“We've Got to Keep You Where You Are”: Rent Banks as Eviction Prevention

Abstract

The last two decades have seen countless local, provincial, and even federal promises to end homelessness in Canada. These efforts to end homelessness have largely failed, and in many communities, there has been an increase in the number of people who are unhoused. We argue that preventing evictions for people who are at risk of losing their housing for financial reasons is a small but important part of larger efforts to prevent homelessness. We do so through a careful study of rent banks in Canada, which prevent evictions by providing emergency financial support to households at risk of eviction. We ask what role rent banks have played historically and are playing today in the prevention of homelessness in Canada and identify promising practices. When they are part of larger efforts to prevent evictions and homelessness at a more structural level, rent banks are important and meaningful interventions.