Clark County again has highest eviction rate per capita in Washington and it shows no signs of slowing

“I think if evictions continue to grow, there’s no way that’s going to be sustainable,” said Carl Snodgrass, an attorney with Northwest Justice Project.

Overwhelmed attorneys

In 2021, Washington became the first state in the country to establish the right to a free attorney for tenants who cannot afford one in eviction cases (referred to as unlawful detainer cases in Washington).

Representation helps tenants facing eviction have a fair shot in court, proponents of the law say. But the Legislature has limited long-term funding to ensure Clark and other counties with high case volumes have enough coverage.

For the past several years, attorneys with the Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program have taken on more cases than the state recommends, said Ben Moody, a managing attorney at Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program. But it’s the only way they can keep up with the onslaught.

“We’ve kept a relatively good balance, but we’re on a tipping point. We’re not expecting more budget for hiring new attorneys for this work,” Moody said.

Over the next four years, the state is facing a $12 billion deficit.

In 2024, the state directed publicly funded attorneys from other groups across the state to take on Clark County eviction cases and ease the burden on local attorneys.

“Without them, we would be drowning,” Moody said.

His team takes little time off, often feeling guilty when they do, he said. But work-life balance is important with so many emotionally challenging cases.

“Everyone we’re working with is in trauma, is facing an emotionally devastating loss,” Moody said. “And in the vast majority of them, we can’t entirely stop that.”

The court orders about half of tenants in eviction cases to leave their homes, according to 2023 court records. That’s because the most common reason for eviction is non-payment of rent.

Rising homelessness

Over the past decade, fair market rent in Clark County has grown 121 percent. The higher that figure grows, the more evictions there will be, Moody said.

“If nothing changes to correct that, I don’t see what there is that would decrease eviction filings for nonpayment of rent aside of prices being so high that you just can’t afford to live in Clark County,” Moody said.

Snodgrass, the attorney, said the Northwest Justice Project is also flooded with eviction cases. More often, his clients are having a harder time becoming rehoused and often end up homeless, contributing to Clark County’s homelessness crisis, he said.

Increasingly, renters are making up a larger part of Clark County’s population as the region grows. In a competitive market, landlords have their pick of renters. An eviction often marks applicants as unreliable tenants and eliminates them immediately.

Even if more landlords allowed tenants with eviction records, that doesn’t resolve the reason they were evicted in the first place.

“Once you can’t afford to live in the place that you’re living in, and you’re evicted because of that, you’re not going to find another place that’s any cheaper,” Snodgrass said.

Rental assistance in Clark County is already scarce, with new funding often drying up almost immediately.

The Department of Commerce predicts a nearly $403 million funding shortfall for programs including rental assistance and emergency shelter.

“I expect to see more people facing situations where they’re behind on rent and being evicted for it,” Snodgrass said. “I think we’re going to see an increased number of people who are experiencing homelessness, living out of vehicles.”

Crowded court system

Clark County’s mounting eviction caseload has been a considerable burden on Superior Court, said Sheldrick, who used to be the main judge overseeing the unlawful detainer docket.

The court has had to make adjustments to handle the nonstop flow.

The Legislature and the Clark County Council added a 12th judge in August in response to overall higher caseloads. Superior Court also added a second unlawful detainer docket day and began rotating judges on the docket.

“For most of 2024, I was still handling all the dockets, and it was significant,” Sheldrick said.

After a stark rise in evictions in 2023, Sheldrick helped secure funding for an eviction diversion initiative, which started last year. Although it’s unclear how well the program has prevented evictions, it has helped people navigate the complex court process, she said.

“It really helps the docket run more smoothly,” Sheldrick said.

The program, Access to Community Eviction Support, connects tenants and landlords to resources. The program directs people to organizations that can help rehouse them after they’ve been evicted and refers people to financial assistance funds to help pay back rent.

The court has funding for the program through 2026, Sheldrick said. But it likely won’t do much to stop the continuous surge of eviction filings each year.

“I think our court system is already heavily used,” she said. “It’s kind of hard to imagine how we would accommodate additional filings.”