For the fifth year, IPI obtained all court eviction case data in Idaho from the Idaho Supreme Court. In 2023, 3,074 (about 1.8%) of Idaho’s renting households had at least one eviction filing and 1,256 (about 0.7%) were formally evicted. 37.1% of renting households with an eviction filing received a formal eviction. This is a 18.0% drop from 2019 and a 9.4% drop from 2022. The drop in the eviction rate could be a result of organizations increasing eviction prevention services.
Eviction court filings rose 44.2% from 2022 to 2023. However, the number of households with formal evictions only increased by 15.2%. Eviction filings occur when a landlord initiates an eviction case in court that may or may not result in expulsion of a tenant from a residence. Formal evictions occur when a court judgment results in the expulsion of a tenant from a residence. 2023 saw a larger increase in eviction filings than any year since the pandemic, and eviction filings exceeded pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.
Mediation in court helps tenants and landlords resolve conflicts surrounding evictions. Statewide, the percentage of tenants losing in court fell from about 60% in 2019 to about 40% in 2023. This means that more eviction cases are being resolved through court mediation services rather than court judgements.* In Ada County, 22% of tenants lost in court, while 34% of tenants lost in court in Canyon County. Ada County’s mediation program was in place prior to 2019 and Canyon County’s ran from November 2020 to June 2023. Ada and Canyon Counties experienced lower rates of formal eviction than other counties. The next four most populous counties experienced a much higher percentage of tenants losing in court: 57% in Kootenai County, 66% in Bonneville County, 64% in Twin Falls County, and 66% in Bannock County.
Summary of findings for 2023:
• 3,074 (1.8%) of Idaho’s 184,918 renting households had an eviction filing
• 1,256 (0.7%) of Idaho renting households received a formal eviction
• 280 renting households had two or more eviction filings
• 37.1% of renting households with an eviction filing received a formal eviction
• 1,805 landlords filed at least one eviction
• Eviction filings increased by 44.2% from 2022• Formal evictions only increased by 15.2% from 2022 and were 18.0% lower than 2019
* The decrease could also be contributed to rental assistance funds and the way mediation benefitted from rental assistance funds.