The Valley eviction crisis continued at a historic clip in 2025

Valley landlords initiated nearly 85,000 eviction proceedings through the Maricopa County Justice Courts in 2025, marking the second-highest number of eviction filings in a single year in county history. 

Maricopa County averaged more than 7,000 eviction filings per month in 2025, with January, August and October seeing the highest number of filings, according to Justice Court data. ZIP codes in Maryvale, Glendale and east central Phoenix also saw the highest rate of eviction filings.

The county saw its highest number of eviction filings in 2024, when Valley landlords filed 87,197 evictions. That figure broke a nearly 20-year-old record from 2005, when 84,000 evictions were filed. Last year topped that 2005 figure again with 84,833 filings. There were also 83,172 eviction filings in 2023, meaning the Valley has topped 80,000 eviction filings in three straight years.

The sky-high eviction totals are a clear indication of Maricopa County’s housing and affordability crises. While an eviction filing doesn’t always translate to someone being kicked out of their home, it’s considered a solid measure of overall evictions. Many housing policy organizations consider filings to be an accurate measure of total evictions, as many residents are displaced through informal evictions that do not involve a court proceeding.

Drew Schaffer, the director of the William E. Morris Institute for Justice, a non-profit focused on protecting the rights of low-income Arizonans, has been sounding the alarm for years about the need for state and local investment to combat eviction. Funding programs such as right-to-counsel, civil legal aid and temporary financial assistance for families would decrease displacement county-wide, he said.

“There is going to need to be something that is going to have to disrupt the status quo to reduce eviction filings,” Schaffer said. “I don’t see any kind of pending resource allocation policy action or public investment that is going to change the current trend and alter the status quo.”

Currently, a right-to-counsel program in Phoenix, funded through a one-time allocation of American Rescue Plan dollars, is still in its pilot phase. The state devoted $3 million toward civil legal aid for the first time in its history last year. But that came only after a Trump administration proposal threatened to bankrupt the state’s civil legal aid non-profits altogether by withholding $16.5 million in federal funding that Arizona groups receive each year. 

However, the Valley’s overall lack of substantial investment to combat the area’s eviction crisis may be changing. On Monday, newly elected Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Kate Brophy McGee listed combating high eviction filings as her top priority.

“We have an eviction crisis that is leading to more homelessness,” Brophy McGee said in a speech Monday. “In the coming year, I’m asking Maricopa County staff to coordinate at the city and county levels so more families can stay in their homes. Please.”

This year, Brophy McGee stated that the county will participate in a working group focused on eviction prevention and partner with the city of Phoenix on a pilot program to “find interventions that are effective and financially sustainable,” she said. It’s unclear how this will translate into policy or funding.

However, if no substantial, permanent policy change is made, “we’re just going to continue to see the numbers stay where they are,” Schaffer said. “We’re going to continue to see high levels of filings.” 

With housing and food costs still high, more and more Arizonans are “right on the margins of affordability,” Schaffer said. One “basic life emergency” — such as a sick kid, a car breakdown or a death in the family — may lead households down a path toward eviction. The high eviction rate results in a “high public cost,” as families are forced to relocate constantly and neighborhoods struggle with constant instability, Schaffer said.

“Essentially, people are playing musical chairs, and it’s absurd,” Schaffer said. “It’s a public health danger. Families’ mental health and physical health are affected by eviction. It takes a toll on communities.”