Evictions didn’t go down from 2017-2018 quite as much as the DOI thought

A pair of marshals only counted evictions from three months instead of 12 last year

Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett (Credit: iStock)
Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett (Credit: iStock)

The Department of Investigation will likely increase its official residential eviction totals from last year.

The city agency found that two city marshals made mistakes in their annual eviction figures, as they only counted evictions from three months instead of 12, according to PincusCo. When Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration cited these eviction figures in a February press release, it said there was a 14 percent drop in evictions from 2017 to 2018, but the actual decline may be closer to 4 percent.

The official decline from 2016 to 2017 was 5 percent.

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A revised total should arrive in a few weeks after the DOI marshals recalculate their figures.

The de Blasio administration had credited the Right to Counsel law with driving down the number of evictions, which provides free legal representation to tenants facing evictions in certain ZIP codes throughout the city. It should expand to the entire city by 2022.

“This is independent data provided to us by DOI, and we await any updates they make,” City Hall spokeswoman Jane Meyer told PincusCo. “Evictions are going down, and thousands of families are more secure as a result.” [PincusCo] – Eddie Small