Opinion: These Maryland bills would help protect renters and prevent displacement

Editor’s note: While the views expressed are those of the author, this article was written in consultation with Renters United Maryland, and the author is a member.

Zoning reform and building more housing are important strategies for turning around the region’s housing crisis. But while building is necessary for an affordable future, it’s not sufficient. Renter protections also play a key role in halting displacement and fostering housing stability.

As Maryland’s General Assembly enters its final 30 days in session for 2022, more than two dozen bills have been proposed that would help renter households. Some of these bills mirror recommendations from the American Bar Association’s recent call for reform of residential eviction procedures. The ABA voted last month to adopt ten policy positions aimed at improving due process and fairness in how state courts handle evictions nationwide. The Maryland General Assembly should follow suit.

One of the bills being considered this session, HB 881, would require a just cause for residential lease terminations.

“Just cause,” sometimes known as “good cause,” for evictions broadly means that a landlord must present a valid reason for not renewing a lease when it expires. This bill offers several examples of just cause, including if the landlord wants to make substantial repairs or renovations that cannot be completed while the unit is occupied, the tenant substantially breached the lease or conducted illegal activity at the property, or in order to convert the property into non-rental housing. Landlords would still be able to raise rent, or decline to renew the lease for a tenant who hasn’t been paying, or who has been disruptive to other residents. Rather than mandating specific “just causes” statewide, this legislation would simply authorize counties to enact the versions of just cause that they want to see locally. Currently, they lack that authority.

Under current law, a landlord only has to give 60 days’ notice that they will not renew the lease, with no reason given. While on the surface “no fault” terminations may sound inoffensive, they can hide discrimination and retaliation, and they have serious implications for housing insecurity. Del. Jheanelle Wilkins explained some of the impact on affordability when introducing her just cause eviction bill, as reported in WTOP, saying that “at a time when rents are skyrocketing, a lease non-renewal can really put a family in a very difficult place in terms of finding an affordable place to live that suits their needs.” If, like me, you consider housing stability itself to be a worthwhile goal so that people can remain in their communities, their children can continue to attend the same schools, and people can just generally live with less anxiety and uncertainty in their lives, then the value of this bill is obvious.

The ABA’s new guidelines recommend another basic reform: ensuring that tenants facing eviction have a lawyer and a meaningful chance to defend themselves in eviction court. Another bill working its way through the Maryland General Assembly would make sure renters facing eviction have time to find an attorney and prepare a trial defense.

People take it for granted that we have the right to an attorney in criminal cases – because we know it is unfair to ask people to face that challenge alone. And yet this same protection is not provided when one’s home is at stake. A 2020 study showed that only 1% of renters in Baltimore City’s eviction dockets had representation as opposed to 96% of landlords. This imbalance is typical across Maryland.

The General Assembly began to rectify this injustice last year when it passed a bill, sponsored by Sen. Shelly Hettleman and Del. Wanika Fisher, asserting that all income-eligible renters will have access to counsel in evictions. The General Assembly is now considering legislation to fund implementation in the next few fiscal years (via HB 724/SB 662 sponsored by Sen. Craig Zucker and Del. Ben Barnes), and I urge them to follow through.

It remains unclear, though, what should happen when a renter shows up at court without a lawyer. Will they still have the opportunity to seek one before trial begins? HB 691/SB 564, sponsored by Del. Meliss Wells and Sen. Susan Lee, solves that problem – proposing to guarantee either party in an eviction case a postponement of trial for five days so that they can obtain counsel or bring back necessary evidence. This bill also promises renters and landlords adequate time on their day of trial to engage with existing eviction prevention services, like legal assistance, mediation, and rental assistance programs available at court, time they don’t always have now. With access to a lawyer and these services, people would know more about their rights, and could more often reach alternative resolutions to their disputes or avoid judgments on their records through settlement. It simply isn’t right to put families in a state of upheaval for no good reason, to do so in haste, or to put them in court alone on one of the scariest days of their lives.

Last year, the General Assembly ran out the clock on a number of tenant’s rights bills, including ones that would have implemented access to counsel in evictions with full funding and ensured effective utilization of federal rent relief to avoid evictions. A year later, with eviction moratoriums and other emergency measures gone, and two thirds of this year’s 90 day session expired, we cannot afford to let time slip away again.