Thousands of households across the country remain at risk of eviction. Pennsylvania is no different. In Allegheny County, nearly 20,000 households have applied for the federally funded, county-administered Emergency Rental Assistance Program, and nearly 14,000 applications remain pending with the number still growing. In Philadelphia, nearly 50,000 rental assistance applications remain pending, which represents a potential eviction volume that would inundate the landlord-tenant docket for years to come. With the recent or nearing expiration of federal, state and local eviction-related emergency measures, potential eviction proceedings threaten to overwhelm dockets in counties throughout the commonwealth. This would deny landlords and tenants a venue for litigating disputes for months to come.

In the past few months, multiple county courts have sought permission to utilize alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures in eviction proceedings, including procedures for collaborating with their county rental assistance provider. These include Philadelphia, Allegheny, Montgomery, Bucks, Dauphin, Delaware and Washington counties. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has granted many of these requests and in doing so has ensured that these counties have been able to distribute millions of dollars in rental assistance funding to landlords and tenants.