News Archive
Professor Benfer, '05, Profiled by ABA Journal, Publishes Eviction Editorial in The Guardian
07/30/2021
Professor Emily Benfer, ’05, was the subject of a profile in the ABA Journal’s Members Who Inspire section. The piece highlights Professor Benfer’s work toward preventing evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, she published an opinion piece on the topic in The Guardian, and has joined the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. She is a visiting professor of law and public health at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
Professor Benfer has been tracking the eviction moratorium since March 2020 and examining the effects of COVID-19 evictions on racial health equity and advocating for interventions to help support the hardest-hit communities.
“Racial, housing and health justice are inseparable,” Benfer said in the story. “The effects of our country’s sordid history of racially discriminatory laws and policies continue today and can be seen in disproportionate rates of housing loss among Black and Hispanic families and the lasting poor health outcomes it causes. Justice in any of these areas requires justice in all of them.” The profile was published in the August/September 2021 issue. Benfer was awarded a Presidential Commendation by the ABA for her work on the eviction crisis.
The Guardian piece, which Professor Benfer co-wrote with Professor Peter Hepburn of Rutgers University, outlines what’s at stake for families who are relying on the moratorium and offers solutions to the pending crisis. “Data from the Census Pulse survey indicate that more than 10 million tenants are behind on rent, and only a small fraction of the emergency rental assistance allocated by Congress has made it to tenants and landlords,” the pair write in the opinion column. “Even where the aid reaches high-risk communities, it’s no guarantee that eviction will be avoided.”
Professor Benfer recently announced that she has joined the Eviction Lab at Princeton University as a Visiting Research Collaborator. She has been working as a partner with the lab during the pandemic.
Professor Benfer is chair of the ABA Task Force on Eviction, Housing, Stability, and Equity.
