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Commissioners debate pausing $40,000 tenant eviction defense pilot pending outcomes
Summary
Some commissioners recommended pausing or eliminating county funding for a $40,000 eviction-defense pilot until outcome data are available, while others favored extending the pilot to 18 months to collect more information; staff were asked to clarify data and funding intersections with other programs.
Commissioners on July 14 questioned whether county funding should continue for a $40,000 tenant eviction-defense pilot while outcome data are still incomplete.
One commissioner who recommended removal or a pause said the county should wait "until we have all of our outcomes in, so that we can weigh those outcomes" and evaluate the pilot alongside grants currently supporting the work. That commissioner emphasized collecting outcomes and assessing what the county would gain before committing funds.
Other commissioners said the pilot had not run long enough to yield useful results and proposed extending it to an 18-month pilot to produce more meaningful data. A commissioner noted an existing private grant supporting eviction defense work: "holistic defenders had a... $85,000 private grant that they've been defending eviction clients appropriately with for 2 years," and questioned whether the county pilot would duplicate services.
Staff and commissioners agreed on the need for clearer outcome data and for the pilot to report measurable results. No formal vote was recorded in the transcript; commissioners left the item pending further data and directed staff to follow up with outcome metrics and clarification about how this pilot aligns with legal-aid and behavioral-health services.
