Princeton University
Eviction Lab
Background
ABOUT CLIENT & MY ROLE
The Eviction Lab is a team of researchers and students who believe that a stable and affordable home is central to a positive human experience and economic mobility. Matthew Desmond, the Principal Investigator at the Eviction Lab, started studying housing, poverty, and eviction in 2008 and through the combination of ethnographic fieldwork and original statistic analyses, discovered that eviction was prevalent in low-income communities and functioned as a cause, not just a condition, of poverty.
Working with Hyperobjekt, I led UX and visual design for the Eviction Tracking System, location pages, interactive charts and maps, research landing pages, and other resource pages.
OBSERVED GAP
At the outset of this project, there was no available national database of eviction statistics, and little was known about the prevalence and geographic distribution of forced displacement. The Eviction Lab dedicated itself to collecting these data, and worked with us to build an engaging platform to disseminate it to journalists, researchers, advocates, and the wider public to address fundamental questions about residential instability, forced moves, and poverty in America.
Eviction Lab provides data and resources to better understand America’s eviction epidemic.
Goals
Visualize data comprising millions of eviction records and Census data across 18 years, at scales ranging from states to Census Block Groups
Facilitate easy place-to-place comparisons and rankings
Devise a parallel system for up-to-date eviction tracking based on the latest court-provided data
Provide a platform for regular updates and articles created by the Lab
Communicate the causes and consequences of eviction for individuals, families, and communities
Eviction Tracking System
The monthly Eviction Tracking System provides up-to-date statistics across 10 states and 36 cities. Users can compare trends between locations, explore changes over time, and click into individual cities for a deeper view.
Hero of Eviction Tracking System
Chart of national eviction filing rates
Compare locations
Individual location page data summary 
Choropleth map of filings based on geographicCoverage & Impact
Why have some American families struggled to keep their homes during the COVID pandemic, despite a federal ban on evictions? With Retro Report, the documentary Facing Eviction offers an intimate look at the United States’ affordable housing crisis through the eyes of tenants, landlords, judges, and law enforcement.
A looming rent increase in New York City is poised to force the most vulnerable renters onto the streets at a time when eviction rates nationwide have been steadily rising, and the worst cities are seeing eviction filings increase by more than 60%.
About a quarter of Black babies and toddlers in rental households face the threat of eviction in a typical year, a new study says, and all children are disproportionately at risk.