Honolulu County’s eviction mediation program was a resounding success
To stave off mass evictions brought on by large scale job loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawaiʻi created rent relief programs that helped tenants and landlords cover rent shortfalls, and Governor David Ige made multiple executive proclamations to put a temporary moratorium on evictions.
In 2021, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature passed Act 57 to establish a pre-litigation landlord-tenant mediation program for the purpose of preventing an onslaught of evictions once the eviction moratorium ended in August of 2021.
The Act 57 program included the following differences from the mediation program used by the courts in eviction lawsuits brought before the pandemic:
Mediations were conducted before landlords could file an eviction lawsuit;
Video conferencing (ie. zoom) was used for mediations instead of meeting in-person;
Mediation sessions were longer (1.5 hours vs. 20–30 minutes);
Professional mediators were hired to conduct mediation instead of relying on volunteers; and
Mediators had access to government agencies distributing rent relief and could determine where in the process a tenant was, and verify that funds were in the process of being distributed.
From the data Hawaiʻi Appleseed reviewed in its report “Eviction Prevention Through Hawaiʻi’s Tenant-Landlord Mediation Program,” mediations under the Act 57 program resulted in a settlement 87 percent of the time. That’s an increase of 40 percent from the pre-Covid, court-ordered mediation program.
More importantly, in the Act 57 mediations that did settle, 85 percent of the tenants remained as ongoing tenants and stayed in the home or apartment. In pre-Covid, court-ordered mediations, the settlements Appleseed reviewed indicated only 11 percent of tenants remained as ongoing tenants.
One of the goals of the Act 57 program was to reduce evictions, and the data above certainly indicates that this goal was achieved. If 85 percent of tenants remained as ongoing tenants, as a result of the mediation, that means that those families did not have to move and find some place else to live. The program created housing stability in a time where it was desperately needed.
The data we reviewed also indicated that the participants in the Act 57 mediations were primarily unrepresented by lawyers. In fact, in the mediations reviewed, landlords were represented by an attorney just 5 percent of the time, while tenants were represented by attorneys 0 percent of the time.
In an eviction case in court, landlords are disproportionately represented by attorneys compared to tenants. A prior study indicates that tenants are represented by counsel less than 5 percent of the time in eviction lawsuits compared to 70 percent of landlords represented by counsel. This usually places tenants at a substantial disadvantage when dealing with an eviction lawsuit, a judge, and the entire court process.
In interviews conducted with Appleseed, tenants, mediators and eviction attorneys all made the observation that, with both parties being unrepresented by attorneys, and on a more even playing field, the parties may have been more willing to compromise and work things out in a less adversarial manner. This would then contribute to the higher rate of settlement and, more importantly, the higher rate of tenants remaining as ongoing tenants.
Because professional mediators had 1.5 hours per session (and sometimes two sessions) with the parties, instead of 20–30 minutes at the courthouse, it appears they were able to build more trust and develop more solutions for the participants that resulted in settlements and tenants remaining as ongoing tenants. 20–30 minutes is simply not enough time to hear both sides and discuss win-win solutions.
Due to the limited amount of time at the courthouse, mediators are focused on trying to reach an agreement between the parties as to when the tenant will leave. While this type of agreement enables the tenant avoid an eviction placed on their record, it still results in the tenant having to find a new place to live and creates housing instability. Moving a family—especially one with children—creates disruption in everyone’s lives, which can have unintended negative consequences.
Based on all of the above, the Act 57 mediation program was clearly a success and achieved its goals of reducing the filing of eviction lawsuits after the end of the eviction moratorium. More importantly, the program shows us that a mediation program, along with a rent relief fund, can provide housing stability and reduce the number of tenants who are displaced and need to find a new place to live.
Appleseed is hopeful that the lessons learned from the Act 57 mediation program will lead to the permanent implementation of some of the procedures utilized by the program.
