2020, eviction filings were concentrated in majority-white neighborhoods. Eviction filings dropped across all neighborhoods by March and April, but have moderately increased in recent months.
When you toggle the figure to see data relative to average, comparisons are being drawn–within the same set of neighborhoods defined by racial/ethnic majority–between filings in 2020-2021 and average filings in previous years.1
