This report details the diversity of court-based and court-adjacent eviction prevention and diversion programs that were created or adapted to prevent evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this resource, eviction prevention and diversion programs are defined as "programs aimed at preventing evictions from reaching the courts or divert existing cases away from formal legal proceedings by using some combination of legal assistance, housing counseling, rental assistance, negotiated settlements, and other alternatives to formal eviction hearings."
The report includes information on 47 state and local programs from across the U.S. that fit within this definition of eviction prevention and diversion programs. The researchers included all court-based programs that either started or were substanitally modified in response to the pandemic. Of the programs included, 29 were created in response to COVID-19 and 18 of these did exist before the pandemic but had to be adapted or modify in response to the pandemic. Additionally, 19 of the 47 programs are based in courts. The report provides a variety of information about the programs including key features, program components, program design, challenges faced, outcome tracking, and lessons learned.