In-Person Court Resumes in Ada County

Our Eviction Court team has been busy pivoting our court services back to in-person hearings this month. In March 2020, to stop the spread of COVID, eviction court moved online for the first time ever. Since then, our team has participated in virtual Zoom hearings every Tuesday and Thursday morning, resolving at least 30% of all eviction cases in the Treasure Valley.

This has not been an easy feat. Mediating these cases on zoom led to much time spent waiting to find meeting links, login issues, and other technical difficulties. Additionally, evictions doubled from 2022-23. Nonetheless, our team persists and continues to resolve more cases than ever before.

We were excited to hear Ada County's announcement that eviction court would be back in person. Being face-to-face during the serious event of eviction, we believe, will make it easier for us to mediate more agreements. Having people sit down with each other brings an aspect of humanity back to the process, and will also make it smoother for our team to connect with tenants who need our services.

We've also been trying to spread the word. If tenants do not go to court, they receive a default judgment. We do have a concern that in-person hearings could result in more folks not showing up. Since evictions usually occur due to non-payment of rent, tenants may encounter challenges with taking time off work or paying for childcare.

Thanks for being a part of this work as we seek to keep more of our Treasure Valley neighbors housed.