DOI Finds Errors in 2018 Eviction Data

The city’s Department of Investigation (DOI) found miscalculations that affected the official residential eviction totals for 2018, a spokesperson for the agency said, and the figures are likely to be revised upwards. The DOI discovered that two city marshals made errors while totaling their annual eviction figures and counted evictions for only three out of the 12 months.

The de Blasio administration cited the 2018 eviction figures in a February 2019 press release, which cited what it described as a 14 percent decline in evictions from 2017 to 2018. However, it is likely the decline is closer to 4 percent, which is closer to the official decline reported over the prior period, from 2016 to 2017, of 5 percent. At the time of the press release, the de Blasio administration credited a 2017 law, called Universal Access, with driving down the number of evictions in 2018. The law provides free counsel to needy tenants facing evictions in 20 of the city’s approximately 200 ZIP codes, and is set to expand to all of the city by 2022.