LITTLE ROCK (AP) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas is challenging the legality of the state’s criminal eviction law that subjects tenants to criminal charges for not paying rent.The ACLU filed suit Monday on behalf of 36-year-old Edrin Allen, a former factory worker who has been unable to pay his $400 monthly rent since losing his job in April amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Allen has not been able to find work and has been denied unemployment, the lawsuit states.Under the Arkansas law, passed in 1901, it is considered a misdemeanor when tenants are one day late on rent. Each day the renter remains on the property after being asked to vacate is considered a separate criminal offense.
Arkansas is the only state that criminalizes evictions, subjecting renters to daily fines of up to $25 that can go on indefinitely, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
“Arkansas is the only state where being late on the rent can result in a criminal prosecution – purely on the basis of a landlord’s say-so,” said Holly Dickson, ACLU of Arkansas interim executive director and legal director. “This law allows landlords to use the criminal process to get the upper hand in a matter for civil court, and it disproportionately impacts black and brown communities who already suffer from over-policing and systemic discrimination in housing, health care, and employment.”
Joined by the William H. Bowen School of Law Legal Clinic, the Center for Arkansas Legal Services and Legal Aid of Arkansas, the ACLU is asking U.S. District Judge Brian Miller to issue a temporary restraining order to keep Allen from being removed from his home until a trial can be held on the constitutionality of the statute.
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