A grant-funded program launched last year by the Akron Municipal Court is succeeding in preventing evictions through mediation, according to the judge who initiated it.
Akron has long had a high rate of evictions, sometimes higher than any other large Ohio city and ranking in the top 25 nationally, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University.
Judge Ron Cable founded the eviction prevention program, which now includes a court navigator, a housing specialist and a court mediator.
He said mediation, led by mediator Hope McGonigle, has proven very successful in eviction cases.
“We do know that when people decide to mediate, when they’re given that option, that she has successfully handled over 70% of the cases. That means there is a peaceful resolution," Cable said.
McGonigle said she mediates all kinds of cases that may lead to eviction, including rent escrow cases, when a renter pays rent to the court to hold in escrow instead of to their landlord due to a disagreement about the property.
"First of all, the success rate is probably well over 90% on rent escrow," McGonigle said. "And secondly, most rent escrow cases would have been an eviction."
The program continues to offer resources and aid if mediation ends in a resident vacating the property, Cable said.
"When people do need to transition, the housing specialist will try to find them housing, so they're not homeless," Cable said. "And, specifically, the housing specialist really attempts to keep people in their neighborhoods or in their communities."
Staying in the neighborhood, he said, helps kids stay in the same schools and mitigates other issues that arise with housing instability.
"Most people that are facing eviction, it's not just a housing issue," McGonigle said. "It's a job issue. It might be an addiction issue. It might be an education issue. It can be a number of different things at one time."
The court has also opened a resource center, which provides information about different programming, legal resources and a computer for people to use to apply for jobs, McGonigle said.
"The more we can help people with those other issues, hopefully the less times we'll see people in eviction," she said.
The court has funding to keep the program for another year, Cable said. He plans to apply for grants to extend the program beyond that, he said.
