Issue Brief: Evictions in Scott County, Iowa

June 8, 2022
Executive Summary 1
Scott County has the highest rate of eviction in the state of Iowa. Davenport, the county seat and
largest city in the county, has the highest rate of eviction of any large city in Iowa, and is second
only to Waterloo amongst large and mid-size cities in the state. Davenport’s rate is double that
of its neighbors, Moline and Rock Island across the river.2 The devastating effects of eviction fall
most heavily on the most vulnerable among us – women, people with disabilities, and most
especially people of color.
Through public records analysis, courtroom observation, and drawing from forty-five years of
Iowa Legal Aid’s institutional experience as advocates for low-income tenants, this issue brief
makes six key findings:
1. Evictions are rising. The “eviction crisis” is not something that happened during
the pandemic. Evictions have been rising statewide and in Scott County since
2011, and after a drop during 2020 and 2021 seemed poised to come close to if
not exceed 2019 levels.

2. Nonpayment of rent is by far the leading reason for eviction. Prior to the
pandemic, Iowa Legal Aid estimated about 92% to 95% of evictions were purely
economic in nature. While that proportion was somewhat lower during the
pandemic through the present day, we believe that that data understates the
degree to which nonpayment is the overwhelming cause of evictions based on
legal technicalities involving how these cases are filed.

3. Scott County’s “eviction rate,” i.e. the number of evictions that result in loss of
housing, is high. In keeping with historical assessments of eviction rates, Scott
County’s eviction rates remain high, especially when compared to
demographically similar jurisdictions like Linn County.

4. Tenants’ Ability to Enforce Their Rights to Habitable Housing is Limited. There

are numerous barriers to enforcement of habitability rights on a local and state
law level, which effectively deprive tenants of meaningful options to ensure they
have access to housing that is not only affordable but also free of environmental
and health hazards.

1
This issue brief was authored by Ericka Petersen, Assistant Litigation Director, Iowa Legal Aid; Ryan Downing,
Research Assistant, Iowa Legal Aid; and Alex Kornya, Litigation Director and General Counsel, Iowa Legal Aid. The
issue brief itself was made possible with the generous funding of the Scott County Housing Council.
2
EVICTION LAB, Eviction Rankings, Top Evicting Mid-Size Cities,
https://evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20States&a=1&d=evictionRate (last visited June 2, 2022).

2
 5. Evictions disproportionately affect people of color, women, and people who are
disabled. Mapping data and Iowa Legal Aid internal data both provide strong
indicators that eviction falls most heavily on the most vulnerable people in our
society. In particular, evictions fall in very disproportionate numbers on people of
color, and when mapped against 1936 redlining maps of Davenport provide a
sobering reminder that the problems of the past persist today.

6. While there have been major improvements, eviction court procedures can still
create some barriers. The court system is under enormous pressure to process a
growing number of eviction cases within tight statutory deadlines, all without a
commensurate increase in resources. This creates a system where it can be
difficult to find the time to fully address issues relevant to evictions. Also, there
are sometimes difficulties in reviewing cases on appeal due to inadequate records.

Iowa Legal Aid is limited in the kinds of direct policy recommendations it can make due to
restrictions on lobbying and grassroots lobbying. Within the bounds of those restrictions, we
make the following limited recommendations:

• Exploring ways to tackle the reality of the lack of affordable housing.

• Exploring options to expand access to affordable housing that is also safe housing.

• Exploring opportunities to resolve housing disputes before the filing of an eviction.

• Exploring ways to make eviction hearings easier to navigate.

• Ensuring adequate records of eviction hearings are made.

• Providing relevant actors, including judicial staff, law enforcement, and the community
in general with training on relevant housing issues.

• Investing in understanding and reversing the lingering effects of redlining and other
discriminatory policies.

3
Table of Contents

Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 2

Background ................................................................................................................................... 5
The Impact of Evictions on Families and Communities.............................................................. 5
Community Profile: Housing in Scott County, Iowa ................................................................... 6
Legal Framework of Evictions in Iowa........................................................................................ 8
Community Comparisons: Linn and Scott Counties ................................................................. 10
Iowa Legal Aid’s Data Collection and Analysis ............................................................................. 12
Iowa Legal Aid: Providing Hope, Dignity, and Justice for Forty-Five Years ............................... 12
1: Court Watching Methodology ............................................................................................. 12
2: Public Records Analysis ....................................................................................................... 13
3: Iowa Legal Aid Internal Data Analysis .................................................................................. 14
Findings ....................................................................................................................................... 15
Evictions Are Rising.................................................................................................................. 15
Overall ................................................................................................................................. 15
The Yearly Eviction Cycle ...................................................................................................... 16
Nonpayment Of Rent Is by Far the Leading Reason for Eviction In Scott County & Statewide 19
Scott County’s “Eviction Rate,” i.e. filed evictions that result in housing loss, is high ............. 20
Tenants’ Ability to Enforce Their Right to Habitable Housing Is Limited.................................. 20
Tenant remedies under local law: Housing code enforcement ............................................ 20
Tenant remedies under state law: the Iowa Uniform Landlord Tenant Code ...................... 22
Evictions Disproportionately Affect People of Color, Women, And People Who Are Disabled 23
While There Have Been Major Improvements, Eviction Court Procedures Create Some
Barriers .................................................................................................................................... 26
The role of eviction court in the overall eviction crisis......................................................... 26
Features of Scott County eviction court............................................................................... 26
Defaults................................................................................................................................ 28
Ability to raise defenses under time constraints .................................................................. 28
Conclusion & Recommendations ................................................................................................ 30

4
Background
The Impact of Evictions on Families and Communities

When evicted, a person doesn’t just lose their home and personal possessions. Eviction creates
an increased risk of long-term homelessness, chronic illness, infectious disease, physical and
sexual assault, and even death.3 Eviction has a negative impact on a person’s self-perception and
sense of dignity, and can cause and exacerbate depression, anxiety, and psychological distress.4
Eviction has been linked to job loss, increased contact with the criminal justice system, and has
been identified as a “significant precursor of suicide.”5 An eviction makes it more difficult for a
tenant to find housing in the future, and those with an eviction filing on their record, even where
the eviction was ultimately dismissed, are more likely to move to less desirable neighborhoods
in housing with unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions.6
Substandard conditions tenants low-income tenants regularly face may include mold, lead, pests
and vermin, structural deficiencies, lack of running water or heat, and broken plumbing.7 In
addition to a myriad of physical health risks stemming from these hazards,8 tenants living in
substandard housing face many of the same mental health risks faced by those who have lost
their home through eviction.9 In Iowa Legal Aid’s experience, many tenants do not report
substandard housing conditions for fear of retaliation, including eviction. Tenants who report
substandard conditions are also at risk of being removed by the local housing inspector if the unit
is deemed uninhabitable for human occupancy.10 In many cases landlords believe it is cheaper to

3
James Krieger & Donna L. Higgen, Housing and Health: Time Again for Public Health Action, AM. J. PUB. HEALTH
(May 2002) (chronic health issues, infectious diseases); Kathryn A. Sabbeth, Housing Defense as the New Gideon, 41
HARV. J. L. & GENDER 55, 66-67 (2018)(assaults); JAMES J. O'CONNELL, NAT’L HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS
COUNCIL, PREMATURE MORALITY IN HOMELESS POPULATIONS: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 13 (2005) (death
from homelessness).
4
See RACHEL G. BRATT ET AL., Why a Right to Housing is Needed and Makes Sense: Editor's Introduction to A Right
To Housing 1, 3-4 (Rachel G. Bratt et al. eds. 2006), at 3-4; Krieger & Higgen, supra note 2.
5
MATTHEW DESMOND, EVICTED: POVERTY AND PROFIT IN THE AMERICAN 298 (2016).
6
See, e.g., Allyson E. Gold, No Home for Justice: How Eviction Perpetuates Health Inequity Among Low-Income and
Minority Tenants, 24 GEO. J. ON POVERTY L. & POL’Y 59, 60-61 (2016)(discussing how a tenant whose name is placed
on a detainer petition can be negatively impacted in a search for other housing); Terry Gross, First-Ever Evictions
Database Shows: ‘We're in the Middle of a Housing Crisis', NPR (Apr. 12, 2018); See, e.g., Matthew Desmond &
Monica Bell, Housing, Poverty, and the Law, 11 Annual Review of Law and Social Science 15, 19 (2015); Eric Dunn &
Marina Grabchuk, Background Checks and Social Effects: Contemporary Residential Tenant-Screening Problems in
Washington State, 9 Seattle Journal for Social Justice 319, 336 (2010); Rudy Kleysteuber, Tenant Screening Thirty
Years Later: A Statutory Proposal to Protect Public Records, 116 Yale Law Journal 1344, 1347 (2007); see also
DESMOND, supra note 5, at 69.
7
Allyson E. Gold, supra note 6 at 59, 70; DESMOND, supra note 5, at 76.
8
Physical risks include worsening asthma from mold, pests and vermin, permanent neurological damage from lead
poisoning, and burns and natural gas poisoning from the use of stoves to make up for inadequate heating. 8
Sabbeth, supra note 3, at 107-08; ELIZABETH TOBIN-TYLER & JOEL B. TEITELBAUM, ESSENTIALS OF HEALTH
JUSTICE: A PRIMER 73-74 (2019).
9
Allyson E. Gold, supra note 6 at 70-73.
10
A recent example in Scott County is Crestwood Apartments. E.g., Infra note 71.

5
remove a complaining tenant and find a new tenant than to fix the problem.11 This is particularly
true in older housing, which is more likely to have substandard conditions and more likely to be
occupied by low-income renters.12
Children experiencing eviction are often forced to switch schools, miss significantly more school
days and are at a higher risk of developmental delay, decreased academic achievement,
depression, anxiety and behavioral disturbances.13
The impact of eviction is not only felt by those being evicted but devastates the community as
well. Eviction destabilizes neighborhoods and school districts and places a financial burden on
the community due to increased costs of providing shelter and related services, such as medical
care.14 One study in Linn County, Iowa, determined the cost of homelessness for only eight
individuals over five years was over one million dollars.15

Community Profile: Housing in Scott County, Iowa

Scott county is Iowa’s third most populous county, with an estimated population of 174,669 in
2022.16 It is one of the most diverse counties in Iowa, and is substantially more diverse than the
state as a whole.17 While it has 5.47% of the state’s population, it has only 2.2% of the state’s
occupied housing units, 29% of which are renter occupied.18 About 2.6% of the state’s renters
lived in Scott County, while about 9.0% of all eviction filings in the state happened in Scott
County.19
In 2016, the Eviction Lab at Princeton University published a massive dataset, including eviction
filing numbers and eviction rates for cities, counties, and states across the country. While the
number of filings is a straightforward count of publicly available court records, the “eviction rate”
is a constructed term created by Eviction Lab. Eviction Lab defines eviction rate as “the number

11
NAT’L L. CTR. ON HOMELESSNESS & POVERTY, PROTECT TENANTS, PREVENT HOMELESSNESS 7 (Oct. 23, 2017).
12
ANDREW AURAND ET AL., NAT’L LOW INCOME HOUS. COAL., THE GAP: A SHORTAGE OF AFFORDABLE HOMES
11-12 (2019); DEP’T OF HOUS. & URBAN DEV., OFFICE OF POLICY DEV. & RESEARCH, WORST CASE HOUSING NEEDS
2017 Report to Congress 3 (2017).
13
Martha Galvez & Jessica Luna, Homelessness and Housing Instability: The Impact on Education Outcomes, URBAN
INST. 2 (Dec. 2014) (switching schools); Bratt et al., supra note 4, at 4 (missing school); see also ANDREW AURAND
supra note 12 at 6 (disrupts learning, impacts education).
14
Sabbeth, supra note 3, at 66-67.
15
WILLIS DADY & LINN COUNTY, THE COST OF HOMELESSNESS IN LINN COUNTY, 1 (2019).
https://www.linncountyiowa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/11509/Six-Page-Summary-Final?bidId=
16
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS SCOTT COUNTY IOWA (2021). The most populous county is Polk County with
an estimated population of 496,894 U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS POLK COUNTY IOWA (2021).The second
most populous is Linn County with an estimated population just under 230,000. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS
LINN COUNTY IOWA (2021).
17
Comparing Census data from the State of Iowa and Scott County, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS IOWA (2021);
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS SCOTT COUNTY IOWA (2021).
18
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY 5-YEAR ESTIMATES DATA SCOTT COUNTY (2020).
19
Id.; eviction filing numbers derived from Iowa Legal Aid analysis of publicly availably eviction data (see public
records analysis below for more details).

6
of evictions per 100 renter homes in an area.”20 So for example, “[a]n eviction rate of 5% means
that 5 of every 100 renter homes faced eviction in the selected area that year.”21 According to
this database, Scott County had an eviction rate of 3.92% in 2016, the highest in the state.22
Davenport, the Scott County Seat, and by far the largest city in Scott County, had an eviction rate
as defined by Eviction Lab of 4.72% in 2016.23 This is the highest eviction rate of any large city in
Iowa, and second only to Waterloo amongst large and mid-size cities in the state.24 This rate is
also double that of its neighbors across the river in Illinois, Moline and Rock Island. This rate
places Davenport 44th in the nation for eviction rates in large cities in 2016. In comparison, Cedar
Rapids ranks 89th in the nation with a rate of 3.33% and Des Moines ranks 91st with a rate of
3.24%.25
Like many other communities across the
country, Scott County has a history of
housing discrimination. Davenport is one of
seven cities in Iowa where black and other
populations of color were subject to
“redlining.”26 Redlining is defined as the
“systemic denial of various services by
federal and local government agencies and
the private sector to residents in specific
neighborhoods.”27 The harmful impact of
1936 Redlining Map, Davenport, Iowa

20
EVICTION LAB, Help and FAQ, https://evictionlab.org/help-faq/#eviction-rate (last visited May 23, 2022).
21
Id.
22
Comparing Scott County to other Iowa counties, EVICTION LAB, map and data,
https://evictionlab.org/map/#/2016?geography=counties&bounds=-115.236,34.01,-
81.859,45.808&type=er&locations=19163,-90.623,41.64 (last visited May 23, 2022).
23
EVICTION LAB, Top Evicting Large Cities in the United States,
https://evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20States&a=0&d=evictionRate (last visited May 23, 2022).
24
Large cities are defined as those with more than 100,000 people, mid-size cities are defined as those with 20,000
– 99,000 people. Id.
25
This number may be misleading, as Iowa Legal Aid analysis of Polk County data in relevant years indicates the “true
eviction rate” is higher than this due to the prevalence of mediation, which frequently lead to agreements that
caused a tenant to move out more quickly than they would have been required to even with a court ordered eviction.
This is an issue not currently in play in Scott County, and so not featured in this issue brief.
26
AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF IOWA, Mapping Exclusion, Redlining in Iowa, https://blackiowa.org/collections-
exhibits/mappingexclusion/ (last visited May 23, 2022). Another notorious example of housing discrimination in
Scott County, is the treatment of Mexican-Americans at the barrio, known as Cook’s point. Mexican-Americans were
forced out of their homes to Cook’s Point, a place in between the river and the city dump. Residents lived in horrible
conditions without access running water or other utilities until the owner decided to force all the residents out,
though many had nowhere to go, so he could build a warehouse on the land. Cook’s Point Economic Survey 1963,
http://migration.lib.uiowa.edu/exhibits/show/barrio-settlements/item/24448.
27
Id. The Polk County Housing Trust Fund also has a wealth of information about redlining generally as well as specific
information related to the practice in Iowa. REDLINING IN DSM, https://www.redliningindsm.com/ (last visited in
May 2023).

7
redlining, and other discriminatory practices can still be seen today and will be discussed in more
detail later in this issue brief.
Perhaps because of its history and eviction rates, Scott County also has a rich history of housing
advocacy, which continues today.28

Legal Framework of Evictions in Iowa

The law governing eviction is highly technical and can be complicated. This background is
intended to provide only the context necessary to understand the analysis in this issue brief and
is not an exhaustive summary of the law. Landlord tenant law in Iowa is governed primarily by
Iowa Code Chapter 562A, Iowa Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Law, and Iowa Code
Chapter 562B, Manufactured or Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Law.29
There are exactly four legal grounds a landlord may rely upon to evict a tenant: nonpayment of
rent, other lease violations, holdover, and clear and present danger. 30 In addition, some evictions
are filed by landlords under a theory of “force, intimidation, fraud, or stealth.” Translated to
everyday language, this means that the landlord denies the existence of a landlord-tenant
relationship altogether.31 While nonpayment of rent and lease violations are self-explanatory,
holdover is defined as remaining in the property after the lease has been validly terminated.32
Somewhat confusingly, but important for understanding some of the data below, a landlord may
give a tenant a notice which terminates the lease for failing to pay rent, but ask for an eviction
from the court on the basis of holdover. Thus, the real reason for the termination is because the
tenant failed to pay rent, but data derived from public records analysis will indicate the basis was
holdover. Finally, a landlord may evict a tenant for creating or maintaining a clear and present

28
E.g., Cook’s Point Economic Survey 1963, http://migration.lib.uiowa.edu/exhibits/show/barrio-
settlements/item/24448 (report written by the Industrial and Human Relations Club of St. Ambrose, investigated
the living conditions at Cook’s Point, and wrote a report which included the history of racial injustice and worked
to publicize their findings to make positive change for the residents); QC HOUSING CLUSTER., SILOS TO
SOLUTIONS: INITIAL PHASE TO SOLVING AFFORDABLE HOUSING LONG-TERM 6 (2020).
29
Iowa Code Chapter 562A covers a situation where someone is renting a dwelling structure like a house, apartment,
or even a mobile or manufactured home. Chapter 562B covers situations where a manufactured or modular home
owned by a lot tenant is sitting on rented land in a manufactured housing park.
30
People can be evicted for reasons arising out of legal relationships other than landlord tenant, although the vast
majority of evictions are filed by landlords against tenants. The most common of reason for an eviction outside of
landlord-tenant is real estate contract forfeiture (i.e. seller financed purchase of a home, as opposed to a
mortgage). See https://kansasreflector.com/2022/03/05/contract-for-deed-the-promise-of-homeownership-that-
often-leaves-midwest-buyers-out-in-the-cold/. Another reason for a non-tenancy eviction occurs after issuance of
a tax deed.
31
Often these cases are accompanied by the pejorative term “squatter,” a term that generally tracks more with the
emotional tenor of the case and lack of legal sophistication of the parties than any possible objective meaning of
that term. For more information on the historical context of the term, see generally Nancy Isenberg, White Trash:
The 400 Year Untold History of Class in America (2017).
32
Iowa Code § 648.1(2).

8
danger to the health or safety of other tenants, the landlord, their employees and agents, or
other persons on or within one thousand feet of the property.33
A proper prefiling notice is required to start an eviction action in Iowa.34 The type of notice
required will depend on the reason for the eviction. To evict for nonpayment of rent, a landlord
must provide a notice which gives a tenant 3 days to cure, or to pay rent.35 If the tenant fails to
pay within 3 days of service of the notice, a landlord may initiate eviction proceedings.
It is illegal for a landlord to engage in “self-help eviction,” which means taking some action to
remove a tenant without a court order granting the landlord possession. Eviction is a term for a
kind of court action that determines who should have possession of a property. Virtually all
evictions brought in the state happen as "forcible entry and detainer” (FED) actions in small
claims court, to such an extent that the terms “FED” and “eviction” are used interchangeably in
everyday usage.36 FEDs are “summary proceedings,” which means they happen on a very
expedited timeline – no more than 8 to 15 days from when the eviction is filed, often sooner.37
The final order for possession is usually entered at the first and only hearing.
Because of the expedited timeline, as well as the lack of procedural protections otherwise
afforded to most litigants in other civil cases, strict compliance with every technicality is
required.38 At the hearings, the landlord must show that they followed these procedures, and
also prove the basis for the eviction itself (i.e. the tenant in fact owed what is claimed, breached
the lease, etc.). Tenants may raise defenses about whether the procedures were followed,
whether there is a basis for the eviction, and also “affirmative defenses.” These affirmative
defenses include but are not limited to waiver of the right to evict because the landlord accepted
something that would have been a breach;39 counterclaims based on illegal lease provisions,
substandard housing quality, abuse of access, and retaliation;40 and violations of fair housing
law.41
If a tenant does not raise a successful defense, the small claims court will enter judgment in favor
of the landlord for possession.42 However, the landlord still cannot take unilateral self-help action
to remove the tenant until a “writ of possession,” sometimes called “writ of removal,” is both
issued by the court and then executed by the sheriff. This generally involves a few extra days at
most after the court issues its final order.

33
Iowa Code § 562A.27A.
34
See Symonds v. Green, 493 N.W.2d 801 (Iowa 1992).
35
Id.
36
FEDs are governed by Iowa Code Chapter 648, and Small Claims proceedings by Iowa Code Chapter 631.
37
Iowa Code § 648.5(1).
38
See, e.g., Jack Moritz Co. Management v. Walker, 429 N.W.2d 127, 130 (Iowa 1988).
39
Iowa Code § 562A.30.
40
Iowa Code § 648.19.
41
Newell v. Rolling Hills Apartments, 134 F. Supp. 2d 1026 (N.D. Iowa 2001).
42
Iowa Code § 648.22.

9
 Tenants who do not agree with the small claims court have the right to appeal to a higher court,
either a district court or district associate court. Generally these appeals don’t involve new
evidence. Instead, they are based on the record that small claims courts are required to create
and the documents and other evidence submitted in small claims court. Tenants may seek a stay
of the execution of the writ of possession/removal.43 Any further appeal of the vast majority of
evictions is to the Iowa Supreme Court on a discretionary review basis. “Discretionary review” is
a more time-consuming process than a direct civil appeal, and any applications for discretionary
review may be rejected by the Iowa Supreme Court at their discretion.
This process may seem complicated. However, except where a stay has been granted, it is
possible for a tenant to be on the street within a matter of two or three weeks if the landlord
follows the process correctly and there is not a processing backlog with the court or sheriff.

Community Comparisons: Linn and Scott Counties

County to county or city to city comparisons of eviction provide useful context, although may be
limited by the many differences between similar communities that may be at play. With that
caveat in mind, Linn County, Iowa’s second most populous county (pop. 228,939),44 has many
similarities to Scott County which make it useful for comparison. As can be seen in the charts
below, Linn and Scott County have a very similar racial, sex, and age demographics.

Racial Demographics of Linn and Scott County

Source: Census 2020
Native
African American Hawaiian/ Other Two
American Indian/Alaska Other Pacific Race races or
County White alone Native Asian Islander alone more
Linn 82.8% 7.1% 0.2% 2.3% 0.2% 1.3% 6.0%
Scott 79.4% 8.1% 0.3% 2.8% 0.0% 1.9% 7.4%

Age and Sex Demographic of Scott and Linn County

Source: American Community Survey 5-year Estimates 2015-2019
County Male Female < 15 15-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-59 60-64 65-74 75 +
Linn 49.3% 50.7% 19.4% 6.6% 6.7% 13.6% 12.8% 12.8% 6.5% 6.0% 8.8% 6.8%
Scott 49.1% 50.9% 19.8% 6.4% 6.0% 13.2% 12.7% 12.7% 6.7% 6.6% 9.1% 6.6%

Both counties also have similar median incomes. Between 2016 and 2020, Scott County’s median
income was $63,876 and Linn County’s was $67,301.45

43
Iowa Code § 631.13
44
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS LINN COUNTY IOWA (2021).
45
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS SCOTT COUNTY IOWA (2021); U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS LINN
COUNTY IOWA (2021). Compare Iowa’s other large counties (Polk, $69,747, Johnson, $63,062, Black Hawk, $54,774)
and Rock Island County ($55,980). U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS (2021).

10
To place the analysis that follows in a more meaningful context, this issue brief will periodically
compare findings in Scott against the same category of findings for Linn County, as well as
statewide data. Nonetheless, there are a couple of differences between Scott County and Linn
County germane to housing that are worth keeping in mind. First, Scott County’s poverty rate of
12.1% is significantly higher than Linn, which has a rate of 8.1%.46 While this may be a
contributing cause of Scott County’s higher rate of nonpayment evictions (as discussed below),
it could also be a result of that higher eviction rate.47

Second, Linn County has substantially fewer magistrates, the type of judicial officer presiding
over small claims cases and most evictions, than Scott County.48 Throughout 2020 and most of
2021, Scott County had eight magistrates, while Linn County had five.49 Since August 1, 2021,
Scott County has ten magistrates, while Linn County has three magistrates and one District
Associate Judge (DAJ),50 who is currently exclusively assigned to magistrate duties.51 Iowa’s 206
magistrate positions are allocated among the 99 counties by state court administration after a
workload study in each county.52 Counties can choose to appoint a DAJ in lieu of three
magistrates.53 Thus, each district makes complicated decisions based on the needs of the district
and county and a pure numeric comparison of magistrates is misleading. However, as discussed
in greater detail below, Linn County calls parties into the courtroom one at a time and holds one
hearing at a time, while Scott County calls all parties into the courtroom at once54 and holds two
hearings at a time in front of all parties. It may be worth considering and learning more about
how Linn County uses its magistrates to handle its busy eviction docket, while still allowing for
one hearing at a time to see if some changes are possible in Scott County given its resource and
space needs.

46
Id.; U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS LINN COUNTY IOWA (2021).
47
Princeton Professor of Sociology, and author of Pulitzer Prize winning book, Evicted, has gone so far to say that
“Eviction is a cause, not just a condition, of poverty.” Desmond, supra note 5, at 299. See also Matthew Desmond &
Carl Gershenson, Housing and Employment Instability Among the Working Poor, 63 SOC. PROBS. 1 (2016) (eviction
causes job loss).
48
“Magistrates have jurisdiction of simple misdemeanors regardless of the amount of the fine, including traffic and
ordinance violations, and preliminary hearings, search warrant proceedings, county and municipal infractions, and
small claims.” Iowa Code § 602.6405. The vast majority of eviction hearings are held in small claims.
49
Interview with Kathy Gaylord, Iowa District 7 Court Administrator, Friday, May 27, 2022 (confirmed number of
magistrates in Scott County); Interview with Kellee Cortez, Iowa District 6 Court Administrator, Friday, May 27,
2022 (confirmed number of magistrates in Linn County as well as role of DAJ assigned to magistrate duties).
50
A DAJ is a full-time judicial officer, as opposed to part-time like a magistrate. A DAJ has jurisdiction to hear any
kind of case that can be heard by a magistrate, as well as more serious criminal cases, and if so designated, juvenile
cases. DAJs also commonly hear appeals of small claims cases and most evictions in many counties, including in Scott.
51
Interview with Kellee Cortez, supra note 34.
52
Iowa Code § 602.6401.
53
Iowa Code § 602.6302.
54
The cases each week are divided among four, and sometimes, but rarely, five 30-minute timeslots (1:00. 1:30,
2:00. 2:00, 3:00) on Tuesdays, and as parties arrive at the courthouse they are sent into the large courtroom.

11
Iowa Legal Aid’s Data Collection and Analysis
Iowa Legal Aid: Providing Hope, Dignity, and Justice for Forty-Five Years

Iowa Legal Aid is a statewide, not-for-profit law firm, that provides free civil legal services to low-
income Iowans, seniors, veterans, new Iowans, and other vulnerable groups in all 99 counties.
Iowa Legal Aid has 10 regional offices across the state, including Davenport. Throughout its forty-
five-year history,55 Iowa Legal Aid has built extensive institutional expertise in a wide variety of
issues, including evictions. Between 2015 and 2021 alone, Iowa Legal Aid processed almost
30,000 eviction intakes – the single largest category within Iowa Legal Aid’s range of practice
during those years. Over 1,300 of those cases were for clients who lived in Scott County. Iowa
Legal Aid attorneys advise and represent tenants at evictions in small claims court and on appeal.
A significant portion of the appellate history of evictions in Iowa over the last 30 years involves
arguments made by Iowa Legal Aid.

Since September 2020, Iowa Legal Aid has opened six eviction diversion help desks around the
state, including one at the Scott County Courthouse. These desks provide onsite legal services
and facilitate access to rent assistance to tenants facing eviction.

1: Court Watching Methodology

The original focus of this report was a court watching project, to see what happened when people
came to eviction court in Scott County. An Iowa Legal Aid staff member, who is not an attorney,
sat and observed pre-pandemic small claims court on 29 different Tuesday afternoons during
which eviction hearings were held between February 5, 2019, and March 3, 2020. The staff
member made notes about her observations, focusing on the demeanor in the courtroom,
information about individual hearings, and anything else that may have stood out to her that day.
She was not able to make notes on every hearing that happened as multiple hearings often
happen at once in the same courtroom, a feature unique to Scott County, and she was not always
able to hear everything that happened in concurrent hearings. When this occurred, it was
documented in the notes.

An Iowa Legal Aid attorney, with several years of experience representing tenants in evictions in
several Iowa Counties, including Linn and Scott, reviewed all the non-attorney’s notes and then
looked up individual case files to add legal context before including it in this analysis. This review
was also supported by the reviewing attorney’s experience examining hundreds of eviction files
in Scott County as part of the work done for various internal and external data related projects
Iowa Legal Aid has done in the past two years.

55
Iowa Legal Aid’s predecessor organization in Scott and Clinton Counties, HELP Legal Assistance, has been in
existence in one form or another since 1969, and formally merged with Iowa Legal Aid in 2015.

12
The information gathered from the court observation process was also further bolstered by Iowa
Legal Aid attorneys who were asked to comment on their experience handling evictions in Scott
County and comparing it to their experience handling evictions in other counties.

2: Public Records Analysis

In 2018, building on the trailblazing work of the Eviction Lab, Iowa Legal Aid began to conduct its
own analysis of public records eviction data. The first few data analysis projects focused
exclusively on Polk and Story Counties in 2018 and 2019, respectively. These analyses were done
in part because Eviction Lab’s nationwide data ended in 2016. Also, due to the massive
nationwide scope of their research, Eviction Lab could not analyze data that was not already
available in aggregated form from the Iowa Judicial Branch. Certain measures, such as addresses,
grounds for eviction, and outcomes, would require case-by-case document review to record.
Even on the question of “eviction rate,” Eviction Lab’s methodology often undercounted in our
experience, as there were certain outcomes that ultimately lead to housing loss were difficult if
not impossible to ascertain without reviewing the underlying documents in a case.

Beginning in March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Iowa Legal Aid began pulling
public record eviction data each week to track the progress of the concurrent eviction crisis and
to track the efficacy of measures like rental assistance programs and eviction moratoria. As
several Iowa counties began adding eviction help desks, we used this data collection for
additional strategic purposes. Given the availability of this data, we decided to add a robust public
records analysis to the scope of this issue brief.

Iowa Legal Aid staff pulls a list of evictions by county each week through the Iowa Courts Online
Search. These lists capture nearly all evictions in a given week in the state, but there are some
limitations. Due to the way they classify their eviction hearings, a small number of counties’ filings
are not easily found using this system and are likely undercounted. These counties are few
however, and the most populous counties with the highest filing rates are not among them. This
limitation does not affect Scott County data at all, to our knowledge, and results in a minor
undercount of statewide eviction data.

The lists generated from the county-by-county search in Iowa Courts Online Search include the
information – case name, number and county – necessary to look up the filings in each case in
the state’s electronic filing system. Though the filings are public record, an account to view the
electronic filing system is only available for licensed attorneys. Iowa Legal Aid staff, both attorney
and non-attorney, as well as trained volunteers have spent hundreds of hours reviewing the
filings in each case and collecting the following information: the basis for the eviction, how much
was owed if anything, the outcome of the case, whether the case was held in person, by phone,
or video conferencing, and notes for anything else of interest. This process necessarily means
that this information is also subject to human error. However, we believe that it should be
accorded reasonable reliability. It is also the only information of this nature currently available,
largely given the substantial requirements of time and expertise needed to acquire and analyze
it.

13
Iowa Legal Aid also made request to the City of Davenport for various public records relating to
complaints and reports made about housing code violations which were reviewed in preparation
for this report. This includes addresses where complaints were made, addresses with rental
licenses, and inspection reports for specific properties related to confirming information in the
court observations.

3: Iowa Legal Aid Internal Data Analysis

Our overall analysis also includes slices of aggregated internal data captured by Iowa Legal Aid in
the course of its direct services work through our case management system. Our internal data is
an important supplement to our public records analysis because it contains demographic
information not present in public records. However, because this information is only about Iowa
Legal Aid’s clients, it is limited in that it represents only a certain percentage of the total cases
filed. Given the large number of tenants we serve (approximately 30,000 statewide between
2015 and 2021), we believe this data is useful even with these limitations. This is even more true
for the data gathered after the institution of the help desks, as this led to taking on a much larger
percentage of tenants facing eviction as clients than before.

14
Findings
Evictions Are Rising

Overall
Eviction filings in Iowa have been steadily rising statewide since 2011 – an overall increase of 69%
from 2011 to 2019, with a high-water mark of over 18,072 evictions filed in 2019.

Scott County FED filings in that same period also rose 69%. At any given point in the last decade,
Scott County has accounted for between 8% and 11% of all evictions filed in Iowa, while only
comprising about 2.6% of the state’s renter population. Linn County makes up between 8% and
13% of all evictions with about 3% of the state’s renter population.

Eviction filings in Scott and Linn County, 2011 to 2021

2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Linn County evictions Scott County Evictions

15
Since 2017, both Scott and Linn have had substantially higher rates of eviction per renter
occupied units (eviction rate/unit) than the state average. Scott County’s eviction rate/unit has
been slightly higher than Linn County’s rate since 2019, even though Scott County has more
rental units and a lower population than Linn County.

Renter
Evictions Percent Evictions Evictions per Occupied
Year Total Change per Unit Unit as % Units
State of Iowa 2017 15,526 6.5% 0.0197 2.0% 788,828
State of Iowa 2018 17,019 8.8% 0.0215 2.2% 790,918
State of Iowa 2019 18,072 5.8% 0.0228 2.3% 792,297
State of Iowa 2020 12,477 -44.8% 0.0159 1.6% 783,757
State of Iowa 2021 12,928 3.5%

Renter
Evictions Percent Evictions Evictions per Occupied
Year Total Change per Unit Unit as % Units
Scott 2017 1,404 6.8% 0.0679 6.8% 20,678
Scott 2018 1,561 11.2% 0.0763 7.6% 20,466
Scott 2019 1,620 3.8% 0.0780 7.8% 20,762
Scott 2020 1,142 -29.5% 0.0567 5.7% 20,148
Scott 2021 1,059 -7.3%

Renter
Evictions Percent Evictions Evictions per Occupied
Year Total Change per Unit Unit as % Units
Linn 2017 1,871 15.0% 0.0814 8.1% 22,972
Linn 2018 1,904 1.8% 0.0828 8.3% 22,995
Linn 2019 1,692 -11.1% 0.0711 7.1% 23,782
Linn 2020 1,210 -28.5% 0.0517 5.2% 23,461
Linn 2021 1,245 2.9%

Like the rest of the country, Scott and Linn saw a decline in evictions in 2020. This was largely
driven by COVID-19 related moratoria, rental assistance programs, and pandemic unemployment
enhancements. Notably, however, evictions in both counties declined substantially less than the
average statewide decline. In 2021 evictions continued to decline slightly in Scott County, while
they rose slightly in Linn County.

The Yearly Eviction Cycle

Between 2015 and 2018, evictions followed a fairly predictable trajectory month to month across
the state and in Scott County even as the number of filings continued to climb each year. In
general, our data showed a relatively predictable drop in hearings during the months of February
through April, and a secondary drop in November and December. The highest number of
evictions tended to take place in mid to late summer.

16
In 2019, as filings reached their all-time high in Iowa, there were some notable changes to the
trajectory of previous years. There was no dip between February and April as there had been in
previous years, and the end of 2019 saw a sharp increase in filings, where previous years had
seen a decline. Whether the changes in 2019 were the start of a new trend or simply an anomaly
remains to be seen due the data volatility created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

17
As for explanations of the 2015 to 2018 trend, at least the February to April dip, one obvious
possibility is the effect of tax refunds, particularly refundable credits such as the Earned Income
Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit. Further study is needed, both on the reasons for the earlier
trend and why that trend lessened in 2019.

The only word that can describe data from 2020 through YTD 2022 is “volatile.” However, based
on the number of filings as of May 2022, evictions appear to once again be on the rise and the
state could be on track to surpass the previous record number of filings in 2019. Such a rise would
be consistent with our understanding of the eviction crisis. Evictions were rising before 2020, and
other than the temporary pandemic era programs, which helped keep filings down, there are no
measures in place to stop the increase that started before the pandemic.

Some of the factors that may further exacerbate the crisis include rising rent, perhaps as an
attempt to recoup pandemic related losses, inflation, as well as continued lack of childcare and
resulting loss of jobs, especially among women.56 COVID-19 itself is still causing missed work and
medical bills, and various pandemic era programs which were helping many are ending or have
ended. However, evictions have been rising long before the pandemic, and so the crisis of the
present day is likely not the only factor affecting evictions rates in Scott County or Iowa as a
whole.

56
Given the known disproportionate impact eviction has on women and families with children, this factor could play
an outsized role in increased evictions. E.g., Russell Engler, Connecting Self-Representation to Civil Gideon: What
Existing Data Reveal About When Counsel is Most Needed, 37 Fordham Urb. L.J. 37, 47, 50 (2010) (those facing
eviction are disproportionately Tenants, “poor, often women, and disproportionately racial and ethnic minorities...”)

18
Nonpayment Of Rent Is by Far the Leading Reason for Eviction In Scott County & Statewide

The overwhelming cause of eviction in both Scott County, Linn County, and the rest of the state
is for nonpayment of rent. Between March 2020 and March 2022, 85% of evictions in Scott
County were facially based on nonpayment of rent. For the same period in Linn County, 72% of
evictions were facially based on nonpayment of rent.57 The term “facially” is used because, as
explained above, in Iowa Legal Aid’s experience cases plead as holdover – i.e. staying after the
termination of a lease – are in reality actions based on nonpayment of rent. This was especially
true during the pandemic, when styling an eviction as a holdover was often a way to evict people
despite eviction moratoria. In comparison, 2018 and 2019 Iowa Legal Aid studies of Polk and
Story counties show that, pre-pandemic, nonpayment of rent accounted for between 92 and 95
percent of evictions. For these reasons, we believe the 85% and 72% numbers from our current
analysis undercount the number of evictions that are purely economic, possibly considerably so.
A major driving factor behind the high amounts of evictions for nonpayment of rent is likely that
there is simply not enough affordable housing available. While the estimated mean hourly wage
for Scott County renters is $12.22, the hourly wage necessary to afford a 2-bedroom apartment
in Scott County is about $15.08.58 The estimated average rent in Scott County is $812, meaning a
renter earning mean hourly wages is paying over 40% of their income on housing, while lower
wage earners are paying much more of their income toward rent.59 These costs leave little for
other basic necessities such as food, medicine, and utilities, and leave many tenants with
impossible decisions about what to pay for and what to forego in a given month.60
While wages remain low, HUD Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom home in Iowa rose from a
statewide average of $575 in 2012 to $788 in 2022 – a 27% increase. While Scott saw an overall
smaller increase of 19%61 in the same period, from $656 to $805 per month, the fact remains
that rent continues to increase without corresponding changes in society that would help low-
income people keep pace.

57
The amount of evictions based on not paying rent may be higher in both counties because as described above in
the state law background section, some landlord’s file evictions based on holding over when the reason for the
holdover was failure to pay rent.
58
NAT’L LOW INCOME HOUS. COAL Out of Reach, Iowa (2021).
https://reports.nlihc.org/sites/default/files/oor/files/reports/state/ia-2021-oor.pdf (last visited June 8, 2022).
59
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS SCOTT COUNTY IOWA (2021); See also QC HOUSING CLUSTER supra note 21
at 4-10; Desmond, supra note 5, at 4 (“Today, the majority of poor renting families in America spend over half of
their income on housing, and at least one in four dedicates over 70 percent to paying the rent and keeping the lights
on.”
60
ANDREW AURAND supra note 12 at 8 (a household is considered rent burdened if it spends more than 30% of its
income on housing and it is considered severely rent burdened if it spends more than 50% of its income on housing).
61
This is actually part of a surprising trend, where more urban counties such as Scott, Polk, and Linn counties have
experienced a lower rate of rent increase than rural or semi-rural counties. In the top ten counties ranked by rate of
increase in HUD Fair Market Rent from 2012 to 2022, only two have a population over 22,000. Johnson and Black
Hawk buck this trend, however, each experiencing a comparatively high increase over this same period. In any event,
regardless of the rate of increase, increasing rent creates challenges for low-income people across the state.

19
Scott County’s “Eviction Rate,” i.e. filed evictions that result in housing loss, is high

Of the 1,970 evictions filed between March 2020 and March 2022 in Scott County, 1,089 resulted
in a court ordered eviction. That number is 25% higher than the rate of court ordered evictions
in Linn County during the same time-period. Cases were voluntarily dismissed before the hearing
by the landlord about 17% more often in Linn County than in Scott County. However, it is difficult
to assess what these pre-hearing dismissals really mean for tenant housing stability, because the
reasons for the dismissals are not reflected in court records or observations. While some
voluntary dismissals may be the result of the landlord and tenant reaching an agreement where
the tenant is allowed to stay, others may be a result of the landlord convincing the tenant to
move before the hearing or the tenant choosing to move before the hearing on their own. Formal
agreements on the record, either for a tenant to pay to be allowed to stay, or simply for an agreed
upon move out date are rare in both Scott and Linn.

Tenants’ Ability to Enforce Their Right to Habitable Housing Is Limited

Tenants in Scott County face substantial barriers to enforce their rights to habitable housing. As
a preliminary matter, one barrier is that tenants may simply not be aware of what the rights and
remedies available to them. Even for those that do understand this right, they may not be able
to identify conditions that would be deemed uninhabitable. Additionally, some tenants may be
unaware of their options to enforce their rights. Even when lack of knowledge is not a barrier,
many likely choose not to because doing so may cause them to lose their housing altogether.62
Understandably, for many, living in substandard housing is better than having no housing at all.63
Tenant remedies under local law: Housing code enforcement
All municipalities in Iowa with a population of at least fifteen thousand must have housing code
enforcement procedures in place, including rental inspections upon receipt of complaints.64
Tenants in municipalities with housing inspection programs, including those in Davenport and
Bettendorf,65 can make complaints to the housing inspector as a route to enforce habitable
housing. However, many tenants fear the risk of retaliation by their landlord if they complain.66
Interestingly, in our review of Davenport housing inspection records and eviction records
between January 1, 2021, and May 1, 2022, less than 20%, and possibly as little as 9.3% of tenants

62
DESMOND, supra note 5, at 75; TOBIN-TYLER & TEITELBAUM, supra note 8, at 109; Brian Goldstone, The New
American Homeless, New Republic (Aug. 21, 2019).
63
Tobin-Tyler & Teitelbaum, supra note 8, at 73-74 (“an unhealthy and unsafe roof over one's head may be better
than no roof at all”).
64
Iowa Code § 364.17(2); § 364.17(3)a.
65
Municipalities with less than fifteen thousand people may have inspection programs at well. There is at least some
indication that Eldridge has a program, but this was not confirmed by the authors.
66
See DESMOND, supra note 5, at 75; Sabbeth, supra note 3, at 91.

20
who filed complaints wound up in eviction court during that period.67 Importantly however, these
rates do not necessarily indicate that tenants who complain were or were not retaliated against.
For one thing, we might find that if we looked out another six months, more tenants who
complained ultimately faced eviction. Additionally, we cannot know how many tenants whose
landlord told them to leave as a result of their complaint did so before an eviction filing. We also
cannot tell from the public record whether other forms of retaliation, including raising rent and
self-help or constructive eviction may have occurred.68 On the other hand, just because a tenant
was evicted after a complaint, we cannot be certain the eviction was a result of retaliation. The
landlord may have had a legitimate reason for eviction after a complaint was made.
Tenants may also choose not to report substandard conditions to the housing inspector for fear
that the inspection itself could lead to their removal from their home. In extreme circumstances,
a complaint can result in being quickly forced out of their home if the inspector determines that
the property is unfit for human habitation.69
In addition to responding to complaints, cities over fifteen thousand must also have a program
for regular inspections of rental properties.70 Ideally this program should alleviate the necessity
of some tenant complaints, and with it reduce the risk of retaliation against tenants. Iowa Legal
Aid requested data from the City of Davenport in an attempt to determine how many evictions
were filed against tenants who were living in unlicensed and uninspected rentals. The data was
provided, but given differences in the address information for rental licensing and evictions,
further work needed to be done at time of publication to draw any conclusions. We are
continuing to analyze this information, and will hopefully be able to provide more insight in the
weeks following this report.
It is worth noting that other jurisdictions in Iowa as varied as Sioux City, Des Moines, and Fairfield,
all use their rental licensing system with the understanding that failure to acquire a proper license
creates a legal defense to evictions for nonpayment of rent. This creates an additional mechanism
for enforcing habitability that is not only at no additional cost for the city, but also provides courts
with an easier evidentiary standard for some habitability cases [i.e. they need only see the
absence of the certificate without a full trial on the merits of a counterclaim based on diminution
of rental value due to habitability concerns].

67
Our analysis indicates a minimum of 9.3% and a maximum of 17.76% of tenants who complained in that period
ended up in eviction court during the same period. See Public Records Analysis above for more detail on how we
made this conclusion.
68
Self-help eviction is defined as forcing the tenant out of their home without a court order. This is illegal in Iowa,
See e.g., Khan v. Heritage Prop. Mgmt., 584 N.W.2d 725, 729 (Iowa Ct. App. 1998). Constructive eviction is defined
as taking action, which forces the tenant to leave their home. Such as turning of the electricity, water, heat, or
removing doors and windows. See Eggers v. Paustian, 190 Iowa 638, 180 N.W. 873, 876 (1921).
69
E.g., Brian Goldstone, supra note 54. In Davenport, the Crestwood apartment complex got a lot of attention after
the City of Davenport forced residents out of their homes. See Tom Barton, ‘We have nowhere to go” Davenport
renters forced to vacate residents plead with city for assistance, Quad City Times, Nov. 17, 2021.
70
Iowa Code § 364.17(2); § 364.17(3)a.

21
Tenant remedies under state law: the Iowa Uniform Landlord Tenant Code
Tenants may also seek to enforce their right to habitable housing by withholding rent (which can
be very risky71) or by making a counterclaim to an eviction for nonpayment of rent.72 In a
counterclaim,73 the tenant can ask for damages owed for the uninhabitable conditions, which
include damages for the physical and mental harms endured by the tenant from living in
uninhabitable conditions. If the court finds the tenant is owed damages, the damages will offset
the amount of rent owed. Although this tool seems especially important in light of the limitations
of housing inspections, and even more so for those tenants who do not live in an area where a
housing inspector is available, based on Iowa Legal Aid courtroom observations and subsequent
court file review, it is not practically available to tenants in Scott County.
Based on court observations, tenants complained about serious habitability issues, including
months without heat, mold, a caved in ceiling, carpet, which smelled so badly the tenant could
not live in her home, and infestations of mice and roaches. The observer repeatedly noted a
practice by the magistrates of telling tenants that these issues were not relevant to the eviction
proceedings. In these cases, tenants were evicted without taking full testimony on the issues,
without accepting documentation of the housing code violations, including pictures and reports
made to the inspector’s office, into the record, and without making any decision on the merits of
this defense. Upon review of the files by an attorney, there was no indication in the record that
the tenant raised any defense at all.74 While this issue brief is focused on Scott County, we will
note that in Iowa Legal Aid’s experience, courts across the state generally do not entertain
habitability counterclaims despite clear language in the code that defines and justifies the
defense. This is an issue that is statewide in nature.
In one stark example, the court observer watched a tenant facing eviction for nonpayment of
rent in April 2019, tell the magistrate that there were habitability issues in her apartment and
that she had pictures, but she was not able to show them because she was prohibited from
bringing her phone into the courthouse. The tenant told the magistrate that she had asked for
repairs repeatedly, but to no avail. The magistrate told her that maintenance was a separate issue
and entered the eviction. Like other cases reviewed, the court file provides no indication that the

71
The protocol laid out in the code can be difficult to follow, leaving tenants vulnerable to eviction, and often
because the code generally only allows tenants to withhold one month’s rent, even correctly following this
protocol will not enable a tenant to correct many habitability issues. Iowa Code § 562A.27(4). If the landlord fails
to provide essential services such as electricity or water, the tenant can deduct more than one month’s rent,
however, many tenants do not have the funds to pay for such repairs out of pocket. Iowa Code § 562A.27(4).
Tenants can also terminate their lease in certain circumstances where habitability issues exist, but this of course
does not ensure repairs, and often puts the tenant at risk of homelessness. Iowa Code § 562A.21(1).
72
Iowa Code § 562A.21; 562A.24.
73
A tenant could also bring an affirmative action, but for most, these are prohibitively expensive and require both
legal and substantive expertise most tenants do not have. David A. Super, The Rise and Fall of the Implied
Warranty of Habitability, 99 CAL. L. REV. 389, 405 (2011).
74
Mark Bierman vs. Alyssa Ramos, District Court of Scott County, Small Claims Division SCSC220854; Denzell Lee,
RENTQC, LLC vs Walter Hickman, District Court of Scott County, Small Claims Division, SCSC221513.

22
tenant raised any defense at all.75 However, the landlord was Crestwood Apartments, a landlord
now well known in Davenport after having multiple buildings closed by the city for uninhabitable
living conditions.76 The apartment at issue in this eviction was not among the buildings that were
later vacated by the city. However, public records show that an inspector did find violations in
the same building later in 2019 including a leaking and deteriorated roof, failed furnace
inspection, inoperable smoke detectors, missing carbon monoxide detectors, missing or
damaged window screens and mold.77
In addition to the physical and mental health risks of living in uninhabitable conditions, tenants
whose landlords will not make needed repairs frequently pay their limited resources toward
temporary or inadequate repairs in excess of rent that may already unaffordable, higher utility
costs, and replacing items damaged because of the conditions. The inability to raise these claims
in Scott County further limits tenants’ ability to get relief that they are entitled to under state
law, and by failing to hold landlords accountable, perpetuates the barriers in place for tenants to
live in habitable housing.

Evictions Disproportionately Affect People of Color, Women, And People Who Are Disabled

Tenants of Residents ofOf the 28,690 calls for help Iowa Legal Aid
Color Facing Color79 received from tenants across the state of
Eviction78 Iowa at risk of eviction between January 1,
State of Iowa 36% 9.4% 2016, and December 31, 2021, 69% were
Black Hawk 48% 15.5% cases with woman as the primary client,
Johnson 53% 17% 31% of applicants had a disability, and 36%
Linn 41% 11.9% involve people of color. Scott County had
Polk 43% 15.1% similar rates of calls for help from women
Scott 48% 14.5% (71%)80 and people with disabilities
(31%)81 as did the state overall. However, in Iowa’s largest counties, including Scott County, the
disproportionate impact on people of color was even higher than the statewide rate, based on
those seeking Iowa Legal Aid’s services. In contrast, in Scott County, 14.5% of the population are
people of color, while 48% of the tenants facing eviction that contacted Iowa Legal Aid were
people of color.

75
Crestwood Apartments LLC vs Valencia Hampton, District Court of Scott County, Small Claims Division,
SCSC221850.
76
See Tom Barton, ‘This is a forgotten land’” Davenport renters forced to vacate substandard housing confront city
officials, Quad City Times, July 26, 2021.
77
Inspection report on file with authors.
78
Internal Iowa Legal Aid Data
79
Based on census data for each county, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS IOWA (2021).
80
Women make up an estimated 50.9% of the population in Scott County. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, QUICK FACTS SCOTT
COUNTY IOWA (2021).
81
An estimated 7.6% of Scott County residents under 65 have a disability. Id.

23
In 39% of the cases Iowa Legal Aid opened where there was risk of eviction between 2016 and
2021, there was at least one child in the household. In Scott County there were children in the
household in 44% of these cases. Children of color are disproportionately at risk of eviction. In
Scott County, while 34% of white households facing eviction had one or more children in the
home, this number was 55% for households of color.82

While there are likely many factors that cause the disproportionate harm of the eviction crisis to
fall on people of color, the following map is a stunning reminder of the lingering harms of
redlining and other discriminatory practices on communities. Each dot represents an eviction
filed between 2020 and 2022 and has been placed on the 1936 redlining map of Davenport.

82
This tracks national trends. Matthew Desmond, Unaffordable America: Poverty, Housing, and Eviction, INST. FOR
RES. ON POVERTY, UNIV. OF WIS.-MADISON: FAST FOCUS 1 (Mar. 2015), (“[p]oor single mothers with young children,
particularly African Americans, are at especially high risk of displacement”).

24
 Demographics in Davenport have
changed somewhat from 1936, but
maps of recent census block
information still maintain a visual
connection to how the city looked
90 years ago. The maps on this page
show the distribution of eviction
filings over maps which indicate
median household income and
percentage of people of color in
various census tracts in Davenport.
There is some evidence in the maps,
that even when accounting for
household income, race plays a role
in the likelihood that someone will be evicted. The devastating role race plays in evictions in Scott
County, as well as the apparent connection between race, concentrated poverty, and eviction
are critical factors that should be considered in any plans to address the eviction crisis.

25
While There Have Been Major Improvements, Eviction Court Procedures Create Some Barriers

The role of eviction court in the overall eviction crisis

As the data above shows, Scott County’s eviction rate makes it stand out amongst its neighbors,
the state of Iowa, and nationally. Even when compared to Linn County, a county with strikingly
similar demographics, Scott County entered an eviction order 25% more often. The reason for its
high eviction rate could be any number of factors. While many of these factors are external to
the legal process of eviction itself, it is impossible to give a full picture of evictions in the
community without examining how that process plays a role in outcomes. Initially, however, it is
important to recognize how difficult it is to manage the massive workloads imposed on judicial
branch that must be processed within tight statutory timeframes without commensurate
increases with funding. Of course, all of this became that much more challenging due to the
pandemic.
Also, many positive changes have been made in the last two years, under very difficult
circumstances. As far as court practices are concerned, the introduction of a help desk to connect
tenants with legal and financial assistance has been a fundamental improvement (in the interests
of full disclosure, Iowa Legal Aid plays a key role in this new program). In general, courts in Scott
County have shown great interest in improving the quality of litigant experience within the role
of the Judicial Branch as an impartial arbiter of disputes.
Additionally, some of the courtroom observations predated these positive changes, although
they may or may not describe issues that continue to some degree at present.
Notwithstanding the above, our observations over the last three years show that there are
practices in the Scott County eviction court which stand out amongst other Iowa counties, some
of which may play a role in the higher rate of eviction. These are described below.
Features of Scott County eviction court
Eviction hearings are held once per week on Tuesday
afternoons in Scott County. Hearings are set for 5 minutes “ I am used to one [eviction] at a time
each, and the number of cases on the docket ranges and an actual record being made. My
experience was multiple [evictions]
drastically. Often there are 30 or more cases set on any given
happening at the same time in the
Tuesday afternoon, and observers have identified as many as same courtroom off the record at the
78 having been scheduled for one afternoon. This setup is bench. It felt like [] talking to the
unusual compared to other large counties in the state, which judge in chambers, but there was a
either hold eviction hearings several times a week or have far decision made at the end of the
conversation. No one was sworn in.”
fewer hearings in a week. For example, during the week of
April 17, 2022, Scott County held 40 evictions, whereas Linn - Attorney response to request
County had 33. All 40 Scott County evictions were scheduled for comments about handling
for one afternoon, whereas no more than 10 (and as few as 2) an eviction in Scott County
were held on any given day in Linn County throughout the
week. Linn County evictions were scheduled for 15 minutes

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each. Johnson County on the other hand also scheduled their hearings for once a week, for 5
minutes each, but have far fewer than Scott County. During the week of April 17, 2022, Johnson
County had a total of 12 eviction cases.
The Scott County eviction court is also unusual among other counties in the state because two
magistrates preside at once in the same courtroom. Iowa Legal Aid staff is unaware of any other
county that has this practice.
At the time of hearing all parties are directed into the courtroom and then called up by one of
the magistrates. The large volume of cases, with all parties in the room and two magistrates
presiding at once creates a courtroom experience that is often chaotic and confusing. The room
can be very loud and on some occasions the magistrates are very quiet or difficult to understand.
The court observer had difficulty hearing the proceedings on several occasions, and sometimes
could not even hear the names of the parties being called. On one occasion the court observer
witnessed a person sitting in the courtroom for the entire process but missing their hearing
because they did not realize they were ever called.

“The court shall swear the parties and their witnesses, and examine them in such a
way as to bring out the truth . . . [u]pon the trial, the judicial magistrate shall make
detailed minutes of the testimony of each witness and append the exhibits or copies
thereof to the record . . . the magistrate shall cause the proceedings upon trial to be
recorded electronically, and both parties shall be notified in advance of that
recording” Iowa Code § 631.11

The hearings held in front of either magistrate are unlike a typical court hearing. Parties are not
usually sworn in, nor are the proceedings usually recorded from the beginning. While small claims
courts are generally informal across the state, the lack of swearing in or electronic records is
unusual in our experience. If a party or their attorney requests that the hearing be recorded, the
magistrates will usually turn the recording on at that time. The hearings are often far shorter than
the five minutes allotted and if there is any indication that the hearing will be more than a quick
decision to evict or not evict, the parties are instructed to sit down and wait until the end of the
other proceedings and then will be called up again for a hearing which more closely resembles a
typical hearing where parties are sworn in and usually recorded.

“Although the magistrate need not issue findings of fact and conclusions of law, we
believe it is necessary to briefly state the reasons for reaching a particular conclusion”
Jack Moritz Co. v. Walker

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When, as is often the case, there is no recording, there is no record of what was said or what
happened during the proceedings. In its review of dozens of orders, Iowa Legal Aid staff found
only one Scott County eviction order which indicated why the judge chose not to evict. Typically,
the orders only provide what parties appeared, and provides no other basis for the decision. The
review of eviction files also discovered no instance in which the magistrate provided detailed
minutes of the testimony.
The lack of a record creates many problems, including perhaps most importantly, severely
hampering any further review of the decision on appeal. Even if an attorney took part in the small
claims hearing, a lack of record and lack of a basis of decision can make it nearly impossible to
accurately convey the issues on appeal, particularly given the extremely chaotic and quick nature
of the proceedings. In a review of court documents, one case was found where an appeal was
filed, and the district associate judge noted that no recording existed, but that the court had
access to the magistrate’s notes and was therefore able to affirm the decision. The magistrate’s
notes cannot be found in the record nor does the magistrate provide any basis for their ruling in
the court order, which makes the subsequent affirmance on appeal difficult to evaluate.83 Also,
while technically allowed by the small claims statutes, a record comprised of notes alone is of far
less value on appeal. Notes are subjective and summary in nature, and may only include what
the magistrate thought was important, which may be different from what a reviewing court may
find relevant or compelling.
Defaults
One issue that comes up repeatedly in landlord tenant disputes around the state is the high
default rate. In 2021, tenants failed to appear about 31% of the time, while landlords failed to
appear in about 3% of the cases. In the event that the Plaintiff fails to appear, a review of cases
appeared to indicate that the case was always dismissed. Where the Defendant does not appear,
but the Plaintiff does appear, a review of the cases reveal that the regular practice is to check to
ensure proper service of the underlying notices before entering an eviction against the tenant.
However, in one case where the tenant failed to appear, the court observer noted that the
magistrate recognized that the eviction should have been barred by peaceable possession but
entered the eviction order anyway. An attorney reviewed the filings of the case and was able to
confirm that it did appear the eviction should been barred by 30-day peaceable possession, and
that an eviction was nonetheless entered. There were no facts in the record to indicate what
happened other than the tenant failed to appear.84
Ability to raise defenses under time constraints
Where both parties appear, the brevity of the hearings still makes raising a defense difficult,
especially a counterclaim or fact-based defense. While it is impossible to truly assess the merits
of cases on review because of the issues with the records discussed above, the issue of

83
Lewis Washington vs Darnell Bonner, District Court of Scott County, Small Claims Division, SCSC221617.
84
Marilyn Paxon vs Gabriele Bradford, District Court of Scott County, Small Claims Division, SCSC224369.

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habitability described above provides an example of tenants being denied the full opportunity to
present their case. Tenants were frequently observed being denied the ability to admit important
documentation related to their defense, including not only habitability issues, but also proof of
payment or a pending rent assistance application because the documentation was on their
phone.
Again, the point must be made that these problems are not caused by any animus or anti-tenant
feeling, but rather are adaptations to the extremely heavy burden that the Judicial Branch has
been given without adequate resources to address it. However, there may be alternatives that
would not only provide a better experience to litigants, but also in the end improve the
experience of the magistrates and other Judicial Branch staff as well. Many of these alternatives
are practiced successfully in other jurisdictions.
The best way to reduce pressure on the judicial system is to prevent more evictions from
being filed in the first place
Another way of reducing pressure on the court system is to turn the tide on the ever-rising
number of evictions by addressing the underlying causes of eviction. This may involve shifting the
focus to a pre-filing diversion system. A prefiling system would not only reduce pressure on the
courts, but would also create benefits to landlords and tenants. Landlords would save resources
otherwise spent on eviction. Tenants would avoid the negative effect of an eviction “on their
record,” an indelible mark in a jurisdiction like Iowa where even a frivolously filed eviction is not
expungable and thus public record forever. However, Iowa Legal Aid’s experience is that a
program like this will be difficult under existing law, which makes evictions easy and quick for a
landlord who strictly follows procedures. Unless additional incentive is given to landlords, such a
program will be difficult to implement in the real world.

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Conclusion & Recommendations
The analysis in this issue brief supports the concerns that have been raised by many in the Quad
City housing community. There is an eviction crisis in Scott County. Scott County has an eviction
rate that is high compared to its neighbors across the river, to the state of Iowa as a whole, and
to other large cities across the nation. Even when compared to Linn County, a community with
many similarities, Scott County enters evictions 25% more often. Like many other communities,
there is also substantial evidence that this crisis is disproportionately harming people of color
women, and those with disabilities in Scott County. This disproportionate impact is likely caused
by a myriad of social inequities, which may include lingering harms created by discriminatory
practices (e.g. redlining).
While the data and analysis provided in this report provide reason for concern, there is also ample
reason for hope. Many of the concerns raised in this issue brief themselves provide potential
opportunities to make improvements and lower the eviction rate. Additionally, Scott County has
a rich history of social justice advocacy and many in the community are deeply committed to
ensuring access to housing, access to justice, and eviction prevention. Thanks to the support of
the Iowa Judicial Branch, in its first eight months alone, the Scott County Eviction Diversion
Helpdesk assisted over 230 people facing eviction. Many of those assisted may never have
accessed resources had they not been available at the courthouse. Although it is too early to
assess the help desk’s full impact, there has been a drop in evictions ordered and an increase in
evictions dismissed by the parties prior to hearing since the help desk started.
Although the comparisons with other communities throughout this issue brief provide insight
and help highlight potential areas of concern, the eviction crisis is complex and there is no one
size fits all solution. Scott County will require solutions uniquely suited to it, and those solutions
will be best identified and developed by the community itself.
Based on the analysis and observations provided some areas recommended for consideration
by the community are the following:

• Exploring ways to tackle the reality of the lack of affordable housing.

o Unless access to affordable housing increases, eviction filing rates will likely only
continue to increase, putting further pressure on the courts and creating
escalating costs to local and state governments.
o The eviction crisis and affordable housing crisis are closely intertwined and
complex. The community should continue to work on solutions to the affordable
housing crisis and may want to consider, at least in the short term, continuing to
fund rent assistance programs at levels similar or beyond what has been available
at various points during the pandemic.
o Explore the possibility of expanding access to subsidized housing units. Local
subsidized housing is being created by some municipalities to fill the large gap by
underfunded federal programs.

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• Exploring options to expand access to affordable housing that is also safe housing.
o Existing affordable housing stock is degrading. Efforts should be made to use
existing mechanisms to ensure that affordable housing is maintained and that
low-income tenants should not have to endure health hazards associated with
long unaddressed environmental hazards.
o This may include information campaigns to inform tenants of their rights as well
as how to enforce them.
o This may also include ensuring mechanisms meant to protect tenants’ rights to
habitable housing function as they were intended.
o This may also mean ensuring that adequate resources are set aside for early
intervention, and funding is sought to repair rather than condemn housing
whenever possible.
• Exploring opportunities to resolve housing disputes before the filing of an eviction.
o Given that the overwhelming majority of evictions are for nonpayment of rent,
this may require access to rent assistance before the eviction is filed. It may make
sense to use an organization in the community who is trusted by both landlords
and tenants to facilitate resolutions and rent assistance.
o Rent assistance alone is not the answer. Rent assistance that is currently available
may not be available to the same extent in the future. In many ways, eviction
prevention strategies focused on long-term housing stability involve removing
barriers to economic self-sufficiency. For example:
▪ creating better access to employment by addressing educational
deficiencies or the effect of criminal justice involvement.
▪ preventing siphoning of subsistence income by debt collectors.
▪ ensuring access to public benefit income for those who are eligible.
o In considering dispute resolution, it is important to keep in mind the power
dynamics between the landlord and tenant. Some important factors at play
include the landlord’s ability to file an eviction if the dispute is not favorably
resolved, the tenant, having one of their most basic needs on the line, being
willing to agree to unfavorable terms, and the advantage of institutional expertise
that many landlords have over tenants.
o Mediation without adequate support has led to accelerated loss of housing in
jurisdictions like Polk County where there is not access to legal information, and
more importantly, access to competent legal counsel. Any systems created to
address negotiated solutions to evictions should adopt a different structure than
that employed by Polk County.
• Exploring ways to make eviction hearings easier to navigate.
o This may include considering holding one hearing at a time, reducing the number
of hearings held on a single day, making more time for contested hearings, and

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 helping litigants understand what to expect from the process at the beginning of
the hearing – especially if the amount of hearings held in one room remains high.
• Ensuring adequate records of eviction hearings are made.
o This includes recording all hearings as soon as parties appear in front of the
magistrate, making judges notes available in the record, and providing a written
basis for legal decisions.
o Notably, magistrates, who are under enormous time pressure with the current
process, may also benefit from recommendations related to making the process
more litigant friendly. With more time available for each hearing, creating an
adequate record will be more feasible.
• Providing relevant actors, including judicial staff, law enforcement, and the community
in general with training on relevant housing issues.
o This may include training on relevant areas of the law, housing code standards
and violations, fair housing law, and background information on the
disproportionate impact of eviction on women and people of color, including the
history of redlining in Davenport.
• Investing in understanding and reversing the lingering effects of redlining and other
discriminatory policies.
o Other cities and organizations have already begun this process and it may be
helpful to review resources available about that work to begin.
***
We hope the information in this report will prove helpful in the ongoing conversation about this
critical issue. If there are questions about any of the items in this report, they may be directed to
Ericka Petersen, Assistant Litigation Director at Iowa Legal Aid (epetersen@iowalaw.org), or Alex
Kornya, Litigation Director and General Counsel at Iowa Legal Aid (akornya@iowalaw.org).

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