Nashville Housing Court Resolves Fewer Evictions Than Hoped But Still Makes Impact

A new Nashville housing court had an ambitious goal to resolve more than 1,800 evictions cases before the national moratorium ends in June. 

It’s far short of its goal and has resolved a little over 100 eviction cases — but this still makes a difference. 

The city is using federal money to pay late rent bills, and for the people who have had their cases resolved, there have been three main benefits to the house court: It ensures some people don’t get evictions on their records, landlords get paid, and tenants get help navigating the system. 

“Some people just still don’t understand what’s going on,” says Faith Klein of the Nashville Conflict Resolution Center. “And they just need that human touch of someone calling them and telling them, ‘Your case has been transferred over to Judge Bell. She sent it to mediation. This is how we can help.’ ”

Part of the challenge with resolving so many cases is that landlords must agree to participate and the court is trying to work through almost a year of back up in a month.

Update: This story has been updated to reflect that the federal moratorium on evictions has been extended through June.