Eviction Moratoria Reduced Child Maltreatment Rates During Pandemic

WEDNESDAY, April 16, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Bans on evictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to reduce child maltreatment, according to a study published online April 8 in Pediatrics.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic crisis, policymakers issued eviction moratoria with implementation approaches varying across states. Liwei Zhang, Ph.D., from the School of Social Work at the University of Georgia in Athens, and colleagues used child maltreatment report data from 318 counties in 17 states from Jan. 1, 2019, to mid-August 2021 to examine the potential impact of state-based eviction moratoria on changes in child maltreatment report rates. Changes were compared in counties that continuously implemented eviction moratoria and those that never did, using difference-in-differences analyses.

The researchers observed a significant association for eviction moratoria with reduced biweekly reports of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect (coefficient estimates, −0.073, −0.034, and −0.217, respectively), representing reductions of 16.04, 21.12, and 12.17 percent, respectively. There was a negative association between eviction moratoria and overall child maltreatment report rates, but the coefficient was not statistically significant.

“Our findings are encouraging. Eviction protection policies may help prevent Child Protective Services involvement by ensuring secure housing for families,” the authors write. “Future research would benefit from examining whether housing stability serves as the core mechanism that links eviction moratoria to child maltreatment.”

Abstract/Full Text