Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Evictions And Permits topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Eau Claire staff present 2024 eviction and building-permit trends; commissioners request deeper analysis
Summary
Staff presented 2024 eviction and building-permit data showing recurring monthly spikes in eviction filings and a year-to-date total of 111 one- and two-family permits and 363 multifamily units; commissioners asked staff to analyze drivers of eviction spikes and to disaggregate business evictions from residential filings.
City staff presented a five-slide summary of 2024 housing data to the Housing Opportunities Commission on Jan. 8, including monthly eviction filings and building-permit trends for single-family and multifamily housing.
Staff noted month-to-month spikes in eviction filings — a sharp rise in March–April, a second spike in early summer and another marked increase in September — and asked the commission for permission to have analysts examine whether seasonal lease-renewal cycles or other drivers explain the pattern. "Fifty-five point five percent are resolved with no eviction," the presenter reported while reviewing the eviction slide, and staff said roughly 40% of cases resolve with an eviction and about 4% remained open in the dataset shown.
On construction permits, staff said the city issued 111 permits for single- and two-family units for 2024 (year-to-date as of Dec. 1 in the slide deck) and 363 multifamily units. Staff noted permit valuations for multifamily housing totaled just under $61 million for 2024 but that the 2024 multifamily count is lower than 2023 (2023 had more than 820 multifamily units in permit records, driven by larger multi-year projects).
Staff and commissioners discussed vacancy and affordability measures. The presenter said the CommonWeal Development 2023 vacancy report had Eau Claire at 1.7% vacancy; staff estimated the community’s vacancy rate has risen from that figure and may be in the neighborhood of 3% but said updated CommonWeal data will be available in April 2025. Commissioners suggested possible causes for eviction spikes — for example, spring lease renewals and rent increases — and asked staff to try to disaggregate business evictions from residential filings and to compare 2024 trends with earlier years.
Commissioners asked staff to investigate: (1) whether eviction spikes repeat seasonally year-to-year; (2) whether rent increases around lease-renewal months drive filings; and (3) whether business evictions in court filings are skewing the residential picture. Staff said the intern who assembled the slides (not present) compiled the raw permit and eviction extracts and that staff will bring a deeper analysis to a future meeting.
No formal action or vote was taken on the data presentation; commissioners requested follow-up analysis and additional detail in future reports.
