IOC Affiliates Published and Presented Research on Housing and Eviction Protections

Recently, Boston University Initiative on Cities affiliates Dr. Molly Richard, a Postdoctoral Scholar at Boston University’s Center for Innovation in Social Science (CISS), and Dr. Kenton Card, an IOC Visiting Urban Scholar and current Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) at the University of Minnesota, prominently shared their insights and research on housing and “good cause” or “just cause” eviction protections in the United States through different platforms. Both made the case that passing new tenant protection legislation across the country had major benefits for renting families, reducing evictions and homelessness, and did not come at the expense of housing production.

On February 24, 2025, Dr. Richard testified as an expert panelist and answered questions from members of Rhode Island’s Special Legislative Commission to Study and Provide Recommendations to Update and Clarify the “Residential Landlord and Tenant Act” on just cause eviction protection laws and the causes and solutions to homelessness, a growing crisis in the Providence metro area and statewide. Dr. Richard was informed by research conducted by Dr. Card and his research team at CURA on the impact — or the lack thereof — of just cause eviction protections on housing production. Citing the current literature on the health impacts of homelessness and eviction and their recent research on the drivers of homelessness, Dr. Richard also emphasized that reforms to help stabilize households and mitigate rising rents are necessary for health equity.

Dr. Card, in collaboration with Evan Davis (Ph.D. Candidate, CURA), Edward Goetz (Director, CURA), and Jeremy Schwartz (Loyola University Maryland), published a report on just cause eviction protections, which Dr. Richard cited in their expert testimony, on March 3, 2025. The research team compared counties across California, Oregon, and New Hampshire through a difference-in-difference analysis on whether the trend in new permits at the county-level in states subject to the passage of good/just cause eviction protections differed from the trends in nearby counties in states that did not pass such protections. The research team found that good or just cause evictions did not reduce the rate of housing production. The research team followed up their report findings by publishing an op-ed in Greater Greater Washington endorsing a good cause eviction protections across the country in Maryland, Connecticut, and Minnesota, highlighting a “both/and” approach that protects families and tenants without adversely affecting housing construction and supply.