Inside the Baltimore sheriff’s office, Sam Cogen boasts of the department’s new computer system, new equipment and new staff members brought on at his direction since the start of his term nearly 18 months ago.
But the biggest change? Look no farther than the top of his bookshelf.
There sits a copy of “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller by sociologist Matthew Desmond who went on to found The Eviction Lab at Princeton University. Desmond’s work has been credited for breathing life into the study of eviction and its relationship with perpetuating poverty and profit for those responsible.
It’s an unusual book for a sheriff to keep on hand — but to Cogen, its presence makes sense.
In addition to modernizing and reforming the sheriff’s office, Cogen has been cited by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for his tenant protections advocacy. Cogen’s testimony on the governor’s renters’ rights bill helped clear the way for its passage earlier this spring, Moore said, one part of a trio of policies designed to create more housing supply, construction financing and tenant protections in Maryland. In public and behind the scenes, Moore said, Cogen helped convince lawmakers of the urgency of the matter.
“We would not be here if it were not for Sheriff Sam Cogen,” Moore said in April at a bill signing ceremony for the three policies. He presented the sheriff with the first of the ceremonial pens used to sign the bills into law.
The governor’s praise took Cogen by surprise. His unorthodox approach to the job has created some interesting tension, including when he was held in contempt of court earlier this year for attempting to defy an order to carry out an eviction at a Station North apartment building where the owner had long lacked a rental license.
Cogen’s outspokenness has also raised eyebrows: He went so far as to endorse former Mayor Sheila Dixon this spring against incumbent Mayor Brandon Scott ahead of the May 14 primary election, and he took multiple opportunities to criticize Scott as an ineffective law enforcement partner. Scott declared victory in the Democratic primary last week.
But Cogen said Moore’s approval has fueled his fire.
“I believe in private property, and you can’t live somewhere for free. But what are we doing to try to mitigate that harm in any kind of way?” Cogen asked. “Then you get in a position like mine, and you understand that, and you say, well, I need to do everything that I can to try to avoid the avoidable ones, and then try to help people once they have been evicted.”
In testimony, Cogen told lawmakers earlier this year that evictions require more department personnel than the office’s domestic violence unit or fugitive apprehension unit. He described himself as a glorified “debt collector,” since about 95% of the notices served are resolved without requiring an eviction, according to sheriff’s office data.
Cogen — who initiated the office’s eviction data collection initiative — said of the more than 37,000 eviction notices posted by his deputies in a five-month period ending on Jan. 31, around 545 were due to missed rent amounting to $250 or less. Another 758 eviction notices were posted due to outstanding payments between $250 and $500.
The sheriff says he understands on a visceral level the “tragedy” of eviction because he’s seen it all before. He’s evicted children; people who, out of anger, fear, or desperation, have attacked his deputies; and people who have gone on to kill themselves as a result of their displacement.
Sheriffs are elected, he said, to carry out the will of the community — and Baltimore, in electing him, has made clear that evictions should be reduced and paired with social services when possible.
“Why are people committing crimes? These root causes: housing, and lack of housing, and instability of housing,” he said. “I think it does fit in the lane of a sheriff.”
Under Cogen, evictions have spiked nearly to pre-pandemic totals. From December 2022, the month after Cogen took office, to January 2024, the last period for which data is available, there have been more than 90,000 eviction filings and more than 6,700 evictions carried out in Baltimore, according to figures from the Maryland judiciary.
This could be largely due to the drying-up of government-issued eviction prevention funding, which housing advocates unsuccessfully lobbied for more of last year, citing its effectiveness at keeping people housed.
The governor’s Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024, which was backed by Desmond’s Eviction Lab, takes several steps to empower tenants. It establishes a state-run Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs; mandates more eviction data collection from the judiciary; entitles tenants to an exclusive negotiation period prior to the sale of certain residential properties; and raises eviction filing fees. It does not provide eviction prevention funding, though a separate state bill will set some money aside for that purpose.
Moore’s administration has lauded the legislative package as historic and the most comprehensive attempt at easing housing costs and spurring production in recent history. But others say there’s much more work to be done — and particularly for Cogen to do.
Baltimore Renters United, a community group that advocates and organizes on the behalf of tenants, said the impact of the renters’ rights bill will be of little consequence for tenants until it is paired with “just cause” legislation, which allows jurisdictions to set rules dictating when landlords can choose not to renew a lease. The measure has been introduced statewide three times in three years but has failed to pass, and the group noted that Cogen did not testify on its behalf.
“We are just not going to be able to stop the housing crisis unless we get Just Cause passed,” the group said in a statement.
Cogen acknowledged that this year’s renters’ rights bill has its limitations. He said no matter the mayoral race’s outcome, he would continue to fight to expand his office’s role in making housing safer, more stable and more accessible.
“You’re trying to be a change agent, something that’s very difficult,” he said. “Well, maybe the judges who wanted to put me in contempt, and the landlords being upset — it’s all worth it.”
