Ken Kolb contributes to SC Public Radio story about fair housing

Furman University’s Ken Kolb offered his insights in a South Carolina Public Radio story about fair housing by Scott Morgan. Kolb, professor and chair of the sociology department, studied how eviction history can thrust renters into an “alternative rental market” where prices soar and living conditions plummet. The eviction histories for renters remain in perpetuity even when eviction notices are resolved and renters aren’t actually ejected from their homes. “That information never goes away,” Kolb said. “It taints and stigmatizes people whenever they’re going to try and rent new places.”

The nuances of the flawed system and how to create fair housing are at the center of State House Bill 4270, a bipartisan effort to seal eviction records after six years and seal records with filings that have been dismissed or settled in 30 days.