Fresno’s Eviction Protection Program credited with keeping hundreds in housing as council weighs funding

The Fresno City Council heard a detailed progress report on the city’s Eviction Protection Program on April 3, with outside counsel and city attorneys saying the program has prevented unlawful evictions, removed eviction records in some cases and negotiated moves or payments to keep tenants from becoming homeless.

The presentation, led by the city attorney’s office and outside firms Immersion Shankar Legal Inc. and Borton Petrini, said the program has handled thousands of tenant inquiries since it launched and that, after screening, more than 1,500 matters were referred for legal representation. The city’s legal team reported 237 unlawful-detainer actions were prevented from appearing on tenants’ records and 241 households reached settlements that allowed them to remain in their homes.

Those outcomes matter because an eviction on a tenant’s record often makes finding a new rental impossible, and households that rely on housing-choice vouchers can lose them if an eviction is recorded. “If a tenant has an eviction on their record, that…