The South Carolina Housing Justice Network, organizing with the SC Tenant Union, hears every day the same stories: families who can’t find housing because of an old eviction on their record. Tenants who survived losing a home years ago, but still can’t shake the scarlet “E” landlords hold against them. Mothers who worked two jobs through the pandemic, elders on fixed incomes, young folks just trying to get a start—all locked out of safe housing because the system refuses to let them move forward.
In South Carolina, an eviction filing is public record the moment it’s made — and it often follows you forever. Win, lose, or dismiss, that mark becomes a wall. Landlords see it and use it to deny housing. Judges sometimes see it and treat it like it’s a done deal. That one filing can decide someone’s future.
Eviction filings hit Black tenants, single mothers, and working-class families hardest. For them, eviction records are another layer of punishment stacked on generations of housing discrimination. It forces too many people into cycles of unsafe, overpriced, and unstable housing.
Eviction in South Carolina: What the Data Shows
- High filing rates in cities: Between June 2024 and June 2025, Greenville had an eviction filing rate of approximately 20% among renters, the second-highest among 45 cities nationwide monitored by Eviction Lab. Charleston was close behind at 16% with 10,502 renters served eviction papers during that same period.
- Statewide numbers since 2020: South Carolina has had over 593,000 eviction filings since March 16, 2020. Civil Court Data Initiative
- Very high eviction rate compared to neighboring states: In 2018, South Carolina had 23.3 evictions filed per 100 renter households, compared to Georgia’s 18.8, North Carolina’s 11.7, and Florida’s 4.1. SC Daily Gazette
- Black renters nationally are dramatically overrepresented in eviction filings — they make up a minority share of renters overall, but a large majority of those threatened with eviction or actually evicted. A Comprehensive Demographic Profile of the US Evicted Population
- The burden is especially heavy on Black mothers, single-parent households, and women renters in general. Many of those facing eviction are heads of households with children. A Comprehensive Demographic Profile of the US Evicted Population
What the Eviction Record Sealing Bill Would Do
The eviction sealing bill in South Carolina is straightforward but powerful. Here’s what it changes:
- Stops “false evictions” from following tenants. If an eviction case is filed but no Order of Eviction or Writ of Ejectment is issued within 30 days, that filing must be removed from the public index. This means tenants who won their case, had their case dismissed, or never should have been dragged into court won’t be punished with a lifelong mark.
- Provides relief for tenants who pay or settle. If an eviction case ends with a settlement or the tenant pays off what’s owed, the record must be removed from public access three years after the case is resolved. That gives tenants a fair window to rebuild without being permanently blacklisted, eviction sealing bill language.
- Automatically clears old eviction cases. Any eviction record more than five years old must be automatically removed from all public records. That ensures nobody is defined forever by the hardest chapter of their housing story
eviction sealing bill language.
Why This Matters for All South Carolinians
This bill makes eviction records fairer, more accurate, and less punishing. It recognizes that tenants are more than a piece of paper in the public index — and that every South Carolinian deserves a second chance at stable housing.
Stable housing creates stronger neighborhoods, healthier families, safer schools, and less strain on public systems. It ripples outward: when one household is stable, the whole block, the whole community, benefits.
- Climate & Environmental Justice: Families pushed out of stable housing are often forced into flood-prone, poorly maintained, or environmentally unsafe housing. Sealing eviction records means more families have access to safer homes and neighborhoods that are less vulnerable to environmental hazards.
- Racial Justice: Black renters, especially Black women, are disproportionately targeted by eviction filings. By sealing eviction records, we reduce a tool of systemic racism that has long been used to police and punish Black communities.
- Reproductive Justice: Everyone deserves the right to raise their children in safe, stable environments. When eviction records keep parents from finding housing, it undermines their ability to make choices about how and where to raise their families with dignity.
- LGBTQ Justice: LGBTQ tenants — especially trans people — already face discrimination in housing. Eviction record sealing removes one more barrier that landlords use to deny people homes, ensuring queer and trans tenants have greater access to safe, affirming housing.
- Education Justice: When families can stay housed or secure new housing without old records blocking them, children can remain in the same schools. Stability at home means stability in the classroom — fewer disruptions, better learning, and healthier development.
Our Work as a Union
At SC Tenant Union, we believe tenants deserve dignity and power. Together, we’ve organized tenant councils in public housing, fought back against unsafe living conditions, and held landlords accountable. We’ve stood on doorsteps, in city council meetings, and in the streets making sure tenants’ voices are heard.
Eviction sealing is one more tool in our fight. When we win this, it means fewer South Carolinians stuck in cycles of housing insecurity. It means more families staying housed. It means our organizing can push forward—not just for survival, but for thriving communities where everyone has a home.
Sealing eviction records is not charity. It’s not a pity. It’s justice. It’s about saying: You are more than your eviction. And as a union, we’ll keep fighting until that truth is written into law.
Join us in the fight for eviction sealing. Together, we’re not just demanding better conditions for one tenant, or one building—we’re better for every South Carolinian who calls this state home.
