Let's invest in what really avoids evictions — mediation | MetroWest Daily News
By Seth Izen and Li Morrison
Each year, landlords file an average of 3.6 million eviction cases across the United States and nearly 3 million children are caught in the middle.
The consequences ripple outward — from families forced into shelters or onto couches, to landlords left chasing unpaid rent, to courts overwhelmed with cases that consume time and resources without resolving the underlying conflict. The conventional response has been to treat eviction as inevitable: file, fight, rule, remove. But there is another way, and it works.
Housing mediation— a structured, neutral process that brings landlords and tenants together before a judge gets involved — is quietly keeping people housed throughout the country. Mediators ensure each side is and feels heard, finding nuanced solutions outside of a courtroom: rental assistance connections, negotiated payment plans, mutually agreed timelines. It doesn't declare winners and losers. Mediation discovers outcomes that both sides can live with.