Kentucky kids and families need a safe, stable home in order to thrive. However, the rising cost and declining supply of housing has made it difficult for 43% of Kentucky renters to find safe, stable housing. For many of these families, a job loss or medical emergency could put them at risk for eviction, seriously impacting their long term economic, food, and housing security.

Evictions have long been viewed as an adult problem, but new research from Princeton, Rutgers, and the Census Bureau shows that children are disproportionately impacted by evictions. Adults with children living in their households are threatened with eviction at twice the rate of adult households without children.

The younger the children in the household are, the higher likelihood that they will be facing eviction. Across the U.S., children younger than five make up 9% of all renters, but 12% of those facing evictions. Due to discriminatory policies such as redlining, young children of color are even more impacted, with almost 1 in 4 of all Black children younger than five facing eviction every year. 

Evictions can be devastating for anyone, as they make it significantly harder for someone to find safe, stable housing in the future. However, they are particularly hard on very young children. Housing instability before age five is associated with behavioral issues, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and delays in kindergarten readiness. 

Additionally, there is a significant gap in resources for children younger than five. Most children are enrolled in school by age five, where they are provided food, transportation, school nurses, and a homeless liaison that can connect them to other resources. Some programs, such as Head Start, provide comparable resources for children younger than five, but they often have a limited number of slots available. 

Having a safe, stable home to grow up in is essential for all Kentucky kids to learn and grow, and an eviction history can put that stability at risk. To mitigate this negative impact, Kentucky can follow the lead of states like Utah, Indiana, and Texas to create a process to expunge evictions, similar to the expungement of other legal proceedings like felonies and bankruptcies. Additionally, Kentucky should prohibit minors from being named on eviction filings so young children do not have their housing stability threatened before they can legally rent.

By crafting policies that prioritize housing stability with the needs of landlords, Kentucky can get a second chance at housing stability. 

Photo by Thiago Cerqueira on Unsplash