Meeting Public Comments

Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.

Comments Submitted:

01-25-2023

Courtney Guntly []

I am the Iowa Balance of State Continuum of Care Director, representing 96 counties in Iowa (excluding Polk, Pottawattamie, and Woodbury). I am in support of this legislation, as I know that having an eviction on your record creates significant barriers to housing. Evictions contribute to the homeless population in Iowa; within the past month, an estimated 15% of those who accessed emergency housing services identified an eviction as a primary or secondary reason for their homelessness. For the past six months, the numbers are similar: nearly 20% of heads of household identified eviction as a reason for their homelessness when enrolling in a housing program. Iowa currently has no process in place to seal or expunge an eviction filing that is old or has been made in error. A majority of eviction filings dont go to court or are rescinded, meaning an eviction will remain on your record and continue to be a possible deterrent to housing when applying for future housing opportunities. As eviction filings overwhelmingly affect women with children, people with disabilities, and people of color, this act would make progress in helping these populations to maintain safe housing. I urge you to support this legislation.

01-25-2023

Bridgett Robinson []

I wanted to express my support of this bill for many different reasons. As you have probably heard from many others, there are a lot of people that fall under the disabled, people of color and single moms that will suffer greatly if this bill is not passed. Having an eviction on your record without your knowledge or in error can be very detrimental to the future of a lot. This could obviously cause them to potentially not secure other housing options because of the existence of the eviction on their record. There is already heavy discrimination in housing on these particular individuals as it is but with an eviction, it makes it much worse. How are we as a state going to be champions in getting our families and individuals off of the street, if they are getting removed from their homes under circumstances out of their control?

01-25-2023

Hannah Nelsen []

I would like to express my support for this bill. It is vital to have a process for removal of eviction filings, especially those filed in error or those not resulting in an eviction. These "scarlet letter" filings haunt families throughout their lives even though their financial or employment status may change, prohibiting them from procuring safe and affordable housing (particularly women with children, people of color, and those with disabilities). Especially following the global instability as a result of COVID19, many families may have had filings against them in order to obtain needed rental assistance through the American Rescue Plan. A process must be in place to seal or expunge these filings in order to keep our community housed.

01-25-2023

Abbey Barrow []

I would like to express my support for this bill as an impactful way to prevent homelessness in our state. In Iowa, theres currently no process to seal or expunge an eviction filing, even if it was made in error or quickly resolved. This information will continue to be on Iowa Courts Online regardless of how many years ago the filing occurred. Many individuals and families have to deal with the consequences of having an eviction filing on their record such as being denied future employment or housing opportunities. We need to remove barriers to safe, affordable housing in our communities and ensure lowincome residents have opportunities to build a stable future. By enacting this bill, we can ensure individuals and families are judged fairly and able to access the housing they need and deserve.

01-26-2023

Kasperian Kittredge []

I would like to add my support for this bill. Currently, between 15%20% of households accessing emergency housing services have cited evictions as a primary or secondary reason for experiencing their homelessness. When these households are attempting to regain housing, they face additional challenges in attaining housing when they have eviction filings on this record, regardless of whether or not there was a judgement on the eviction in favor of the landlord or not. This bill will help those households to regain housing even when they do not have 'guilty' judgment on their record, and adds an end date to evictions harming their housing prospects after a limited number of years, as opposed to having these evictions affect them in perpetuity.