Pressure to Move and Forced Moves Among U.S. Renter Households: Findings From New Questions in the Household Pulse Survey

New questions developed by PD&R for the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey are giving researchers access to national, real-time data on forced moves for the first time.

Veronica Garrison and Aaron Shroyer

Key Findings

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) developed new questions on forced moves that were included in the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey (HPS) beginning in June 2023. With the inclusion of these questions, researchers now have access to national, real-time data on forced moves. This article highlights findings from the first 3 months of data, from June through August 2023. Notably, we found the following:

• Forty-four percent of U.S. renter households reported experiencing significant pressure to move during the previous 6 months, with rent increases and a lack of needed repairs by the landlord as the two most common reasons renters felt pressure to move.
• One in 10 U.S. renter households reported experiencing a forced move because of pressure during the previous 6 months.
• Renter households of color were more likely to report experiencing pressure to leave their unit and forced moves.
• Renter households in the South Region reported experiencing the most pressure to move, and renter households in the West and South regions reported the highest rates of forced moves.

Background

Forced moves (also called informal, illegal, unlawful, or extra-legal evictions) refer to incidents in which landlords engage in actions outside of the traditional court system to remove tenants. These actions can include threatening tenants, changing the locks, shutting off utilities, or offering tenants money to move out. Forced moves are difficult to measure because these actions often leave no formal record.

Before the addition of the new HPS questions, the Milwaukee Area Renters Study (MARS) was the data source most frequently cited for capturing forced moves, but this survey is limited by its small sample size (n = 1,100), is not nationally representative, and is outdated (data collection for MARS occurred between 2009 and 2011). Despite these limitations, MARS data suggested that forced moves might be twice as prevalent as formal, court-ordered evictions. Questions from MARS were included within the 2017 American Housing Survey, but now, with updated HPS data, researchers and policymakers can estimate the prevalence of forced moves using current, real-time data.

Nearly half of U.S. renter households reported experiencing significant pressure to move during the previous 6 months

From June to August 2023, approximately 44.4 percent of U.S. renter households felt pressure to move during the previous six months for at least one reason. Among renter households that reported at least one pressure-to-move reason, the most common, cited by 56 percent of respondents, was that the landlord raised their rent. The next most common reasons for feeling pressure to move included a reason not mentioned in the survey, cited by 37 percent of respondents, and the landlord's failure to make repairs, cited by 30 percent of respondents. Fewer than 1 percent of U.S renter households reported that their landlord had changed the locks, removed their belongings, or shut off their utilities (figure 1).

Source: Household Pulse Survey, Weeks 58 to 60; data collection from June 2023 to August 2023.
Note: All standard error estimates (not shown) < 0.5. Total exceeds 100 percent because respondents can select multiple pressure reasons.

Approximately 10 percent of U.S. renter households reported a forced move during the previous 6 months

Although nearly half of renter households reported feeling some pressure to move, far fewer households moved because of that pressure. Among all renter households reporting at least one reason for feeling pressure to move, approximately 21.2 percent reported moving because of that pressure (figure 2). When examining the rate of forced moves among all U.S. renter households, we found that approximately 9.4 percent of renter households moved during the previous 6 months as the result of any type of identified pressure (a forced move).

Source: Household Pulse Survey, Weeks 58 to 60; data collection from June 2023 to August 2023.

Renter households of color were more likely to report experiencing pressure to leave their units and forced moves

When examining racial and ethnic disparities among U.S. renter households that reported experiencing pressure to move and forced moves, renters of color, including Black, Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial households, were more likely than white households to report feeling pressure to move. Approximately 43 percent of white renter households reported experiencing pressure to move during the previous 6 months compared with 48 percent of Black renter households (figure 3).

The data reflect similar findings when examining rates of forced moves by race and ethnicity category. Approximately 9 percent of white renter households reported experiencing a forced move during the previous 6 months compared with rates of approximately 11 percent among Black, Hispanic, and mixed-race renter households. These findings underscore key racial and ethnic disparities related to both pressure to move and forced moves among U.S. renter households.

Source: Household Pulse Survey, Weeks 58 to 60; data collection from June 2023 to August 2023.

When examining specific pressure reasons by race and ethnicity category, Asian renter households reported significantly higher rates of rent increases than did white renter households, and Black renter households reported significantly higher rates of fearing eviction because of missed rent and threats of eviction from their landlords (figure 4).

Source: Household Pulse Survey, Weeks 58 to 60; data collection from June 2023 to August 2023.

Renter households in the South Region reported relatively more pressure to move and higher levels of forced moves.

U.S. renter households living in some Census Regions had disproportionately higher rates of reporting any pressure to move (figure 5). Notably, the South Region had the highest rate (46.3%) of U.S. renter households reporting at least one pressure-to-move reason, and the Midwest Region had the lowest rate (41.2%). Renter households cited increased rent as the most frequent pressure-to-move reason. Similarly, when examining rates of forced moves by Census Region, we found that renter households in the West and South regions experienced the highest rates of forced moves.

Although we are not able to determine causation, there may be multiple reasons why renters in the South Region report experiencing relatively higher pressure to move. First, the South Region saw some of the nation's highest rates of rent increases in recent years, which may partially explain why renter households in the South were more likely to cite increased rent as a pressure. Second, states in the South have relatively fewer protections for tenants which may increase a household's sense of pressure to move.

Conclusion

Data on housing instability are limited. Most jurisdictions do not provide data on formal eviction filings and completed evictions that go through their court systems, and even the existing data miss informal pressures that can lead to displacement pressures and forced moves. This article summarizes new data made available through the U.S. Census Bureau's HPS, which offers the first recurring source of national data on forced moves. This additional data source is part of an ongoing effort among all levels of government, the court system, and nonprofits to improve data collection and research on housing instability and evictions. HUD looks forward to engaging with researchers, practitioners, and those with lived experience to improve our understanding about the causes and consequences of housing instability.

Technical Notes

Presented analyses used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS), an experimental, longitudinal survey designed to quickly capture information about household social and economic experiences. HPS collects important information about housing circumstances and the associated impacts of the ongoing housing crisis. Phase 3.9 of HPS included questions about pressure-to-move reasons, a construct often associated with informal evictions, and forced moves. This article used HPS data from June 2023 to August 2023 to better understand the prevalence of U.S. renter households facing pressure to move.