As a result of COVID-19, Idaho’s Canyon County, like many counties across the United States, is facing an increase in eviction cases. After seeing success with mediation programs in two other nearby counties (Ada and Idaho Falls), Canyon County launched its own pilot eviction mediation program for landlords and tenants this past November. This new program offers landlords and tenants the opportunity to potentially avoid the unknowns that can arise during eviction hearings or trials. For landlords, one of the greatest unknowns of an eviction trial may be the significant loss in back rent payment. For tenants, a trial may result in the fear of losing a home and having a permanent eviction judgment on their record – which may make it difficult to find other housing in the future. As a result, with this eviction mediation program, landlords and tenants in Canyon County now have the opportunity to address these unknowns directly and craft their own alternative solutions for their case.
Since the Canyon County program’s launch in November, 38 eviction cases have been scheduled for a hearing and each case has agreed to try the court’s new mediation program. Recent reports indicate that during the mediations, most renters are agreeing to “[pay] some money in a specified amount of time.” If tenants are able to uphold that agreement, “then at the review hearing their case is dismissed.” Of these 38 cases, recent news outlets further report that only “18% of tenants did not uphold the bargain and evictions were entered” and “only 5%, or two cases, did not reach [any type of] a resolution” during mediation. In the same report, Third District Judge Susan Clark shared that the mediators for the program are hired on a contract basis and, currently, the estimated cost to the county for the program is $150 per case.
