Housing stability is one of the clearest indicators of how well a community is weathering economic pressure, and eviction data offers one of the most concrete ways to measure it. In Idaho, the primary source for this kind of research is the Idaho Policy Institute, a public policy research center at Boise State University that has tracked formal eviction filings statewide since 2019.
Their work is especially valuable for understanding how the pandemic year of 2020 affected renters, including those in smaller, rural counties like Shoshone County in the state’s northern panhandle.
This article explains what the Idaho Policy Institute actually studies, how its formal eviction rate methodology works, what the verified statewide 2020 findings show, and what is and is not currently confirmable about Shoshone County specifically.
What the Idaho Policy Institute Does
The Idaho Policy Institute, often referred to by its initials IPI, is a nonpartisan research center housed within the School of Public Service at Boise State University. IPI works with public agencies, nonprofits, and private organizations across Idaho to produce data driven research that supports evidence based decision making. Eviction research is one of its ongoing focus areas, and each year IPI requests complete eviction case data from the Idaho Supreme Court covering all 44 counties in the state.
This data collection approach matters because it captures formal, court documented outcomes rather than estimates or surveys. IPI’s methodology distinguishes between an eviction filing, which is simply a landlord initiating legal action, and a formal eviction, which occurs only when a judge issues a court order requiring a tenant to vacate the property.
Many filings never become formal evictions because tenants pay overdue rent, negotiate directly with a landlord, or move out voluntarily before a hearing takes place. Because of this distinction, the formal eviction rate is considered a more precise, if narrower, measure of housing instability than the raw filing count.
The Verified Statewide Findings for 2020
According to IPI’s own published 2020 Eviction Infographic, the second annual study of its kind, the organization examined every eviction court record filed in Idaho that year. The confirmed statewide results were as follows.
Idaho averaged approximately three formal eviction related court filings per day throughout 2020. Of the state’s 189,292 renting households, 1,893 households, or about one percent, had at least one eviction filing during the year. Of those, 1,127 households, or roughly 0.6 percent of all renting households statewide, ultimately received a formal eviction through a court order.
Nearly 60 percent of households with an eviction filing went on to receive a formal eviction that year. Nationwide and statewide, both eviction filings and formal evictions declined by about 30 percent compared to 2019.
IPI’s research also documented a clear seasonal pattern. Filings dropped sharply in April 2020 following court closures ordered by the Idaho Supreme Court in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
When courts reopened in May, filings and formal evictions rose sharply, a pattern IPI links to the combined effects of court backlogs, federal eviction moratoriums, unemployment assistance programs, and emergency rental aid working together to delay, rather than eliminate, housing instability.
Understanding Shoshone County’s Context
Shoshone County sits in the Idaho Panhandle, within the region often referred to as the Silver Valley, an area historically shaped by mining industry activity. It is a small, rural county with a modest rental housing market compared to larger, more urbanized counties such as Ada or Canyon County, which together account for the majority of the state’s total eviction filings each year due to their significantly larger renter populations.
Rural counties like Shoshone tend to show a different eviction pattern than urban centers. While the raw number of filings is typically much smaller in absolute terms, rural communities often face distinct challenges, including limited access to legal aid, fewer local rental assistance programs, and older housing stock that can complicate landlord tenant relationships.
These structural factors are part of why IPI and other housing researchers caution that formal eviction rates, while measurable and useful, likely understate the full scope of housing instability in rural areas, where informal displacement, meaning tenants who leave without a court order, is common but far harder to track.
What Is Confirmed and What Remains Unverified
IPI maintains an interactive, county level dashboard that allows users to explore formal eviction data for each of Idaho’s 44 counties, including Shoshone County, built using Tableau visualization software and hosted on the organization’s official website. This dashboard is the appropriate primary source for county specific figures.
At the time of this writing, several secondary websites circulate a specific claim that Shoshone County’s 2020 formal eviction rate was 1.10 percent, based on 18 formally evicted households out of approximately 1,642 renting households, a figure nearly double the statewide average.
This specific number appears repeated in close to identical wording across multiple general interest and blog style websites, none of which cite a specific IPI report, dataset, or dashboard screenshot as their source. Because this figure cannot currently be independently traced back to an original IPI publication, it should be treated with caution rather than accepted at face value.
Readers who need a confirmed, citable Shoshone County figure should consult IPI’s interactive eviction dashboard directly or contact the Institute, since county level dashboard data can be filtered and viewed in real time on the official Boise State University website.
Why This Distinction Matters
The gap between verified statewide data and unverified county level claims circulating online is a useful reminder of how research findings can become distorted as they spread across secondary sources. A legitimate research organization publishing solid statewide methodology does not guarantee that every specific figure attributed to that organization elsewhere online is accurate.
This is particularly important for policymakers, journalists, landlords, tenants, and advocacy groups who may rely on these numbers to make decisions or shape public discussion. Citing precise county level statistics without confirming them against a primary source risks spreading inaccurate information, even when the underlying research organization is credible and well regarded.
Practical Takeaways for Renters and Housing Advocates
For anyone in Shoshone County or similar rural Idaho communities concerned about housing stability, a few practical principles apply regardless of the exact county level statistic. Open, early communication with landlords about financial difficulty can prevent filings from escalating to formal court action.
Emergency rental assistance programs, where available, are typically most effective when accessed before a court filing occurs rather than after. Legal aid organizations serving Idaho renters can provide guidance on tenant rights, even in rural areas where in person legal resources may be limited.
Documenting payments, communications, and any agreements with a landlord in writing remains one of the most protective steps a tenant can take.
Final Thoughts
The Idaho Policy Institute’s ongoing eviction research provides one of the most reliable, methodologically sound windows into housing instability across Idaho, built directly from Idaho Supreme Court records rather than estimates. Its verified statewide 2020 findings show a meaningful, pandemic driven decline in formal evictions compared to the prior year, shaped heavily by court closures and emergency aid programs.
While rural counties like Shoshone likely experienced their own distinct housing pressures during that period, any specific county level figure circulating online deserves scrutiny and verification against IPI’s own primary sources before being treated as established fact.
