Evictions in Dallas County Hit a 25-Year High: What the 2024 Data Means for Housing Stability
Every year, the Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL) tracks eviction filings across Dallas County to help residents, policymakers, and nonprofits like DCH understand the greater need of families in our community. Their newest report, 2024 Evictions in Dallas County: Understanding Filings, Outcomes, and Displacement, is one of the most detailed findings post pandemic and it follows individual cases through the entire eviction lifecycle, from filing to judgment to physical removal.
Findings reinforce why safe, stable, affordable housing must remain a community priority.
The Numbers at a Glance
50,117 evictions were filed in Dallas County in 2024, roughly 200 every single business day. That's the highest filing volume in the 25 years CPAL has data for.
52% of eviction cases were decided in the landlord's favor, compared to 48% for tenants.
17% of all filings ended with a writ of possession being executed, meaning tenants and their belongings were physically removed from the home.
On appeal, outcomes shift dramatically: about 51% of appealed cases are dismissed, abated, or resolved without a judgment, and another 21% are dropped by the landlord (nonsuited). Tenants win outright in only 8% of appeals, while landlords still prevail in 20%.
Legal Representation and Eviction Outcomes
How quickly a case moves, whether a tenant is properly notified, and how often tenants prevail all differ significantly depending on the assigned Justice of the Peace court. CPAL notes that even if a tenant never receives their citation, they lose the case by default. This uneven experience compounds a pattern from CPAL's broader eviction research: representation matters enormously. In related CPAL court-observation data, tenants who had a lawyer lost their case only around 7–10% of the time, compared to roughly 70–79% for tenants without one, yet only about 1 in 4 tenants in eviction court have legal representation, versus roughly 3 in 4 landlords.
Housing Gap Behind the Eviction Numbers
This eviction surge doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's playing out against a backdrop of shrinking affordable housing supply. CPAL's companion 2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment notes the 46,000 rental units gap in affordable housing available to households earning at or below 50% of Area Median Income. This gap has grown by 12,000 units since CPAL first measured it in 2023. Between 2021 and 2023, the city lost over 50,000 rental units priced below $1,000/month, cutting that segment of the market in half. Half of all Dallas renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing, including 75% of single parents and 65% of senior renters. Extremely low-income renters spend an average of 78% of their income just to keep a roof overhead.
Where affordable units are absorbed by incremental and sometimes dramatic increases in value, more households are being pushed to their limits and made to make impossible decisions. Where job loss, medical bill, or rent spike hits, there is less of a safety net. CPAL recommends combating these realities with two strategies. First is, prevention upstream. With 59% of observed evictions tied to nonpayment of rent, expanding access to emergency rental assistance, financial counseling, and early-intervention programs can keep families housed before a filing ever happens. Second is supporting legal representation and connecting tenants with legal aid, and helping them understand their right to appeal.
CPAL's data also makes the case for continued investment in deeply affordable housing production and preservation. Every unit lost to rising rents adds pressure to a system that is already straining under record eviction filings.
Supporting Our Neighbors
The full CPAL report, including court-by-court breakdowns, is available through theChild Poverty Action Lab. If you or someone you know is facing an eviction filing in Dallas County, organizations like the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center provide free legal help for tenants.
Dallas City Homes develops and expands access to mixed- income housing across Dallas. Stay tuned to our blog for more on how we're working to close the housing gap.
Source: Child Poverty Action Lab, 2024 Evictions in Dallas County: Understanding Filings, Outcomes, and Displacement, and CPAL's 2025 Rental Housing Needs Assessment
