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The (CURA) and the at the Moritz College of Law, both within the Ohio State University, joined forces to improve court eviction data access and analysis in Columbus, Ohio as part of ���app����’s Eviction Data Response Network (EDRN). This partnership brings together the essential mix of skills necessary for the complex challenge of analyzing and reducing evictions, from legal and housing expertise to computer science, data management, and spatial analysis skills.

At the beginning of EDRN, the OSU team had access to a limited set of publicly-available eviction data posted monthly on the Franklin County Municipal Court’s . This data provides information on eviction case filings and the landlords and tenants involved, but doesn’t capture complete or detailed information on the outcomes of each case. It also does not capture information on how landlords and tenants are navigating the eviction process—for example, who has legal representation, which landlords were more likely to engage in mediation, and whether settlement agreements are equitable and sustained over time or simply short-term workarounds that lead to later eviction.

However, eviction court records should contain at least some of the information of interest to the OSU team. In spring 2025, computer scientists at JusticeTech developed a code that pulls detailed eviction records directly from the court system, including all publicly available civil data since 2022 on cases related to escrow, debt collection, code violations, and evictions. This expanded dataset has the potential to unlock key insights that will help the OSU team and the housing community in Columbus better address housing stability and eviction prevention locally.

Access to more complete information on Franklin County evictions will help address critical questions such as, is the city’s rental assistance program the most effective way to prevent families from being evicted? Or is there evidence of retaliatory evictions being filed for tenants that report code violations to the city? Are there proactive low-touch, high-impact tools and strategies that can be used to improve access to eviction mediation services?

With these insights, the OSU team hopes to develop public-facing tools that illuminate patterns in housing instability, support legal system innovation, and shift the conversation from crisis response to prevention. When discussing the need for this data among service providers and local housing communities in Columbus, one EDRN partner said: “a lot of people are trying to do a lot of good, but don't have the facts.”

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To see more impact stories on our local and state partners working to improve eviction data, visit here.