Locked Out: Black Renters in Central Florida More Likely to be Evicted — Even Before COVID

Sabiha Zainulbhai was quoted and FLH’s research was highlighted in an Orlando Sentinel article about racial inequities and eviction in Central Florida.

Black renters are far more likely to be victims of eviction than any other racial or ethnic group.

Washington, D.C.-based think tank New America studied eviction data in Orange County from 2017 to 2019 and found that every single neighborhood that was more than 50% Black had an eviction rate that was higher than the county average, according to Sabiha Zainulbhai, a senior analyst for the organization.

[Bathsheba] Collingwood lives off Mercy Drive in ZIP code 32808, which is about 69% Black. It is home to the second-highest concentration of Black residents and has the second-highest eviction rate in the region. Between 2019 and 2020, 1,815 people faced eviction in her ZIP code.

She was evicted the first time in 2019 shortly after she gave birth to her son. She couldn’t work and quickly fell behind on rent. After the eviction, most landlords would not even consider her as a tenant, so she lived with her mother for a time, before they had a falling out and she became homeless.

First she lived in her car, sleeping in hospital parking lots. Later, with the help of her son’s father and cash from her tax return, she lived in an extended stay motel. Then, a former neighbor who had been evicted around the same time as her told Collingwood about 7M Real Estate.

They would take tenants with past evictions.

Read more about racial disparities and housing insecurity around Orlando here.