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Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Nonfiction (2016)In Evicted, Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of 21st-century America's most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.
418 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2016
12881 people are currently reading
200756 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Desmond
20 books4,058 followersMatthew Desmond is social scientist and urban ethnographer. He is the Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. He is also a Contributing Writer for The New York Times Magazine.
Desmond is the author of over fifty academic studies and several books, including "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City," which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, National Book Critics Circle Award, Carnegie Medal, and PEN / John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction.
"Evicted" was listed as one of the Best Books of 2016 by The New York Times, New Yorker, Washington Post, National Public Radio, and several other outlets. It has been named one of the Best 50 Nonfiction Books of the Last 100 Years and was included in the 100 Best Social Policy Books of All Time.
Desmond's research and reporting focuses on American poverty and public policy. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award, and is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society. He has been listed among the Politico 50, as one of “fifty people across the country who are most influencing the national political debate.”
Desmond is the author of over fifty academic studies and several books, including "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City," which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, National Book Critics Circle Award, Carnegie Medal, and PEN / John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction.
"Evicted" was listed as one of the Best Books of 2016 by The New York Times, New Yorker, Washington Post, National Public Radio, and several other outlets. It has been named one of the Best 50 Nonfiction Books of the Last 100 Years and was included in the 100 Best Social Policy Books of All Time.
Desmond's research and reporting focuses on American poverty and public policy. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award, and is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society. He has been listed among the Politico 50, as one of “fifty people across the country who are most influencing the national political debate.”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 13,744 reviews
December 3, 2016
The brutal truth of poverty in America is far more devastating than any fiction ever could be. In evicted, Matthew Desmond brings rigorous sociological research and ethnography to Milwaukee's inner city. This book is painful and necessary and eye opening. I am ashamed of how little I knew about poverty and eviction. This book is fucking depressing and hopeless and excellent. We have got to do better. Also the segregation! And racist ass Ned who made his biracial stepdaughters say "white power" while their mom hoped it wouldn't scar them. What???
April 10, 2017
This just won The Pulitzer! Yay! "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" is probably the most important book that I have ever read!!! If you are to read one non-fiction book this year it should probably be this book!!! This should be required reading in high school! I learned about poverty and poor renters, the eviction process, and scumbag landlords.
This book is about 8 families in Milwaukee. These are both Caucasian and African American families. The book is broken down into 3 parts. They are real life stories. These stories are so unbelievable that they read like fiction. I cannot do this book justice. The reason I read it was because of my friend Shelby. She wrote a phenomenal review. Here it is. Please check it out:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....
Many of these families were spending up to 80 percent of their income just on rent! This left little money for anything else. The system was meant for families to spend up to 30 percent of their income on rent. It's truly unbelievable and eye opening!
I listened to the audio version. I would say the narration is about 4 Stars. I wish there were two narrators instead of one. The different voices all started sounding the same after awhile. In all fairness, this is a tough book for a narrator to tackle and when he was telling the story and not doing the individual voices he did a great job.
The one character I identified with the most was Scott. I think it's because he made me realize this could happen to me. Scott was making 80k a year as a nurse at one point but became addicted to pain killers and then his life spirals down from there into harder drugs and homelessness. Although there is hope for him, I'm not giving spoilers so you are going to have to read the book to find out what happens to him. His story made me realize this could happen to anybody! Even if you have never been part of the welfare system you can still end up homeless.
This is not a happy book but it is a very important one!!! The author is Sociologist, Matthew Desmond, and he is an amazing person, too. Please read this book and tell your friends about it. There needs to be changes made to the welfare system in the United States. People should not be living in filth and squalor like this with little chance of moving up. Children should not be shuffled around from school to school, either. The author suggests a universal housing voucher program made cost efficient. We need change in the United States and we need it now!
This book is about 8 families in Milwaukee. These are both Caucasian and African American families. The book is broken down into 3 parts. They are real life stories. These stories are so unbelievable that they read like fiction. I cannot do this book justice. The reason I read it was because of my friend Shelby. She wrote a phenomenal review. Here it is. Please check it out:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....
Many of these families were spending up to 80 percent of their income just on rent! This left little money for anything else. The system was meant for families to spend up to 30 percent of their income on rent. It's truly unbelievable and eye opening!
I listened to the audio version. I would say the narration is about 4 Stars. I wish there were two narrators instead of one. The different voices all started sounding the same after awhile. In all fairness, this is a tough book for a narrator to tackle and when he was telling the story and not doing the individual voices he did a great job.
The one character I identified with the most was Scott. I think it's because he made me realize this could happen to me. Scott was making 80k a year as a nurse at one point but became addicted to pain killers and then his life spirals down from there into harder drugs and homelessness. Although there is hope for him, I'm not giving spoilers so you are going to have to read the book to find out what happens to him. His story made me realize this could happen to anybody! Even if you have never been part of the welfare system you can still end up homeless.
This is not a happy book but it is a very important one!!! The author is Sociologist, Matthew Desmond, and he is an amazing person, too. Please read this book and tell your friends about it. There needs to be changes made to the welfare system in the United States. People should not be living in filth and squalor like this with little chance of moving up. Children should not be shuffled around from school to school, either. The author suggests a universal housing voucher program made cost efficient. We need change in the United States and we need it now!
October 8, 2017
It is no surprise that "Evicted" was the University Wisconsin-Madison's Go Big Red book read for 2016, a book chosen by the chancellor and worked into campus-wide discussions and events. Set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it examines the lives of a number of people who deal with eviction and the property owners. To those outside the state, it might be less obvious how state politics have played into the background of many of the people in Evicted but suffice to say, the once-independent State of Wisconsin has fallen on conservative and judgemental times.
At any rate, for non-fiction book littered with references, it is extremely readable. Done in a more ethnographic style, it reminds me of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. Read these two back-to-back and I will guarantee you will go to bed thankful. Like Enrich, Desmond tried to 'walk the talk' by living in the trailer park he writes about by renting and living close to the subjects of the book, and by tailing the landlords as much as possible.
The last chapter of the book before the footnotes is an 'About the Project' section that details his own history, his goals and his structure in writing the book. I actually think it should be the first chapter, as it lends explanation and context to his sources and the style of writing. For those who might be scared off by the voluminous footnotes, I recommend peeking at them-many are actually commentary or elaborations on some of the personal details. Definitely not one I would have wanted to read on Kindle.
Unlike Nickel and Dimed, much of Desmond's material will be controversial, perhaps only serving to reinforce stereotypes about poor people. In some ways, perhaps, this might be one of those books that says just about as much about the reviewer as the subject. Being entirely honest with ourselves is hard, right?, and it's easy to judge many of the people in the book.
Issue one, the simple one: people without resources have high stakes and no cushion when they indulge or make mistakes--as we all do. For instance, I have a fat pile of COBRA paperwork waiting for me to read through it, and recently I spent $50 on chocolates for gifts for my personal references. If I didn't deal with the COBRA paperwork, I'd probably be fine (unless I got in a traumatic car wreck), because I have prescriptions stocked, generally good health, financial resources and a job that will cover me in a month. If a person in Evicted forgets to attend a caseworker appointment or forgets to file a change-of-address, they're screwed, because they will get no food stamps that month and have no saved resources to cushion them (how can you save money when you only have $40 extra dollars a month) Desmond does a decent job of making the costs of human indulgences clear, showing that the disabled, dishonorably discharged vet has exactly $40 dollars a month after rent, or that eating a lobster tail dinner means a month of ramen noodles.
Issue two, the complex one: One of the most BRILLIANT and amazing things I've read this year was an interview with Bruce Perry, psychologist about the long-lasting effects of childhood trauma. Read it: here The essay talks quite a bit about what kind of constant physiological stress that does to the human brain, and how it changes learning and relationships. Physiological stress can result in more (or even less) reactive brain than one that has only smaller, more intermittent amounts of stress (leading to the million-dollar question of how to we teach resilience?) A body that is always on alert because of safety issues, or a body that is always hungry is not one that will be in an environment of optimal function.
You see where I'm going with this? A majority of people in this story sprung from poverty. They were born into it, had their brains wired by it, their coping skills and expectations structured by it. They were set up to 'fail' by traditional society. Patricia's kids, the ones who are sharing a mattress on the floor in the living room? Probably not going to be doctors and own the latest McMansion. Not because they aren't capable of it, but their ongoing circumstances are going to continue to set them up to fail (changing schools every time they move, missing school due to issues with housing/resources, stress caused by having to find new housing every six months, the violence in the places they live, the lack of trustworthy relationships built where they live--because how can you build them when you keep moving?), and thus the cycle continues. Desmond actually demonstrates impaired coping from ongoing stress when he shows how Arleen initially tries to deal with Crystal's generous but irrational moods and how Arleen eventually responds from a place of stress, anger and pride that makes the housing situation even worse. I'd even argue that Arleen was never set up to succeed in the first place from her childhood.
Issue three, the other complex one: addiction, that ongoing, ever-present itch. People will argue that heroin is a 'worse' addiction. I don't know; you live long enough, you see addictions come in waves, like fads. Meth was the rage in Wisconsin about ten years back. Heroin is the hot drug these days. Scott is the poster child for addiction in this book, a former nurse who got caught using and spiraled down. You know how many sanctions are applied quarterly to nurses who use some kind of substance? I'd say over a hundred, at least. WI Department of Regulation publishes a list of nurse sanctions and addiction-related issues are by far the most common (alcohol and drugs). This is a horribly complex issue, and though Scott manages to rally after eviction, he falls again. Now he's straight (at the moment), thanks to a supportive recovering-addicts residential housing program that also employs him.
You want to know about the homeless I meet? Frequently addicts of some sort. There are housing programs and shelters, but you have to be sober to get in, or stay sober for long-term housing, and many addicts aren't willing to leave their addiction. There aren't good answers for this one. The trailer park Desmond lives in shows a little what a group of addicts living together must be like, how one of the residents goes door to door looking for a fix and knows he'll find it.
Issue four, the last complex one: mental illness. Way back in Reagan era (haha, I know you kids don't remember that), there was a huge movement to 'de-institutionalize' people with severe mental illness. There are reasons for and against, but the upshot is that each community has to deal with how to care for a population that may not be able to adequately care for itself. An excellent article gives some of the facts and figures that my own experience has demonstrated. I'd say about half of the people I've had to take care of with schizophrenia have stopped taking their medication, which is part of what lands them in the hospital. It's a well-known and vicious cycle (for people who are able to get access to medication): meds make people feel better and in control, so they decide to stop the meds because they are feeling so great. OR, the medications make people feel shittier, so they stop taking them. Either way, the result is uncontrolled mental illness. Desmond has a poster-child for this one too, Crystal, who despite a consistent SSDI check and support from her faith community, frequently ends up evicted due to fighting with other tenants.
What is less easy to see is how many of the people in the book are political pawns. Newly imposed trailer park management and local police response to 'nuisance' properties show how political stances have real and unintended consequences contributing to eviction. The City of Madison was dealing with this in the past several years as well, finally forcing one of the local 'slumlords' into cleaning up his properties that resulted in many being placed on the market. He--like landlords in the book--argued he was providing housing for people too poor to rent elsewhere, unable to get housing due to criminal history or prior evictions latest story. All of that said, somehow the slumlords have squeezed hundreds of thousands of dollars out of their properties (I think the Madison one has a portfolio of over SIX million dollars, much like the trailer park owner in Evicted) while letting the tenants live in conditions you'd be furious to see at the local shelter.
Desmond has a few suggestions. First, is more research, because good policies should be informed by reality. His studies were one of the few looking at eviction and poverty. More documentation should be done on it's effects in the neighborhood and on longer lasting effects. He mentions people who are evicted end up having higher levels of material hardships for up to two years after eviction. His immediate suggestion is better court advocates and legal aid (which is being cut) for those facing eviction so that they can help prevent evictions and further needless homelessness.
His ethical suggestion is that we recognize housing as a basic human right, not a mechanism of exploitation. As I mentioned in my own Madison example, while the slumlords may claim they are providing at least some kind of housing, they aren't doing it as a public service. His solution is expanding housing vouchers for all low-income families, not just a small number--are eligible for a voucher that can be used for anywhere that is "decent, modest and fairly priced."
I'm not sure Desmond is recognizing the things he experienced with Sherrena the landlord commenting on how taking voucher families was a pain because the buildings had to be up to code. This is the part where I also think he is ignoring the roles that addiction and mental illness play in housing as well. Still, he's offering something as a solution, and in an area that has the potential to negatively impact both individuals and communities, it's worth trying a solution or three or twenty til we can get it right. Overall, an excellent book that provides much information for consideration and discussion. Highly recommended.
At any rate, for non-fiction book littered with references, it is extremely readable. Done in a more ethnographic style, it reminds me of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. Read these two back-to-back and I will guarantee you will go to bed thankful. Like Enrich, Desmond tried to 'walk the talk' by living in the trailer park he writes about by renting and living close to the subjects of the book, and by tailing the landlords as much as possible.
The last chapter of the book before the footnotes is an 'About the Project' section that details his own history, his goals and his structure in writing the book. I actually think it should be the first chapter, as it lends explanation and context to his sources and the style of writing. For those who might be scared off by the voluminous footnotes, I recommend peeking at them-many are actually commentary or elaborations on some of the personal details. Definitely not one I would have wanted to read on Kindle.
Unlike Nickel and Dimed, much of Desmond's material will be controversial, perhaps only serving to reinforce stereotypes about poor people. In some ways, perhaps, this might be one of those books that says just about as much about the reviewer as the subject. Being entirely honest with ourselves is hard, right?, and it's easy to judge many of the people in the book.
Issue one, the simple one: people without resources have high stakes and no cushion when they indulge or make mistakes--as we all do. For instance, I have a fat pile of COBRA paperwork waiting for me to read through it, and recently I spent $50 on chocolates for gifts for my personal references. If I didn't deal with the COBRA paperwork, I'd probably be fine (unless I got in a traumatic car wreck), because I have prescriptions stocked, generally good health, financial resources and a job that will cover me in a month. If a person in Evicted forgets to attend a caseworker appointment or forgets to file a change-of-address, they're screwed, because they will get no food stamps that month and have no saved resources to cushion them (how can you save money when you only have $40 extra dollars a month) Desmond does a decent job of making the costs of human indulgences clear, showing that the disabled, dishonorably discharged vet has exactly $40 dollars a month after rent, or that eating a lobster tail dinner means a month of ramen noodles.
Issue two, the complex one: One of the most BRILLIANT and amazing things I've read this year was an interview with Bruce Perry, psychologist about the long-lasting effects of childhood trauma. Read it: here The essay talks quite a bit about what kind of constant physiological stress that does to the human brain, and how it changes learning and relationships. Physiological stress can result in more (or even less) reactive brain than one that has only smaller, more intermittent amounts of stress (leading to the million-dollar question of how to we teach resilience?) A body that is always on alert because of safety issues, or a body that is always hungry is not one that will be in an environment of optimal function.
You see where I'm going with this? A majority of people in this story sprung from poverty. They were born into it, had their brains wired by it, their coping skills and expectations structured by it. They were set up to 'fail' by traditional society. Patricia's kids, the ones who are sharing a mattress on the floor in the living room? Probably not going to be doctors and own the latest McMansion. Not because they aren't capable of it, but their ongoing circumstances are going to continue to set them up to fail (changing schools every time they move, missing school due to issues with housing/resources, stress caused by having to find new housing every six months, the violence in the places they live, the lack of trustworthy relationships built where they live--because how can you build them when you keep moving?), and thus the cycle continues. Desmond actually demonstrates impaired coping from ongoing stress when he shows how Arleen initially tries to deal with Crystal's generous but irrational moods and how Arleen eventually responds from a place of stress, anger and pride that makes the housing situation even worse. I'd even argue that Arleen was never set up to succeed in the first place from her childhood.
Issue three, the other complex one: addiction, that ongoing, ever-present itch. People will argue that heroin is a 'worse' addiction. I don't know; you live long enough, you see addictions come in waves, like fads. Meth was the rage in Wisconsin about ten years back. Heroin is the hot drug these days. Scott is the poster child for addiction in this book, a former nurse who got caught using and spiraled down. You know how many sanctions are applied quarterly to nurses who use some kind of substance? I'd say over a hundred, at least. WI Department of Regulation publishes a list of nurse sanctions and addiction-related issues are by far the most common (alcohol and drugs). This is a horribly complex issue, and though Scott manages to rally after eviction, he falls again. Now he's straight (at the moment), thanks to a supportive recovering-addicts residential housing program that also employs him.
You want to know about the homeless I meet? Frequently addicts of some sort. There are housing programs and shelters, but you have to be sober to get in, or stay sober for long-term housing, and many addicts aren't willing to leave their addiction. There aren't good answers for this one. The trailer park Desmond lives in shows a little what a group of addicts living together must be like, how one of the residents goes door to door looking for a fix and knows he'll find it.
Issue four, the last complex one: mental illness. Way back in Reagan era (haha, I know you kids don't remember that), there was a huge movement to 'de-institutionalize' people with severe mental illness. There are reasons for and against, but the upshot is that each community has to deal with how to care for a population that may not be able to adequately care for itself. An excellent article gives some of the facts and figures that my own experience has demonstrated. I'd say about half of the people I've had to take care of with schizophrenia have stopped taking their medication, which is part of what lands them in the hospital. It's a well-known and vicious cycle (for people who are able to get access to medication): meds make people feel better and in control, so they decide to stop the meds because they are feeling so great. OR, the medications make people feel shittier, so they stop taking them. Either way, the result is uncontrolled mental illness. Desmond has a poster-child for this one too, Crystal, who despite a consistent SSDI check and support from her faith community, frequently ends up evicted due to fighting with other tenants.
What is less easy to see is how many of the people in the book are political pawns. Newly imposed trailer park management and local police response to 'nuisance' properties show how political stances have real and unintended consequences contributing to eviction. The City of Madison was dealing with this in the past several years as well, finally forcing one of the local 'slumlords' into cleaning up his properties that resulted in many being placed on the market. He--like landlords in the book--argued he was providing housing for people too poor to rent elsewhere, unable to get housing due to criminal history or prior evictions latest story. All of that said, somehow the slumlords have squeezed hundreds of thousands of dollars out of their properties (I think the Madison one has a portfolio of over SIX million dollars, much like the trailer park owner in Evicted) while letting the tenants live in conditions you'd be furious to see at the local shelter.
Desmond has a few suggestions. First, is more research, because good policies should be informed by reality. His studies were one of the few looking at eviction and poverty. More documentation should be done on it's effects in the neighborhood and on longer lasting effects. He mentions people who are evicted end up having higher levels of material hardships for up to two years after eviction. His immediate suggestion is better court advocates and legal aid (which is being cut) for those facing eviction so that they can help prevent evictions and further needless homelessness.
His ethical suggestion is that we recognize housing as a basic human right, not a mechanism of exploitation. As I mentioned in my own Madison example, while the slumlords may claim they are providing at least some kind of housing, they aren't doing it as a public service. His solution is expanding housing vouchers for all low-income families, not just a small number--are eligible for a voucher that can be used for anywhere that is "decent, modest and fairly priced."
I'm not sure Desmond is recognizing the things he experienced with Sherrena the landlord commenting on how taking voucher families was a pain because the buildings had to be up to code. This is the part where I also think he is ignoring the roles that addiction and mental illness play in housing as well. Still, he's offering something as a solution, and in an area that has the potential to negatively impact both individuals and communities, it's worth trying a solution or three or twenty til we can get it right. Overall, an excellent book that provides much information for consideration and discussion. Highly recommended.
June 25, 2025
Eviction is about 8 Milwaukee families who attempt to keep a roof over their heads. This book is a little dated because housing costs have only worsened since this book was published.
There are many interesting facts in this book; however, there are a few things that give me pause about this book. Although the author lived in the trailer park and low-income housing, he didn't really get the full experience. Being poor is more than just having little to no money in your bank account. It is also the uncertainty of the future. It is instability, not knowing where you will be or if your things will be out on the front porch when you get home. With a lack of stability, children also experience disjointed education, moving from one school to another. The author also had a car which is extremely important when one needs to get to a job, a job interview, or a doctor. The bus is not always reliable or safe.
Additionally, the author was advocating expanding the voucher program for low-income individuals. However, this is not a good idea. Why? Let's take student loans for example. The federal government will announce that it is increasing the amount of student loans a person can take out by $2,000. Then, the school magically announces that it is going to increase tuition by $2,000. So instead of the student getting ahead by closing the funding gap, the student is now taking on an even greater amount of student loans. If you give many people vouchers, the landlords will just increase the rent. This will, in turn, just cost taxpayers more money, and lower income people will be no better off than when they started.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Softcover Text – $1 at Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham, Michigan
Connect With Me!
Blog Threads BookTube Facebook Insta My Bookstore at Pango
There are many interesting facts in this book; however, there are a few things that give me pause about this book. Although the author lived in the trailer park and low-income housing, he didn't really get the full experience. Being poor is more than just having little to no money in your bank account. It is also the uncertainty of the future. It is instability, not knowing where you will be or if your things will be out on the front porch when you get home. With a lack of stability, children also experience disjointed education, moving from one school to another. The author also had a car which is extremely important when one needs to get to a job, a job interview, or a doctor. The bus is not always reliable or safe.
Additionally, the author was advocating expanding the voucher program for low-income individuals. However, this is not a good idea. Why? Let's take student loans for example. The federal government will announce that it is increasing the amount of student loans a person can take out by $2,000. Then, the school magically announces that it is going to increase tuition by $2,000. So instead of the student getting ahead by closing the funding gap, the student is now taking on an even greater amount of student loans. If you give many people vouchers, the landlords will just increase the rent. This will, in turn, just cost taxpayers more money, and lower income people will be no better off than when they started.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Softcover Text – $1 at Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham, Michigan
Connect With Me!
Blog Threads BookTube Facebook Insta My Bookstore at Pango
February 24, 2020
I finished this book a few days ago and it really made me feel devastated. It's always hard to see and think about who has value in our society and the way laws and institutions play such a huge role in continuing to destabilize the lives of those who are already marginalized in other ways. One thing that really stuck with me was the fact that landlords were getting fined for their tenants calling the cops and being nuisances, and how they applied that to people calling in about domestic abuse as well. Really horrifying and mind boggling that anyone would think that's a good policy even for reducing the amount people call the police. Makes me feel quite tired. especially when the New York legislative session has ended for the year and they failed to pass a bill to force landlords to have good cause for eviction. They way we treat the poor in this country is cruel.
Side note though, I think this book being in narrative format using ethnography was really great and made it emotionally visceral when reading. Ended up reading it in one sitting.
Side note though, I think this book being in narrative format using ethnography was really great and made it emotionally visceral when reading. Ended up reading it in one sitting.
February 10, 2018
I recalled that last year that author Roxane Gay was asked what was "the last book that made you furious?" She said: "'Evicted,' by Matthew Desmond. My God, what that book lays bare about American poverty. It is devastating and infuriating and a necessary read." So true. (I continue to think this book says oodles more than Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis about poverty, class, and the American Dream.)
I try to remember to sing this last stanza of Pretty Boy Floyd, the song by Woody Guthrie, the week we work on poverty in Introductory Sociology:
Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.
And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.
Often this shocks students to consider the inhumane way we regularly treat each other, and that the "it's just business" attitude can drive many families into homelessness and shelter living. The lyrics focus us on the nature of criminality, and whether acts are ethical even if legal, etc..
The best type of qualitative, sociological analysis, Desmond tugs at our heartstrings until we ache with relentless story after story of people who are evicted from their homes. Having a secure place to live provides us with human dignity, and most developed countries guarantee a place to stay by virtue of the fact of being a member of that society. Not so in the wealthiest country in the world. In the US, we can still remember Ronald Reagan with his arm around a homeless man, agreeing with him that most people who are homeless choose to be so. We tend to blame people for their own circumstances quite resolutely.
The cover is this book is powerful enough. Indeed, I had it several days before realizing the picture was one of a wall of vacated home, showing the lighter places once pictures were taken off their hooks. I had a number of students star at the book cover as it was here on my desk for quite a while, and they often asked about the picture, also slow to recognize it. Our hesitancy to come to recognize and come to grips with the pain of a family, often, losing a home speaks volumes in itself. Desmond brings us into the lives of many in Milwaukee during the time directly after the '08 crash and in the midst of the major home foreclosure crisis, and while he garners some sympathy for landlords, who reasonable only want to get paid for rent, what is clear is that no one can live a productive much less meaningful life while worrying how to provide shelter for yourself and your family.
I was reminded of Michael Moore's lament that increasingly the working class became "the Man", the landlord, as Rustbelt workers with good-paying jobs through the 70s rented out basement apartments and invested in rental real estate. Moore claimed this further separated the psychological perspectives as well as the actual living circumstances of the working poor (renters) from the lower middle class (increasingly landlords themselves.)
Please let me end with Hana's great review of Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud that you can find here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... it is horrifying to learn that Trump has just appointed Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary, who personally benefited from the corruption of the foreclosure crisis in California. In the US, we must be vigilant with ongoing "crony capitalism" that continues to gather the wealth of the 99%. More and more I'm reminded of that old saying by Mellon the capitalist that it's during economic downturns when money flows back to its' rightful owners.
I try to remember to sing this last stanza of Pretty Boy Floyd, the song by Woody Guthrie, the week we work on poverty in Introductory Sociology:
Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.
And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.
Often this shocks students to consider the inhumane way we regularly treat each other, and that the "it's just business" attitude can drive many families into homelessness and shelter living. The lyrics focus us on the nature of criminality, and whether acts are ethical even if legal, etc..
The best type of qualitative, sociological analysis, Desmond tugs at our heartstrings until we ache with relentless story after story of people who are evicted from their homes. Having a secure place to live provides us with human dignity, and most developed countries guarantee a place to stay by virtue of the fact of being a member of that society. Not so in the wealthiest country in the world. In the US, we can still remember Ronald Reagan with his arm around a homeless man, agreeing with him that most people who are homeless choose to be so. We tend to blame people for their own circumstances quite resolutely.
The cover is this book is powerful enough. Indeed, I had it several days before realizing the picture was one of a wall of vacated home, showing the lighter places once pictures were taken off their hooks. I had a number of students star at the book cover as it was here on my desk for quite a while, and they often asked about the picture, also slow to recognize it. Our hesitancy to come to recognize and come to grips with the pain of a family, often, losing a home speaks volumes in itself. Desmond brings us into the lives of many in Milwaukee during the time directly after the '08 crash and in the midst of the major home foreclosure crisis, and while he garners some sympathy for landlords, who reasonable only want to get paid for rent, what is clear is that no one can live a productive much less meaningful life while worrying how to provide shelter for yourself and your family.
I was reminded of Michael Moore's lament that increasingly the working class became "the Man", the landlord, as Rustbelt workers with good-paying jobs through the 70s rented out basement apartments and invested in rental real estate. Moore claimed this further separated the psychological perspectives as well as the actual living circumstances of the working poor (renters) from the lower middle class (increasingly landlords themselves.)
Please let me end with Hana's great review of Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud that you can find here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... it is horrifying to learn that Trump has just appointed Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary, who personally benefited from the corruption of the foreclosure crisis in California. In the US, we must be vigilant with ongoing "crony capitalism" that continues to gather the wealth of the 99%. More and more I'm reminded of that old saying by Mellon the capitalist that it's during economic downturns when money flows back to its' rightful owners.
February 25, 2018
Many thanks to my local friend- Cindy - for putting this book in my hands.
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
“Sherrena and Quentin always planned their vacations so that they were back before the first the month, when their days went long with eviction notices to pass out, new moves to manage, and rents to collect. Because most of their tenants didn’t have bank accounts, collecting rent was a face-to-face affair”.
“When Sheriff John walked into a house and saw mattresses on the floor, grease on the ceiling, cockroaches on the wall, and clothes, hair extensions, and toys scattered about, he didn’t double-check. Sometimes tenants had already abandoned the place, leaving behind dead animals and rotting food. Sometimes the movers puked. The first rule of evictions, Sheriff John like to say, is never open the fridge. When things were especially bad, when an apartment was covered in trash or dog shit, or when one of the guys would find a needle, Dave would nod and say ‘Junk in’, leaving the mess for the landlord”.
“Arleen’s children did not always have food. Arlene was not always able to offer them stability; stability cost too much. She was not always able to protect them from dangerous streets; those streets were her streets. Arleen sacrifice for her boys, feed them the best she could, clothed them with what she had.
When they wanted more than she could give, she had ways, some subtle, others not, of telling them they didn’t deserve it. When Jori wanted something most teenagers wanted, new shoes or a hair products, she would tell him he was selfish, or just bad”.
“The Hinkstons expected more from their landlord for the money they were paying her. Rent was their biggest expense by far, and they wanted a decent functional home in return. They wanted things to be fixed when they broke. But if Sherrena wasn’t going to repair her own property, neither were they. The house failed the tenants, and the tenants failed the house”.
While my heartstrings were being pulled - yanked & twisted .....my mind was in a tug-a-war.
Poverty in America is horrendous....sad....ugly....and real. The stories in this book made it clear - families are living in filth, families are hungry, they are being uplifted time and time again - ( the poor innocent children: breaks your heart).
I actually felt ‘bad’ for both sides though, too: the tenants and the landlords. I saw each story a little different— ( the overall problem is a crisis) — and maybe the vouchers would work....
but what’s the answer to people living in the house as drug addicts?
My eyebrows raised when I thought about the women that had 3 kids by 3 different men - I just think it’s maddening.
There are definitely people who run into very difficult times and need help— but in some cases using drugs, buying cigarettes and lobster might not be the best example of being fully responsible in helping oneself. My mind was split at times on the horrible problem “Evicted” addresses......as it’s natural to wish there ‘was’ the right solution....but is there?
Landlords need to pay their bills —but this book shows the MASSIVE CRISIS that an eviction can cause a person who is already living under the poverty line.
Very disturbing problem this book addresses ——it latches on to all my anger-frustrating- and powerless-feeling brain cells.
“Evicted” is eye-opening —ongoing EYE-OPENING....but I’m not sure I agree that the vouchers will fix the problem.
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
“Sherrena and Quentin always planned their vacations so that they were back before the first the month, when their days went long with eviction notices to pass out, new moves to manage, and rents to collect. Because most of their tenants didn’t have bank accounts, collecting rent was a face-to-face affair”.
“When Sheriff John walked into a house and saw mattresses on the floor, grease on the ceiling, cockroaches on the wall, and clothes, hair extensions, and toys scattered about, he didn’t double-check. Sometimes tenants had already abandoned the place, leaving behind dead animals and rotting food. Sometimes the movers puked. The first rule of evictions, Sheriff John like to say, is never open the fridge. When things were especially bad, when an apartment was covered in trash or dog shit, or when one of the guys would find a needle, Dave would nod and say ‘Junk in’, leaving the mess for the landlord”.
“Arleen’s children did not always have food. Arlene was not always able to offer them stability; stability cost too much. She was not always able to protect them from dangerous streets; those streets were her streets. Arleen sacrifice for her boys, feed them the best she could, clothed them with what she had.
When they wanted more than she could give, she had ways, some subtle, others not, of telling them they didn’t deserve it. When Jori wanted something most teenagers wanted, new shoes or a hair products, she would tell him he was selfish, or just bad”.
“The Hinkstons expected more from their landlord for the money they were paying her. Rent was their biggest expense by far, and they wanted a decent functional home in return. They wanted things to be fixed when they broke. But if Sherrena wasn’t going to repair her own property, neither were they. The house failed the tenants, and the tenants failed the house”.
While my heartstrings were being pulled - yanked & twisted .....my mind was in a tug-a-war.
Poverty in America is horrendous....sad....ugly....and real. The stories in this book made it clear - families are living in filth, families are hungry, they are being uplifted time and time again - ( the poor innocent children: breaks your heart).
I actually felt ‘bad’ for both sides though, too: the tenants and the landlords. I saw each story a little different— ( the overall problem is a crisis) — and maybe the vouchers would work....
but what’s the answer to people living in the house as drug addicts?
My eyebrows raised when I thought about the women that had 3 kids by 3 different men - I just think it’s maddening.
There are definitely people who run into very difficult times and need help— but in some cases using drugs, buying cigarettes and lobster might not be the best example of being fully responsible in helping oneself. My mind was split at times on the horrible problem “Evicted” addresses......as it’s natural to wish there ‘was’ the right solution....but is there?
Landlords need to pay their bills —but this book shows the MASSIVE CRISIS that an eviction can cause a person who is already living under the poverty line.
Very disturbing problem this book addresses ——it latches on to all my anger-frustrating- and powerless-feeling brain cells.
“Evicted” is eye-opening —ongoing EYE-OPENING....but I’m not sure I agree that the vouchers will fix the problem.
February 12, 2020
Matthew Desmond’s research-driven prose is a dazzling work of examination and insight. Within these pages, the business and culture of evictions is dissected down to the very dollars and cents that uphold this thriving industry. The judicial system and the role it plays is scrutinized, and the lives of 8 families are put on intimate display for readers to bear witness to. Within the pages of Eviction, Desmond paints a clandestine portrait of the precarious lives of those living at and below the poverty line in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the time of his research. The survey into this little-known world is done first hand, with the aid of a tape recorder, and thus is the most personal and complete look at modern American poverty that I have read in a long time. Here, readers will follow the desolate, the addicted, the impoverished and the “lords” who shape their lives in these dangerous and volatile social environments called homes.
This book unveiled some of the most stunningly accurate vernacular and dialogue that I have seen anywhere, non-fiction or fiction. (Note to self: if you want to really capture the essence of a culture, use a tape recorder.) With this simple technique, Desmond was able to capture the true personification of the frustration and despair, of their interactions and intentions, and, hence, the dialogue told a story all of its own within these pages. It told a story of where these people came from and how they truly related to one another on a human level. He captured the true swag of these neighborhoods, the soul and essence that can’t be seen at first passing glance out of a car window.
The research in Evicted was expertly incorporated so that it read as fluidly in narrative as a fiction novel, and it was incorporated throughout, which was great, because it allowed the reader to absorb the information with illustrations of narration to make it easier and faster to digest. It also allowed for a read that wasn’t leaden with factoids, reading like a dry and tedious text book. The lives he chose to chronicle and exhibit were harrowing and demonstrative of humanity’s capacity to fail and to survive, to overcome and to find comfort in community. It also pulled back the curtains on this booming industry that both exploits the poor and treats them as expendable members of society.
In Evicted, Desmond dissected a truth that goes back to the Civil Rights Movement when Fair Housing laws were enacted. Stirring and emotional, this read holds a shiny mirror to the face of America. Similar to the PIC (Prison Industrial Complex) the eviction process, nay culture, is a vicious and debilitating cycle with ripple effects into communities. This exposé displayed how crime and evictions go hand-in-hand, each leading to the other with alarming frequency, a form of institutionalized parasitism on the poor at the hands of the judicial system and slum lords (in the instances where there are, in fact, slum lords). Here, Desmond portrays both the crimes that lead to evictions and the evictions that foster a bed of crimes.
This work really appealed to me when I read its blurb, and it did not disappoint. It was not a traumatically graphic read, but it was all consuming. Vignette after vignette portrayed the mental and emotional anguish that living at the poverty line heaps on it dwellers so that the only reprieve came in the form of spirited dialogue and intimate conversations between those he chronicled and their family and friends and from the research that clarified the stats behind their suffering, which was interspersed throughout. Other than that, there was no reprieve from the grief, struggling and suffering and, in a way, I think that that was not only the point of this read but, in many ways, an intellectual profit to the reader. Within these pages, those who could never in their own everyday lives imagine such hardships will be transported over the imaginary line that exists in all cities: the line between the haves and the have nots. That is a line that everyone should cross at some time, so pick up this read preparing to take a journey. Evicted gained itself a strong 4 stars. ****
* I received a copy of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City from the publisher, Crown, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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This book unveiled some of the most stunningly accurate vernacular and dialogue that I have seen anywhere, non-fiction or fiction. (Note to self: if you want to really capture the essence of a culture, use a tape recorder.) With this simple technique, Desmond was able to capture the true personification of the frustration and despair, of their interactions and intentions, and, hence, the dialogue told a story all of its own within these pages. It told a story of where these people came from and how they truly related to one another on a human level. He captured the true swag of these neighborhoods, the soul and essence that can’t be seen at first passing glance out of a car window.
The research in Evicted was expertly incorporated so that it read as fluidly in narrative as a fiction novel, and it was incorporated throughout, which was great, because it allowed the reader to absorb the information with illustrations of narration to make it easier and faster to digest. It also allowed for a read that wasn’t leaden with factoids, reading like a dry and tedious text book. The lives he chose to chronicle and exhibit were harrowing and demonstrative of humanity’s capacity to fail and to survive, to overcome and to find comfort in community. It also pulled back the curtains on this booming industry that both exploits the poor and treats them as expendable members of society.
In Evicted, Desmond dissected a truth that goes back to the Civil Rights Movement when Fair Housing laws were enacted. Stirring and emotional, this read holds a shiny mirror to the face of America. Similar to the PIC (Prison Industrial Complex) the eviction process, nay culture, is a vicious and debilitating cycle with ripple effects into communities. This exposé displayed how crime and evictions go hand-in-hand, each leading to the other with alarming frequency, a form of institutionalized parasitism on the poor at the hands of the judicial system and slum lords (in the instances where there are, in fact, slum lords). Here, Desmond portrays both the crimes that lead to evictions and the evictions that foster a bed of crimes.
This work really appealed to me when I read its blurb, and it did not disappoint. It was not a traumatically graphic read, but it was all consuming. Vignette after vignette portrayed the mental and emotional anguish that living at the poverty line heaps on it dwellers so that the only reprieve came in the form of spirited dialogue and intimate conversations between those he chronicled and their family and friends and from the research that clarified the stats behind their suffering, which was interspersed throughout. Other than that, there was no reprieve from the grief, struggling and suffering and, in a way, I think that that was not only the point of this read but, in many ways, an intellectual profit to the reader. Within these pages, those who could never in their own everyday lives imagine such hardships will be transported over the imaginary line that exists in all cities: the line between the haves and the have nots. That is a line that everyone should cross at some time, so pick up this read preparing to take a journey. Evicted gained itself a strong 4 stars. ****
* I received a copy of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City from the publisher, Crown, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
FOLLOW ME HERE:
Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram | Get a Copy of My Book | Book Editing, Author Coaching, Submit Your Book to Me
February 9, 2017
Whatever our way out of this mess, one thing is certain. This degree of inequality, this withdrawal of opportunity, this cold denial of basic needs, this endorsement of pointless suffering-by no American value is this situation justified. No moral code or ethical principle, no piece of scripture or holy teaching, can be summoned to defend what we have allowed our country to become.
I begin this review with what is essentially the end of this book. There is another piece after this that will have its own spotlight, but that quote above was the last paragraph of the epilogue. And it was an epilogue I almost didn't listen to. I believe there was an hour and forty three minutes remaining when the actual story ended. I wasn't necessarily up for that. I even considered it might be dead air. How can an epilogue be that long?! Well, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that the epilogue was mind blowing. It was brilliant and in my opinion, the most important piece of this book, which in itself is a tremendous feat of research, dedication, drive, exploration and human kindness. Herein lie the issues in laymen's terms along with some very intelligent and sensible suggestions for policy changes and steps toward solutions.
The story itself was devastating but necessary. I live worlds away from what was described in these pages so the truth of it, the unforgiving honesty in the facts was equal parts shocking and depressing. It is undeniable that the system is tremendously flawed. The eviction process, the landlords, the tenants were all characters jockeying for position in a cyclical nightmare. Although always interested, at one point I realized that one story blended into the next. It became challenging to remember who was where, until I realized that it's truly such a blur...take out this person, insert that person...and my heart broke a little bit more.
In the section following the epilogue entitled About This Project, the author details how he collected the data and how the project has impacted him. . Somehow I lost myself completely in this story and never considered this as a possibility. This left me speechless.
This is the best book I have read this year and certainly the most important. I've done nothing but talk about this book since I started it but I need to accept that there aren't words to properly salute this incredible work. Upon finishing this, I wanted to drive straight to Harvard and sit outside the author's office. I still do actually, not so much to discuss but more to just lay eyes on such a decent human being, to tell him that the world needs more people like him to educate, to challenge what is and to help this broken world.
This book deserves a far better review than what I have written here. As I consider what else to write, please get this book with its haunting cover and its important message. 5 stars.
***I still cannot stop thinking about this book. I think I'm going to read it again.
April 22, 2016
This is definitely not Good Times
I didn't realize until I read the afterward that the author of this book put himself right into the middle of the people he portrays lives. He gave them rides to look for houses, he even loaned them small amounts of money at times. He admits that he misses living in the trailer park among them.
This book. I hope more people get it and read it. I've been on a "smart book" kick lately and I've starred them all pretty highly but this one is just amazing. Desmond knocks it out of the ballpark. You can tell he puts his whole heart into telling these stories.
Now the stories..they are real people: You have to keep reminding yourself of that as you read this book because no one is perfect, they all mess up and the writing is so good that you feel like you are just reading a really good work of fiction.
Set in Milwaukee, he tells the stories of families.
Lamar, who has no legs. Takes in all his "boys" from the neighborhood and they work to help him just try and get ahead.
Scott, a nurse from the trailer park. He gets addicted to drugs and ends up homeless because he can't see past the addiction and feels so overwhelmed with all that he would have to do in order to just get clean and hopefully get his nursing license back.
Scott had gotten high with Pam and Ned shortly before they received their eviction notice and had moved in a hurry. Scott figured they had gotten what was coming to them. In his old life, before the fall, he might have been more sympathetic. But he had come to view sympathy as a kind of naïveté, a sentiment voiced from a certain distance by the callow middle classes. "They can be compassionate because it's not their only option," he said of liberals who didn't live in trailer parks.
Vanetta, she is waiting on her court case because she and a friend robbed some women at gunpoint because she needs to support her children.
Sherrena and her husband, landlords in the ghetto. They get frustrated with the people they rent to and sometimes try and help but it's a vicious circle. They feel like the people they try to help just want to take and take. They don't want to have to spend out the money to fix anything in their properties because why bother? It's just going to get destroyed again.
Tobin, runs a shabby run down trailer park. He doesn't have time to listen to excuses. Just give him the money.
Arleen, she had lost her older children to foster care and is struggling to hold on to her remaining two but it seems like the odds are always stacked against this woman. She broke my heart. It seemed like when things would go well for her that it was just a matter of time.
When Jori wanted something most teenagers want, new shoes or a hair product, she would tell him he was selfish or just bad. When Jafaris cried, Arleen sometimes yelled, "Damn, you hardheaded. Dry yo' face up!" or "Stop it, Jafaris, before I beat yo' ass! I'm tired of your bitch ass."
You could only say "I'm sorry, I can't" so many times before you began to feel worthless, edging closer to the breaking point. So you protected yourself, in a reflexive way, by finding ways to say "No, I won't. I cannot help you." So, I will find you unworthy of help.
Larraine, she frustrates the people around her with her inability to manage what little money she does get.
"My aunt Larraine is one of those people who will see some two-hundred-dollar beauty cream that removes her wrinkles and will go and buy it instead of paying her rent."
To Sammy, Pastor Daryl, and others, Larraine was poor because she threw money away. But the reverse was true. Larraine threw money away because she was poor.
This book gives perspective. We need some changes in welfare reform. Don't think it couldn't happen to you either...It made me very appreciative of what I have.
Booksource: Blogging for Books in exchange for review.
Reviews for this book are pretty high and I completely see why. My friend Joanne's is another that found this book amazing.
I didn't realize until I read the afterward that the author of this book put himself right into the middle of the people he portrays lives. He gave them rides to look for houses, he even loaned them small amounts of money at times. He admits that he misses living in the trailer park among them.
This book. I hope more people get it and read it. I've been on a "smart book" kick lately and I've starred them all pretty highly but this one is just amazing. Desmond knocks it out of the ballpark. You can tell he puts his whole heart into telling these stories.
Now the stories..they are real people: You have to keep reminding yourself of that as you read this book because no one is perfect, they all mess up and the writing is so good that you feel like you are just reading a really good work of fiction.
Set in Milwaukee, he tells the stories of families.
Lamar, who has no legs. Takes in all his "boys" from the neighborhood and they work to help him just try and get ahead.
Scott, a nurse from the trailer park. He gets addicted to drugs and ends up homeless because he can't see past the addiction and feels so overwhelmed with all that he would have to do in order to just get clean and hopefully get his nursing license back.
Scott had gotten high with Pam and Ned shortly before they received their eviction notice and had moved in a hurry. Scott figured they had gotten what was coming to them. In his old life, before the fall, he might have been more sympathetic. But he had come to view sympathy as a kind of naïveté, a sentiment voiced from a certain distance by the callow middle classes. "They can be compassionate because it's not their only option," he said of liberals who didn't live in trailer parks.
Vanetta, she is waiting on her court case because she and a friend robbed some women at gunpoint because she needs to support her children.
Sherrena and her husband, landlords in the ghetto. They get frustrated with the people they rent to and sometimes try and help but it's a vicious circle. They feel like the people they try to help just want to take and take. They don't want to have to spend out the money to fix anything in their properties because why bother? It's just going to get destroyed again.
Tobin, runs a shabby run down trailer park. He doesn't have time to listen to excuses. Just give him the money.
Arleen, she had lost her older children to foster care and is struggling to hold on to her remaining two but it seems like the odds are always stacked against this woman. She broke my heart. It seemed like when things would go well for her that it was just a matter of time.
When Jori wanted something most teenagers want, new shoes or a hair product, she would tell him he was selfish or just bad. When Jafaris cried, Arleen sometimes yelled, "Damn, you hardheaded. Dry yo' face up!" or "Stop it, Jafaris, before I beat yo' ass! I'm tired of your bitch ass."
You could only say "I'm sorry, I can't" so many times before you began to feel worthless, edging closer to the breaking point. So you protected yourself, in a reflexive way, by finding ways to say "No, I won't. I cannot help you." So, I will find you unworthy of help.
Larraine, she frustrates the people around her with her inability to manage what little money she does get.
"My aunt Larraine is one of those people who will see some two-hundred-dollar beauty cream that removes her wrinkles and will go and buy it instead of paying her rent."
To Sammy, Pastor Daryl, and others, Larraine was poor because she threw money away. But the reverse was true. Larraine threw money away because she was poor.
This book gives perspective. We need some changes in welfare reform. Don't think it couldn't happen to you either...It made me very appreciative of what I have.
Booksource: Blogging for Books in exchange for review.
Reviews for this book are pretty high and I completely see why. My friend Joanne's is another that found this book amazing.
November 4, 2016
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
This book? This book was . . . .
Per usual when I read a good hardcover, (1) I failed to watch my children play in their baseball games and instead kept my tunnel vision pointed directly at the book and (2) the flagging of the pages happened which made all of the parents around me give me the “that b*&^% be cray” look . . . .
Buuuuuuuuuuuut as also per usual, I’m not really going to quote anything that I post-it noted. After reading Evicted I was left with one reaction . . .
If you really want to provide yourself a justifiable excuse to hate the human race, this is the book for you. Evicted follows the lives of several people living in poverty and trying (or not, as the case may be) to get ahead. From Sharrena – the slumlord, to her tenants Lamar – a man who lost his legs when they froze while he was high, and Arleen – a woman who already lost children to the system, but is trying to hold on to her two youngest, to Tobin – the owner of a trailer park and Lenny – the “property manager” of sorts, to Scott – a former nurse who got addicted to drugs and couldn’t stop the downward spiral, to Larraine – the resident looney tune of the park.
Matthew Desmond immersed himself into the lives of these people – living with them rather than just conducting a few interviews and going back to his comfortable lifestyle. The story he presents is one that reads like a novel rather than non-fiction. Filled with dialogue and experiences rather than statistics it was a truly un-put-down-able read and it allowed me the opportunity to confirm what I’ve known for quite some time now . . .
Every single person in this story was despicable in at least one way, shape or form and made it impossible to ever really feel sorry for them. You want to side with the landlord who is getting screwed over by tenants who don’t pay the rent, but manage to buy dope, smokes and booze – but at the same time you want to kick her ass for charging people to live in uninhabitable conditions (literally, a house she was charging $600+ for was CONDEMNED). You also want to feel for the mother who has $20 left to her name after paying rent – until she opens her mouth and proves she believes she is owed something for doing nothing and takes advantage over and over again of ANY generosity shown to her. You feel for Larraine, because obviously she is in need of some mental health services – until she becomes one of the oldest clichés in the history of the food stamp recipient who spends her entire month’s sum on one lobster and king crab dinner. I could go on and on . . .
The lesson to be learned here is glaringly obvious. The system is broken. It’s been broken since the Five Points were built in the 1800s and it’s not getting any better. Evicted didn’t spend time getting preachy or even offering up more than a couple of suggestions on how to potentially relieve some of the pressure on the impoverished. It just laid everything out there in black and white and that is maybe the most compelling argument of all.
Review copy received from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
This book? This book was . . . .
Per usual when I read a good hardcover, (1) I failed to watch my children play in their baseball games and instead kept my tunnel vision pointed directly at the book and (2) the flagging of the pages happened which made all of the parents around me give me the “that b*&^% be cray” look . . . .
Buuuuuuuuuuuut as also per usual, I’m not really going to quote anything that I post-it noted. After reading Evicted I was left with one reaction . . .
If you really want to provide yourself a justifiable excuse to hate the human race, this is the book for you. Evicted follows the lives of several people living in poverty and trying (or not, as the case may be) to get ahead. From Sharrena – the slumlord, to her tenants Lamar – a man who lost his legs when they froze while he was high, and Arleen – a woman who already lost children to the system, but is trying to hold on to her two youngest, to Tobin – the owner of a trailer park and Lenny – the “property manager” of sorts, to Scott – a former nurse who got addicted to drugs and couldn’t stop the downward spiral, to Larraine – the resident looney tune of the park.
Matthew Desmond immersed himself into the lives of these people – living with them rather than just conducting a few interviews and going back to his comfortable lifestyle. The story he presents is one that reads like a novel rather than non-fiction. Filled with dialogue and experiences rather than statistics it was a truly un-put-down-able read and it allowed me the opportunity to confirm what I’ve known for quite some time now . . .
Every single person in this story was despicable in at least one way, shape or form and made it impossible to ever really feel sorry for them. You want to side with the landlord who is getting screwed over by tenants who don’t pay the rent, but manage to buy dope, smokes and booze – but at the same time you want to kick her ass for charging people to live in uninhabitable conditions (literally, a house she was charging $600+ for was CONDEMNED). You also want to feel for the mother who has $20 left to her name after paying rent – until she opens her mouth and proves she believes she is owed something for doing nothing and takes advantage over and over again of ANY generosity shown to her. You feel for Larraine, because obviously she is in need of some mental health services – until she becomes one of the oldest clichés in the history of the food stamp recipient who spends her entire month’s sum on one lobster and king crab dinner. I could go on and on . . .
The lesson to be learned here is glaringly obvious. The system is broken. It’s been broken since the Five Points were built in the 1800s and it’s not getting any better. Evicted didn’t spend time getting preachy or even offering up more than a couple of suggestions on how to potentially relieve some of the pressure on the impoverished. It just laid everything out there in black and white and that is maybe the most compelling argument of all.
Review copy received from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
February 9, 2017
Wow, this is a powerful look at what it means to be poor in America.
The book follows eight families in the Milwaukee area, all facing eviction problems. Some of the families are white, some are black, some have children. All of them struggled to pay the monthly rent, which seemed ridiculously high for the broken-down places they got.
Matthew Desmond, who is a sociology professor at Harvard, spent time living among the families and following their routines. He also interviewed and followed two landlords. His research and writing took years, and it shows in the quality of his work.
I listened to this book on audio, but I'm glad I had a print copy to refer to because there were dozens of amazing passages I marked. There were things in this book that made me gasp in shock. Several times I swore at the injustice of it all.* In the end, Desmond offers some possible solutions to improve the housing and eviction problems in this country.
Evicted reminded me of two other great books about class and poverty: Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrereich, in which she sees how challenging it is to work and survive on minimum wages; and Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, which follows poor families in a slum in Mumbai. Evicted is a worthy addition to the research on poverty, and I highly recommend it.
*What Made Me Angry
I'm going to rant a little about some of the issues I learned from this book. One part that made me drop the F-bomb because I couldn't believe the insanity of it, was how tenants in the inner city can actually be penalized and evicted if they call 911 "too many times." In this book, a young woman named Crystal hears a neighbor woman being beaten by her boyfriend, and Crystal calls 911. But the Milwaukee Police determine that too many 911 calls have come from Crystal's apartment, and they notify the landlord (in this paragraph I'll call her a slumlord, since she exploited her tenants and did next to nothing to make the urban properties livable). The slumlord tells police she'll evict the tenants, which is eventually what happens. Desmond says this problem happens ALL THE TIME. He says battered women face a devil's bargain: "Keep quiet and face abuse, or call the police and face eviction." What. The. Fuck. Oh! I almost forgot the most enraging part. At one point, the Milwaukee police chief held a news conference to address the high number of women who've been killed in domestic violence incidents, and he expresses disbelief at how few of the victims contacted the police department. You've got to be fucking kidding me. Guy, it's your department's own backward policies that are helping to kill those women!
I was also furious about how the slumlords exploited their impoverished tenants, and refused to invest any money in the properties to make them livable. It was deplorable behavior. And the fact that the slumlords claim they're helping the tenants, and trying to do good in the neighborhood, is seriously questionable.
There was also an eye-opening section on the "poverty mentality," and how those who are deeply impoverished aren't necessarily poor because they throw money away, but they throw money away because they are poor. Those in deep poverty lack hope that their situation will ever improve. Their argument is: What's the point of saving a few dollars by denying myself a few luxuries (such as cable TV, or a nice dinner) if I'm always going to be broke, and always struggling to make the rent? They're trying to live "in color" for just a little bit. Of course, it's easy for those of us with a financial safety net and loved ones who could help us in times of trouble to look down on those at the bottom and frown on them. But unless you've been so low that you have no hope for tomorrow, it's difficult to judge those in deep despair.
Great Passages
"Evictions... [embroil] not only landlord and tenants but also kin and friends, lovers and ex-lovers, judges and lawyers, dope suppliers and church elders. Eviction's fallout is severe. Losing a home sends families to shelters, abandoned houses, and the street. It invites depression and illness, compels families to move into degrading housing in dangerous neighborhoods, uproots communities, and harms children. Eviction reveals people's vulnerability and desperation, as well as their ingenuity and guts."
"If incarceration had come to define the lives of men from impoverished black neighborhoods, eviction was shaping the lives of women. Poor black men were locked up. Poor black women were locked out."
"It was next to impossible for people to survive deep poverty on their own. If you could not rely on your family, you could reach out to strangers, make disposable ties. But it was a lot to ask of someone you barely knew."
"There was always something worse than the trailer park, always room to drop lower."
"Substandard housing was a blow to your psychological health: not only because things like dampness, mold, and overcrowding could bring about depression but also because of what living in awful conditions told you about yourself."
"Poverty could pile on; living it often meant steering through gnarled thickets of interconnected misfortunes and trying not to go crazy. There were moments of calm, but life on balance was facing one crisis after another."
"The home is the center of life. It is a refuge from the grind of work, the pressure of school, and the menace of the streets. We say that at home, we can 'be ourselves." Everywhere else, we are someone else. At home, we remove our masks."
"The persistence and brutality of American poverty can be disheartening, leaving us cynical about solutions. But ... a good home can serve as the sturdiest of footholds. When people have a place to live, they become better parents, workers, and citizens."
The book follows eight families in the Milwaukee area, all facing eviction problems. Some of the families are white, some are black, some have children. All of them struggled to pay the monthly rent, which seemed ridiculously high for the broken-down places they got.
Families have watched their incomes stagnate, or even fall, while their housing costs have soared. Today, the majority of poor renting families in America spend over half of their income on housing, and at least one in four dedicates 70 percent to paying the rent and keeping the lights on. Millions of Americans are evicted every year because they can't make rent.
Matthew Desmond, who is a sociology professor at Harvard, spent time living among the families and following their routines. He also interviewed and followed two landlords. His research and writing took years, and it shows in the quality of his work.
I listened to this book on audio, but I'm glad I had a print copy to refer to because there were dozens of amazing passages I marked. There were things in this book that made me gasp in shock. Several times I swore at the injustice of it all.* In the end, Desmond offers some possible solutions to improve the housing and eviction problems in this country.
Evicted reminded me of two other great books about class and poverty: Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrereich, in which she sees how challenging it is to work and survive on minimum wages; and Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, which follows poor families in a slum in Mumbai. Evicted is a worthy addition to the research on poverty, and I highly recommend it.
*What Made Me Angry
I'm going to rant a little about some of the issues I learned from this book. One part that made me drop the F-bomb because I couldn't believe the insanity of it, was how tenants in the inner city can actually be penalized and evicted if they call 911 "too many times." In this book, a young woman named Crystal hears a neighbor woman being beaten by her boyfriend, and Crystal calls 911. But the Milwaukee Police determine that too many 911 calls have come from Crystal's apartment, and they notify the landlord (in this paragraph I'll call her a slumlord, since she exploited her tenants and did next to nothing to make the urban properties livable). The slumlord tells police she'll evict the tenants, which is eventually what happens. Desmond says this problem happens ALL THE TIME. He says battered women face a devil's bargain: "Keep quiet and face abuse, or call the police and face eviction." What. The. Fuck. Oh! I almost forgot the most enraging part. At one point, the Milwaukee police chief held a news conference to address the high number of women who've been killed in domestic violence incidents, and he expresses disbelief at how few of the victims contacted the police department. You've got to be fucking kidding me. Guy, it's your department's own backward policies that are helping to kill those women!
I was also furious about how the slumlords exploited their impoverished tenants, and refused to invest any money in the properties to make them livable. It was deplorable behavior. And the fact that the slumlords claim they're helping the tenants, and trying to do good in the neighborhood, is seriously questionable.
There was also an eye-opening section on the "poverty mentality," and how those who are deeply impoverished aren't necessarily poor because they throw money away, but they throw money away because they are poor. Those in deep poverty lack hope that their situation will ever improve. Their argument is: What's the point of saving a few dollars by denying myself a few luxuries (such as cable TV, or a nice dinner) if I'm always going to be broke, and always struggling to make the rent? They're trying to live "in color" for just a little bit. Of course, it's easy for those of us with a financial safety net and loved ones who could help us in times of trouble to look down on those at the bottom and frown on them. But unless you've been so low that you have no hope for tomorrow, it's difficult to judge those in deep despair.
Great Passages
"Evictions... [embroil] not only landlord and tenants but also kin and friends, lovers and ex-lovers, judges and lawyers, dope suppliers and church elders. Eviction's fallout is severe. Losing a home sends families to shelters, abandoned houses, and the street. It invites depression and illness, compels families to move into degrading housing in dangerous neighborhoods, uproots communities, and harms children. Eviction reveals people's vulnerability and desperation, as well as their ingenuity and guts."
"If incarceration had come to define the lives of men from impoverished black neighborhoods, eviction was shaping the lives of women. Poor black men were locked up. Poor black women were locked out."
"It was next to impossible for people to survive deep poverty on their own. If you could not rely on your family, you could reach out to strangers, make disposable ties. But it was a lot to ask of someone you barely knew."
"There was always something worse than the trailer park, always room to drop lower."
"Substandard housing was a blow to your psychological health: not only because things like dampness, mold, and overcrowding could bring about depression but also because of what living in awful conditions told you about yourself."
"Poverty could pile on; living it often meant steering through gnarled thickets of interconnected misfortunes and trying not to go crazy. There were moments of calm, but life on balance was facing one crisis after another."
"The home is the center of life. It is a refuge from the grind of work, the pressure of school, and the menace of the streets. We say that at home, we can 'be ourselves." Everywhere else, we are someone else. At home, we remove our masks."
"The persistence and brutality of American poverty can be disheartening, leaving us cynical about solutions. But ... a good home can serve as the sturdiest of footholds. When people have a place to live, they become better parents, workers, and citizens."
April 23, 2019
This is what poor looks like in America. It’s not a pretty picture. There’s no question we have a flawed system, and the cycle continues with no way out for those who are caught up in poverty and substandard living conditions. There are no heroes in this book, neither the tenants or the landlords. There are situations that will break your heart, and situations that will infuriate you. It’s easy to judge the poor but unless we’ve walked in their shoes I think we’d do better to try and understand how and why it happens, and what we as a society can and should do to remedy the problem.
The poor that are described in these pages have no safety net, no mentor, and no family support. It is literally impossible for them to escape. No one escapes poverty alone. The system is rigged against them, and, by far, the majority who end up evicted are women and children. They don’t always make wise choices. But, still, even when I was angry or disgusted, I thought…there but for the grace of God...
The author, who is a sociologist, not only did research for this book, he actually lived among them. He didn’t just interview them, he immersed himself in their lives. I didn’t learn this until the epilogue and I wish I had known that beforehand. The epilogue was outstanding.
Highly recommended. It certainly opened my mind - and my heart. And that's why it gets 5 stars. It should be required reading by everyone.
The poor that are described in these pages have no safety net, no mentor, and no family support. It is literally impossible for them to escape. No one escapes poverty alone. The system is rigged against them, and, by far, the majority who end up evicted are women and children. They don’t always make wise choices. But, still, even when I was angry or disgusted, I thought…there but for the grace of God...
The author, who is a sociologist, not only did research for this book, he actually lived among them. He didn’t just interview them, he immersed himself in their lives. I didn’t learn this until the epilogue and I wish I had known that beforehand. The epilogue was outstanding.
Highly recommended. It certainly opened my mind - and my heart. And that's why it gets 5 stars. It should be required reading by everyone.
April 21, 2019
I actually finished this last night, and since then have been trying to figure out how to process my feelings and thoughts about this book. Raised in Chicago I am aware of the housing crisis, remember well both the crime ridden, drug and gang infested, Robert Taylor homes and Cabrini Green. Public housing failures. Although this book is about Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the author states this is a crisis effecting any large, urban city. Following eight families, two landlords we are personally made aware of their struggles, evictions, loss of security, children and day to day poverty. No one can afford to put 80% of their income towards rent.
There are no winners here, this is definitely not a happy little book. These people live sad lives, so sad I can't even imagine. It hurts, hurts that in this country of plenty, so many do without. They are caught in a whirlwind from which they cannot escape. Yes, sometimes I wanted to tell them, stop the drugs, stop having children you cannot afford, take care of what you have even if it is substandard. I'm only human, my feelings, my thoughts are ones that say, never give up! But....as you read, you cannot help but understand, more and more. They try, until they can't anymore. Landlords take their money, fix little, water, heat, not their primary concern. They fix little, knowing their are so many desperate people out there, they will find someone to rent despite what is within.
The author, rightly states, something must be done. His thoughts turn to universal housing vouchers, where the poor would only have to pay up to 35% of their salary, the government picking up the rest.
This way they could move anywhere, not just poor, crime ridden neighborhoods. In a equal world this woukd be perfect, but he does mention that even that idea has defects, as many in better neighborhoods don't want those kind of people as neighbors. You can mandate change, but changing people's biases are much harder. Sociological problems are the hardest to solve. Dr
There are no winners here, this is definitely not a happy little book. These people live sad lives, so sad I can't even imagine. It hurts, hurts that in this country of plenty, so many do without. They are caught in a whirlwind from which they cannot escape. Yes, sometimes I wanted to tell them, stop the drugs, stop having children you cannot afford, take care of what you have even if it is substandard. I'm only human, my feelings, my thoughts are ones that say, never give up! But....as you read, you cannot help but understand, more and more. They try, until they can't anymore. Landlords take their money, fix little, water, heat, not their primary concern. They fix little, knowing their are so many desperate people out there, they will find someone to rent despite what is within.
The author, rightly states, something must be done. His thoughts turn to universal housing vouchers, where the poor would only have to pay up to 35% of their salary, the government picking up the rest.
This way they could move anywhere, not just poor, crime ridden neighborhoods. In a equal world this woukd be perfect, but he does mention that even that idea has defects, as many in better neighborhoods don't want those kind of people as neighbors. You can mandate change, but changing people's biases are much harder. Sociological problems are the hardest to solve. Dr
October 28, 2018
Review: 5* of five
***2018 UPDATE***
My latest blogged review to crest 1,000 views! Yay me!
I voted for this book in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards. Why? Because I'm a radical who wants to re-rig the system and change the course of the Ship of State 180 degrees.
“Every condition exists,” Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote, “simply because someone profits by its existence. This economic exploitation is crystallized in the slum.” Exploitation. Now, there’s a word that has been scrubbed out of the poverty debate.--and there it is, simply and baldly put: The poor are exploited mercilessly by every single sector of capitalist society.
“If poverty persists in America, it is not for lack of resources.”--the author just made, in one short sentence, the only real and relevant case for Universal Basic Income.
***2018 UPDATE***
My latest blogged review to crest 1,000 views! Yay me!
I voted for this book in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards. Why? Because I'm a radical who wants to re-rig the system and change the course of the Ship of State 180 degrees.
“Every condition exists,” Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote, “simply because someone profits by its existence. This economic exploitation is crystallized in the slum.” Exploitation. Now, there’s a word that has been scrubbed out of the poverty debate.--and there it is, simply and baldly put: The poor are exploited mercilessly by every single sector of capitalist society.
“If poverty persists in America, it is not for lack of resources.”--the author just made, in one short sentence, the only real and relevant case for Universal Basic Income.
March 3, 2018
A high 4 stars.
Much has been written about Evicted. There’s not much I can add other than to say everyone should read this book. And not just for the stories of the people the author follows, but for everything at the end about the importance of having an affordable home and the author’s experience of doing the research for the book. It’s a heartbreaking and important book. It brings to life what it means for families and individuals to live in precarious housing situations. He humanize his subjects without romanticizing them.
The audio works well, although it took me a while to keep everyone he refers to straight.
Thanks to all my GR friends who posted enthusiastic reviews.
Much has been written about Evicted. There’s not much I can add other than to say everyone should read this book. And not just for the stories of the people the author follows, but for everything at the end about the importance of having an affordable home and the author’s experience of doing the research for the book. It’s a heartbreaking and important book. It brings to life what it means for families and individuals to live in precarious housing situations. He humanize his subjects without romanticizing them.
The audio works well, although it took me a while to keep everyone he refers to straight.
Thanks to all my GR friends who posted enthusiastic reviews.
February 9, 2018
This book won a number of awards, including a Pulitzer Prize, for uncovering a housing problem in America that appears to disproportionately affect low-income renters and keep them in a cycle of perpetual uncertainty: eviction. A beautifully written and involving set of individual family case studies, this sociological work casts light on a problem that has developed over time and has not been well understood to date.
Desmond is able to involve his readers in the lives of the people he describes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin because he includes many details of their circumstances which we may recognize. The decision-making and determination of these folks to get out of the cycle of eviction they face is not flawed. They work with imperfect tools and face a constantly renewing mountain to climb starting from a new lower low with each instance of rent non-payment and subsequent eviction.
Addiction doesn’t appear to be the most common cause of eviction, at least among the people whose stories Desmond shares with us, though it does figure in the lives of many families he describes. Lending money to addicts is a constant drain on everyone’s scarce resources. Neither does wild over-spending appear to be a common cause of poverty. Desmond will argue that wild overspending on inappropriate items is a result of poverty, not a cause.
Hard as it is for us to admit, exploitation by landlords appears to contribute hugely to reasons low-income tenants cannot be free from the cycle of eviction. The slumlords to whom Desmond introduces us extract outsized profits from very low-end housing without necessary inputs like plumbing, painting, repairs. This leads to families not valuing their abode, children being placed in unsafe conditions, and adds to the burdens of rent-payers.
Recognizing that renting out housing at the low end of the market is not a charity, we must still condemn excessive profit at the client’s expense. What are excessive profits? If these notions are not universally recognized, they need to be challenged in court. Desmond points out that most tenants facing eviction do not show up in court to challenge charges against them or to raise property maintenance issues. These huge, messy problems involve individuals with extenuating circumstances. Sometimes the problems appear circular, and insoluble.
Desmond will argue that housing should be considered a basic human right, like clean drinking water, protection for elders, and universal education. Desmond’s proposal may cause catalepsy among libertarians. Conservatives for small government might agree, however, that we don’t want to live in a country where people are living and/or dying on the streets, unable to free themselves from a cycle of dependence. I think we all can agree with that. The question remains: what is the best way to evict people from poverty?
Desmond suggests a universal voucher for all low-income families in his epilogue, but I won’t repeat his argument here. You need all the pieces to make sense of what he is proposing. It helps to see the scope of the problem by reading the book—no hardship because it is so well written—but you can also just go to the Epilogue. I do want to point to a couple of interesting observations he makes earlier regarding fixes made so far to address poverty and homelessness but which developed unexpected consequences.
People using vouchers are allowed to use those vouchers in any community in states that accept vouchers, which means low-income renters could try to escape the inner city which can be dangerous and unkempt. However, prospective tenants often encounter a reluctance on the part of landlords to rent to families with children, pets, or smoking habits. Renters themselves don’t like the greater adherence to immutable rules that are common in more upscale locations, and the lack of leniency in the case of under-payments.
Currently landlords in low-income housing areas do not want to accept housing vouchers and rent assistance in most of their properties because “they didn’t want to deal with the program's picky inspectors.” There are legal limits to the degradation on a property which accepts government-issued vouchers. This is true everywhere, but those on housing assistance get checked on. This “government interference” some conservatives (and slumlords) decry. So much for the market policing itself.
The option of “working off the rent” is only taken advantage of by male tenants, Desmond found. This option should have appeared more possible for women as well, it seems, but it parallels the phenomenon of exchanging sex for rent which appears to be an exclusively a female option. Desmond did not encounter this among his interviewees.
Among interviewees who were evicted, few felt pity for others in similar circumstances: they often felt “it was their own fault” for unsound choices they’d made and were disinclined to help. This included Christians and church-going neighbors, though examples of times they’d helped in the past were evident. Evicted tenants were reluctant to ask family, or were refused if asked.
This is one problem among many in this country. The world is changing utterly, and fast. We need to fundamentally rethink how we want business and government to run going forward. Looking back nostalgically is the wrong solution, I am convinced.
Perhaps something like an offer for free college but also a requirement for national service could be brainstormed. If we sent youth out to be witnesses in these problem areas, have them suggest & develop solutions, and follow through, e.g., gaining new skills building better housing, repairing old housing stock, using their legal skills attending law court for strapped tenants, I think both sides might get something from the experience. Sociologists, finance, nursing, social welfare, law, teachers...everybody has something to offer those without resources.
One of the most heartbreaking results of this cycle of evictions is its effect on the children. Trying to round up the children for schooling each day when they have been displaced so many times--we know how difficult that would be. Some of the children are watching a parent hauled off for doing something illegal under pressure to round up enough cash to keep themselves housed. Violence explodes suddenly and cannot be controlled. The children need more attention, and protection.
The problems that befall individuals and families are inconceivable to those among us without similar constraints. Religious groups could ramp up their services and showcase their empathy and yet not feel as though they were laboring alone in the wilderness. We can see how that has impacted their outreach in the past.
Does it make any difference if low-income people live among wealthier neighbors? I believe it could allow them to see how others live, what other choices and opportunities are out there, and allow them to get help from neighbors in the normal way we all do. Dilution of the problem—is it coercive if we eliminate “low-income” housing altogether? Anyway, just thinking…
Desmond is able to involve his readers in the lives of the people he describes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin because he includes many details of their circumstances which we may recognize. The decision-making and determination of these folks to get out of the cycle of eviction they face is not flawed. They work with imperfect tools and face a constantly renewing mountain to climb starting from a new lower low with each instance of rent non-payment and subsequent eviction.
Addiction doesn’t appear to be the most common cause of eviction, at least among the people whose stories Desmond shares with us, though it does figure in the lives of many families he describes. Lending money to addicts is a constant drain on everyone’s scarce resources. Neither does wild over-spending appear to be a common cause of poverty. Desmond will argue that wild overspending on inappropriate items is a result of poverty, not a cause.
Hard as it is for us to admit, exploitation by landlords appears to contribute hugely to reasons low-income tenants cannot be free from the cycle of eviction. The slumlords to whom Desmond introduces us extract outsized profits from very low-end housing without necessary inputs like plumbing, painting, repairs. This leads to families not valuing their abode, children being placed in unsafe conditions, and adds to the burdens of rent-payers.
Recognizing that renting out housing at the low end of the market is not a charity, we must still condemn excessive profit at the client’s expense. What are excessive profits? If these notions are not universally recognized, they need to be challenged in court. Desmond points out that most tenants facing eviction do not show up in court to challenge charges against them or to raise property maintenance issues. These huge, messy problems involve individuals with extenuating circumstances. Sometimes the problems appear circular, and insoluble.
Desmond will argue that housing should be considered a basic human right, like clean drinking water, protection for elders, and universal education. Desmond’s proposal may cause catalepsy among libertarians. Conservatives for small government might agree, however, that we don’t want to live in a country where people are living and/or dying on the streets, unable to free themselves from a cycle of dependence. I think we all can agree with that. The question remains: what is the best way to evict people from poverty?
Desmond suggests a universal voucher for all low-income families in his epilogue, but I won’t repeat his argument here. You need all the pieces to make sense of what he is proposing. It helps to see the scope of the problem by reading the book—no hardship because it is so well written—but you can also just go to the Epilogue. I do want to point to a couple of interesting observations he makes earlier regarding fixes made so far to address poverty and homelessness but which developed unexpected consequences.
People using vouchers are allowed to use those vouchers in any community in states that accept vouchers, which means low-income renters could try to escape the inner city which can be dangerous and unkempt. However, prospective tenants often encounter a reluctance on the part of landlords to rent to families with children, pets, or smoking habits. Renters themselves don’t like the greater adherence to immutable rules that are common in more upscale locations, and the lack of leniency in the case of under-payments.
Currently landlords in low-income housing areas do not want to accept housing vouchers and rent assistance in most of their properties because “they didn’t want to deal with the program's picky inspectors.” There are legal limits to the degradation on a property which accepts government-issued vouchers. This is true everywhere, but those on housing assistance get checked on. This “government interference” some conservatives (and slumlords) decry. So much for the market policing itself.
The option of “working off the rent” is only taken advantage of by male tenants, Desmond found. This option should have appeared more possible for women as well, it seems, but it parallels the phenomenon of exchanging sex for rent which appears to be an exclusively a female option. Desmond did not encounter this among his interviewees.
Among interviewees who were evicted, few felt pity for others in similar circumstances: they often felt “it was their own fault” for unsound choices they’d made and were disinclined to help. This included Christians and church-going neighbors, though examples of times they’d helped in the past were evident. Evicted tenants were reluctant to ask family, or were refused if asked.
This is one problem among many in this country. The world is changing utterly, and fast. We need to fundamentally rethink how we want business and government to run going forward. Looking back nostalgically is the wrong solution, I am convinced.
Perhaps something like an offer for free college but also a requirement for national service could be brainstormed. If we sent youth out to be witnesses in these problem areas, have them suggest & develop solutions, and follow through, e.g., gaining new skills building better housing, repairing old housing stock, using their legal skills attending law court for strapped tenants, I think both sides might get something from the experience. Sociologists, finance, nursing, social welfare, law, teachers...everybody has something to offer those without resources.
One of the most heartbreaking results of this cycle of evictions is its effect on the children. Trying to round up the children for schooling each day when they have been displaced so many times--we know how difficult that would be. Some of the children are watching a parent hauled off for doing something illegal under pressure to round up enough cash to keep themselves housed. Violence explodes suddenly and cannot be controlled. The children need more attention, and protection.
The problems that befall individuals and families are inconceivable to those among us without similar constraints. Religious groups could ramp up their services and showcase their empathy and yet not feel as though they were laboring alone in the wilderness. We can see how that has impacted their outreach in the past.
Does it make any difference if low-income people live among wealthier neighbors? I believe it could allow them to see how others live, what other choices and opportunities are out there, and allow them to get help from neighbors in the normal way we all do. Dilution of the problem—is it coercive if we eliminate “low-income” housing altogether? Anyway, just thinking…
June 17, 2017
What. A. Goat. Rodeo.
Super interesting and frustrating and appalling and unbelievable and believable and terrifying and infuriating and heartbreaking and......well, you get the idea.
The first part of this Pulitzer Prize-winning book brings together a handful of characters (landlords and tenants) in a poor Milwaukee neighborhood and tells their stories - what brought them to where they are, what keeps them stuck in poverty, what options (if any) they have. Desmond does a really good job of choosing his characters - there's a good variety of circumstances and personalities that give the stories life and heart. No one is all bad or all wrong, and no one is all good or all right.
The next part of the book, after the stories have been told, is called "Epilogue" and offers facts and statistics about housing and offers some solutions. I'll be honest, this was pretty dry. The next part of the book was fascinating - called "About This Project," the author reveals that he implanted himself in this Milwaukee neighborhood and lived amongst his landlords and tenants for a year to gather their stories and study their plight. Finally, there is 60 pages of footnotes that provide the studies, data and details behind the scenes.
It's a scholarly piece of literature with a big, heavy heart. I don't know how this situation, in reality, can ever be fixed given the current state of US politics. All we do is argue, accuse, rant and point fingers - the collaboration and bipartisan cooperation that would have to occur to implement real solutions in our cities will probably never happen in my lifetime. While we bicker, Rome is burning. Read this and do some deep thinking. Understanding is the first step to real change.
Super interesting and frustrating and appalling and unbelievable and believable and terrifying and infuriating and heartbreaking and......well, you get the idea.
The first part of this Pulitzer Prize-winning book brings together a handful of characters (landlords and tenants) in a poor Milwaukee neighborhood and tells their stories - what brought them to where they are, what keeps them stuck in poverty, what options (if any) they have. Desmond does a really good job of choosing his characters - there's a good variety of circumstances and personalities that give the stories life and heart. No one is all bad or all wrong, and no one is all good or all right.
The next part of the book, after the stories have been told, is called "Epilogue" and offers facts and statistics about housing and offers some solutions. I'll be honest, this was pretty dry. The next part of the book was fascinating - called "About This Project," the author reveals that he implanted himself in this Milwaukee neighborhood and lived amongst his landlords and tenants for a year to gather their stories and study their plight. Finally, there is 60 pages of footnotes that provide the studies, data and details behind the scenes.
It's a scholarly piece of literature with a big, heavy heart. I don't know how this situation, in reality, can ever be fixed given the current state of US politics. All we do is argue, accuse, rant and point fingers - the collaboration and bipartisan cooperation that would have to occur to implement real solutions in our cities will probably never happen in my lifetime. While we bicker, Rome is burning. Read this and do some deep thinking. Understanding is the first step to real change.
February 16, 2020
1.5 stars
Reviewing this book is proving much harder than I expected. Normally when I struggle to figure out why I didn't click with a book, I go to the one and two-star ratings. Especially for a book like this with over 54,000 ratings, it doesn't take long for me to find someone who says something I click with. But that did not help here. So I went to the five star ratings and I read a page full of glowing reviews. But those didn't help either.
This book literally has an average 4.47/5. And I just...could not get into it.
Here is the deal: I feel like I should sing the praises of this book. I feel like I ought to have been super moved by it. I want to join the crowds singing the praises of Matthew Desmond and his exposure of the horrid housing practices of slum lords in inner city Milwaukee. To be part of this...this moral elite.
But as someone who grew up in Milwaukee and whose parents barely kept us above the poverty line, as someone who worked in inner city Milwaukee for a time, as someone who volunteered with high schoolers from homes akin to these in Tennessee, and simply as someone who deals with student housing in Madison (a racket if there ever was one), I could not get into this book.
It occurred to me as I made my way through the author's "solution" in the back of the book that if this was an article submitted to the law journal where I am an articles editor, I would probably recommend against publication. So, in the spirit of the criteria I would use to objectively analyze an argument submitted to my law review, here are my thoughts on the book:
Thesis: the article has a strong and clear thesis that predominates throughout.
Agree.
The subtitle says it all. "Poverty and Profit in the American City." Matthew Desmond blames capitalism--i.e. profit--for tenant turnover rates. Ironically, the narrative nature of this piece often feels like a direct contradiction to this argument. To give him credit, he gives it all. He reveals the good and the bad choices made by the people he highlights. But when reading about their choices, it quickly becomes apparent that how you interpret their behavior will depend on how you view poverty and the problem of generational poverty in America. (Generational poverty being a phrase he would actually probably strongly object to.) How do you react to a person spending food-stamps on lobster and then having nothing left over to eat for the remainder of the month? A conservative leaning reader will view it as wasteful and part and parcel for why the person remains poor. Desmond views it as a way of "fighting back" against a lifetime of poverty. And he says so.
Initially I thought Desmond did a good job giving glimpses of the landlords as well as the tenants and their varied motivations, but it quickly becomes apparent where his loyalties lie. And it isn't with the landlords. The fact that anyone gets rich off real-estate appears to offend him. While I agree that some really shady behavior seems to be going down, he doesn't go there but instead strives for a much more morally righteous tone with capitalism in general. So while I do think his extrapolation of the "data" could get interpreted differently, the author's thesis remains fairly consistent throughout.
Novelty: the article contains original analysis that is convincing and in proportion to the background provided
Neutral.
It depends what you mean by analysis. In his explanation at the back of the book we learn Desmond moved to a trailer park and lived with many of these people. Good for him. But if I was actually writing this as a review for law review, I'd flag the narrative nature of this piece. It makes it readable--there is a reason this book appeals to a wide, non-academic readership--but is not particularly empirical. So any "analysis" he does at the end when he describes the "solution" feels...less than backed up by actual data. Or reason. Or possibly even logic. It comes from a place of moral outrage. And I'm all about moral outrage, but just because he lived in a trailer park does not mean he knows the best solution for poverty in America. Talk about entitlement. You live with people for a period of time and suddenly know how to fix all their problems. But Desmond wants to provide a solution. As a reader, we want a step by step solution to combat the tragedies we just read about. I'd be mad if he did not offer one, to be honest. The thing is, solutions do not come from moral outrage. And they do not come by suggesting we throw more money at the problem. If anything, his stories reveal that programs set up by the government to address homelessness don't do much to actually solve homelessness. Instead, they fund slumlords raising their rent because now there is more money pouring in. So why is more government the solution? I needed more than "countries we consider backwards do this so what is America's problem."
So, yeah, I needed more analysis and less storytelling.
Utility: the article solves an important, currentlegal problem in a nonobvious way and will continue to be important by the time it goes to print.
Neutral.
No matter who you blame for it, homeless is a problem. It doesn't take a book like this to point to the education and job opportunities lost because of a lack of housing. (But trust me, this book will point it out anyway anyway. Because that fact is about the closest this comes to data.) I already laid out above why I feel like his solution is insufficient. But it bears repeating--after 300 some pages telling heart-yanking stories about why the system fails people, Desmond provides a handful of pages that amount to: "We need a universal housing voucher system. Other countries have it. Why not us?"
Y'all, that does not address the problem. Or if it would, Desmond does not give me nearly enough arguments to prove it will. Desmond thinks that if people aren't afraid of getting kicked out of their homes, they will pursue education and keep their jobs and pursue better relationships and make better financial decisions and everything will become kumbaya. It is quite an optimistic opinion for someone who got to return to academia (Harvard no less!) after his stint in a trailer park ended.
But perhaps you think I'm being too negative. After all, I am not offering a solution to homelessness, poverty, and racism all in one go. And this book isn't trying to provide a solution. It is exposing the problem. The details get worked out farther down the line.
Here is my biggest problem with this book's "solution": first it wins over your pity, then it says "we can solve the problem by throwing money at it."
And you what that means? You, the reader, can sit back satisfied because you, the reader, can feel engaged and indignant and cry out for the government to 'do something!' while not actually having to do anything yourself to help these people or address their situation or look beyond the problem. Because we have the problem: greedy landlords. Not drugs, not poor financial decisions, not violence.
No, greedy landlords who use the government to their advantage by having sheriffs engage in evictions. So apparently the decision is to get government more involved. And possibly not have sheriffs carry out evictions.
Soundness: the article addresses counterarguments, provides explanations of prior literature in the area, and generally demonstrates mastery of the subject.
Disagree.
Here is where my academic and legal training particularly kicks in--I was driven crazy by the lack of counterarguments in this book. I thought maybe the parts where the Desmond follows the landlord would make up something of a "counterargument." After all, they're just trying to make a day's wage too. But no, as the book goes on, they increasingly become scapegoats for the inner city ills. And maybe rightly so. But the result is that we don't get alternatives here--alternative solutions or alternative explanations. We simply get one morally charged outrage.
I was particularly struck by how Desmond dismisses an inner city pastor who doesn't help a woman with her rent. I don't have the exact quote but it was something to the effect of, "He preached loving your neighbor until it came to actually doing it." And I'm not saying I would not have handled the situation the same or that I understand it fully. But the fact is, we've seen the woman make poor financial decisions left and right. And then the author wants us to get mad that the pastor won't pour more money into the situation after even calling up her family members and asking them what they think. You're probably noticing a theme but...less moral smugness and more facts would go a long way for my appreciation of this book.
Clarity & Organization: the article uses clear, efficient, and organized writing to convey ideas.
Neutral.
I mean, it is prettily written. It is easy to get engaged, enraged, energized. A lot of the more negative reviews dismiss the "academic" portion at the back after the more narrative beginning, but I certainly preferred the academic portion. Still, overall, he is trying to put a face to poverty and I can give him credit for it. The problem is, poverty is multifaceted and complicated and often generational. It does frequently occur because of mental illness and childhood trauma, as Desmond illustrates with many of his subjects. Much of it is cultural.
And it means no easy solution emerges. But to make a book like this tenable, you have to provide a solution. I don't know how you get around it. And Desmond provides his solution. It is one firmly rooted in his worldview.
Your political viewpoint will likely impact how you read this book. It will tug on your heartstrings. It will give you the moral indignation to cry out for change. But it will not provide you with something workable or sustainable as a solution. And that is where I was left frustrated.
Reviewing this book is proving much harder than I expected. Normally when I struggle to figure out why I didn't click with a book, I go to the one and two-star ratings. Especially for a book like this with over 54,000 ratings, it doesn't take long for me to find someone who says something I click with. But that did not help here. So I went to the five star ratings and I read a page full of glowing reviews. But those didn't help either.
This book literally has an average 4.47/5. And I just...could not get into it.
Here is the deal: I feel like I should sing the praises of this book. I feel like I ought to have been super moved by it. I want to join the crowds singing the praises of Matthew Desmond and his exposure of the horrid housing practices of slum lords in inner city Milwaukee. To be part of this...this moral elite.
But as someone who grew up in Milwaukee and whose parents barely kept us above the poverty line, as someone who worked in inner city Milwaukee for a time, as someone who volunteered with high schoolers from homes akin to these in Tennessee, and simply as someone who deals with student housing in Madison (a racket if there ever was one), I could not get into this book.
It occurred to me as I made my way through the author's "solution" in the back of the book that if this was an article submitted to the law journal where I am an articles editor, I would probably recommend against publication. So, in the spirit of the criteria I would use to objectively analyze an argument submitted to my law review, here are my thoughts on the book:
Thesis: the article has a strong and clear thesis that predominates throughout.
Agree.
The subtitle says it all. "Poverty and Profit in the American City." Matthew Desmond blames capitalism--i.e. profit--for tenant turnover rates. Ironically, the narrative nature of this piece often feels like a direct contradiction to this argument. To give him credit, he gives it all. He reveals the good and the bad choices made by the people he highlights. But when reading about their choices, it quickly becomes apparent that how you interpret their behavior will depend on how you view poverty and the problem of generational poverty in America. (Generational poverty being a phrase he would actually probably strongly object to.) How do you react to a person spending food-stamps on lobster and then having nothing left over to eat for the remainder of the month? A conservative leaning reader will view it as wasteful and part and parcel for why the person remains poor. Desmond views it as a way of "fighting back" against a lifetime of poverty. And he says so.
Initially I thought Desmond did a good job giving glimpses of the landlords as well as the tenants and their varied motivations, but it quickly becomes apparent where his loyalties lie. And it isn't with the landlords. The fact that anyone gets rich off real-estate appears to offend him. While I agree that some really shady behavior seems to be going down, he doesn't go there but instead strives for a much more morally righteous tone with capitalism in general. So while I do think his extrapolation of the "data" could get interpreted differently, the author's thesis remains fairly consistent throughout.
Novelty: the article contains original analysis that is convincing and in proportion to the background provided
Neutral.
It depends what you mean by analysis. In his explanation at the back of the book we learn Desmond moved to a trailer park and lived with many of these people. Good for him. But if I was actually writing this as a review for law review, I'd flag the narrative nature of this piece. It makes it readable--there is a reason this book appeals to a wide, non-academic readership--but is not particularly empirical. So any "analysis" he does at the end when he describes the "solution" feels...less than backed up by actual data. Or reason. Or possibly even logic. It comes from a place of moral outrage. And I'm all about moral outrage, but just because he lived in a trailer park does not mean he knows the best solution for poverty in America. Talk about entitlement. You live with people for a period of time and suddenly know how to fix all their problems. But Desmond wants to provide a solution. As a reader, we want a step by step solution to combat the tragedies we just read about. I'd be mad if he did not offer one, to be honest. The thing is, solutions do not come from moral outrage. And they do not come by suggesting we throw more money at the problem. If anything, his stories reveal that programs set up by the government to address homelessness don't do much to actually solve homelessness. Instead, they fund slumlords raising their rent because now there is more money pouring in. So why is more government the solution? I needed more than "countries we consider backwards do this so what is America's problem."
So, yeah, I needed more analysis and less storytelling.
Utility: the article solves an important, current
Neutral.
No matter who you blame for it, homeless is a problem. It doesn't take a book like this to point to the education and job opportunities lost because of a lack of housing. (But trust me, this book will point it out anyway anyway. Because that fact is about the closest this comes to data.) I already laid out above why I feel like his solution is insufficient. But it bears repeating--after 300 some pages telling heart-yanking stories about why the system fails people, Desmond provides a handful of pages that amount to: "We need a universal housing voucher system. Other countries have it. Why not us?"
Y'all, that does not address the problem. Or if it would, Desmond does not give me nearly enough arguments to prove it will. Desmond thinks that if people aren't afraid of getting kicked out of their homes, they will pursue education and keep their jobs and pursue better relationships and make better financial decisions and everything will become kumbaya. It is quite an optimistic opinion for someone who got to return to academia (Harvard no less!) after his stint in a trailer park ended.
But perhaps you think I'm being too negative. After all, I am not offering a solution to homelessness, poverty, and racism all in one go. And this book isn't trying to provide a solution. It is exposing the problem. The details get worked out farther down the line.
Here is my biggest problem with this book's "solution": first it wins over your pity, then it says "we can solve the problem by throwing money at it."
And you what that means? You, the reader, can sit back satisfied because you, the reader, can feel engaged and indignant and cry out for the government to 'do something!' while not actually having to do anything yourself to help these people or address their situation or look beyond the problem. Because we have the problem: greedy landlords. Not drugs, not poor financial decisions, not violence.
No, greedy landlords who use the government to their advantage by having sheriffs engage in evictions. So apparently the decision is to get government more involved. And possibly not have sheriffs carry out evictions.
Soundness: the article addresses counterarguments, provides explanations of prior literature in the area, and generally demonstrates mastery of the subject.
Disagree.
Here is where my academic and legal training particularly kicks in--I was driven crazy by the lack of counterarguments in this book. I thought maybe the parts where the Desmond follows the landlord would make up something of a "counterargument." After all, they're just trying to make a day's wage too. But no, as the book goes on, they increasingly become scapegoats for the inner city ills. And maybe rightly so. But the result is that we don't get alternatives here--alternative solutions or alternative explanations. We simply get one morally charged outrage.
I was particularly struck by how Desmond dismisses an inner city pastor who doesn't help a woman with her rent. I don't have the exact quote but it was something to the effect of, "He preached loving your neighbor until it came to actually doing it." And I'm not saying I would not have handled the situation the same or that I understand it fully. But the fact is, we've seen the woman make poor financial decisions left and right. And then the author wants us to get mad that the pastor won't pour more money into the situation after even calling up her family members and asking them what they think. You're probably noticing a theme but...less moral smugness and more facts would go a long way for my appreciation of this book.
Clarity & Organization: the article uses clear, efficient, and organized writing to convey ideas.
Neutral.
I mean, it is prettily written. It is easy to get engaged, enraged, energized. A lot of the more negative reviews dismiss the "academic" portion at the back after the more narrative beginning, but I certainly preferred the academic portion. Still, overall, he is trying to put a face to poverty and I can give him credit for it. The problem is, poverty is multifaceted and complicated and often generational. It does frequently occur because of mental illness and childhood trauma, as Desmond illustrates with many of his subjects. Much of it is cultural.
And it means no easy solution emerges. But to make a book like this tenable, you have to provide a solution. I don't know how you get around it. And Desmond provides his solution. It is one firmly rooted in his worldview.
Your political viewpoint will likely impact how you read this book. It will tug on your heartstrings. It will give you the moral indignation to cry out for change. But it will not provide you with something workable or sustainable as a solution. And that is where I was left frustrated.
July 4, 2017
4.5 stars
A fantastic and difficult book that follows eight families in Milwaukee as they struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Evicted shows the challenges these white and black families encounter as they fail to pay their rent, get evicted, and experience countless cruelties along the way. The book recognizes these families' humanity by showing their remarkable resilience and kindness as well as their mistakes. Matthew Desmond ends the book by revealing the vast reporting and research he put into Evicted, as well as by suggesting effective and tangible strategies to combat poverty and income inequality within the United States.
I would recommend this book to everyone. It disturbs me to consider how the events in Evicted could happen to anyone if they had been born into more unfortunate circumstances. It is easy to blame poverty on poor people's "lack of willpower" or their "laziness," but in reality it is our fault and our government's fault for not taking the steps to eradicate the societal factors that contribute to eviction and homelessness. I appreciate Desmond for keeping the spotlight on these families, for documenting how social injustice leads to individual suffering, and for publishing such an important book on an under-discussed topic. Please consider learning more, volunteering, and/or donating by checking out this website Desmond provides himself at the end of Evicted: http://justshelter.org/. I feel glad that this book has received high praise and attention, so that we can lend support and compassion to those we may have once paid no attention.
A fantastic and difficult book that follows eight families in Milwaukee as they struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Evicted shows the challenges these white and black families encounter as they fail to pay their rent, get evicted, and experience countless cruelties along the way. The book recognizes these families' humanity by showing their remarkable resilience and kindness as well as their mistakes. Matthew Desmond ends the book by revealing the vast reporting and research he put into Evicted, as well as by suggesting effective and tangible strategies to combat poverty and income inequality within the United States.
I would recommend this book to everyone. It disturbs me to consider how the events in Evicted could happen to anyone if they had been born into more unfortunate circumstances. It is easy to blame poverty on poor people's "lack of willpower" or their "laziness," but in reality it is our fault and our government's fault for not taking the steps to eradicate the societal factors that contribute to eviction and homelessness. I appreciate Desmond for keeping the spotlight on these families, for documenting how social injustice leads to individual suffering, and for publishing such an important book on an under-discussed topic. Please consider learning more, volunteering, and/or donating by checking out this website Desmond provides himself at the end of Evicted: http://justshelter.org/. I feel glad that this book has received high praise and attention, so that we can lend support and compassion to those we may have once paid no attention.
December 16, 2016
In Evicted, Matthew Desmond shares the experiences of eight families as they try to make ends meet in the most run-down neighborhoods of Milwaukee. And this would be interesting enough, but, amazingly, Desmond ALSO shares the experiences of two landlords who manage some of the properties where these families live. All together, it makes for some engaging, eye-opening, big-picture reading.
You’d think that a 400-page tome about such a weighty and depressing topic would be a tedious and slightly impossible read. But, wow, I couldn’t believe how quickly I tore through this book. Desmond is so good at incorporating dialogue and narrative with facts and statistics, that most of the time I felt like I was reading a novel. It helps, too, that Desmond is never heavy-handed in the way he delivers information. Yes, his point is to shed light on a particular social issue, but I never felt like he was taking sides or forcing his beliefs on me. He really lets the facts speak for themselves.
And, truthfully, I don’t think I had ever stopped to consider, as Desmond puts it, “how deeply housing is implicated in the creation of poverty.” He says, “Not everyone living in a distressed neighborhood is associated with gang members, parole officers, employers, social workers, or pastors. But nearly all of them have a landlord.” That’s a good dang point.
When I finished this book, I knew I had learned a lot about this important issue–but, more important than that, I felt like I had connected to this Big Issue on a very personal level. These stories, these people, will stay with me. I only hope that Desmond eventually includes an update on where the families are now, because I’d love to know.
You’d think that a 400-page tome about such a weighty and depressing topic would be a tedious and slightly impossible read. But, wow, I couldn’t believe how quickly I tore through this book. Desmond is so good at incorporating dialogue and narrative with facts and statistics, that most of the time I felt like I was reading a novel. It helps, too, that Desmond is never heavy-handed in the way he delivers information. Yes, his point is to shed light on a particular social issue, but I never felt like he was taking sides or forcing his beliefs on me. He really lets the facts speak for themselves.
And, truthfully, I don’t think I had ever stopped to consider, as Desmond puts it, “how deeply housing is implicated in the creation of poverty.” He says, “Not everyone living in a distressed neighborhood is associated with gang members, parole officers, employers, social workers, or pastors. But nearly all of them have a landlord.” That’s a good dang point.
When I finished this book, I knew I had learned a lot about this important issue–but, more important than that, I felt like I had connected to this Big Issue on a very personal level. These stories, these people, will stay with me. I only hope that Desmond eventually includes an update on where the families are now, because I’d love to know.
July 21, 2016
This book ought to be required reading for anyone who wants to hold elected office in this country, no matter what level you’re at. It’s immersive sociological reporting at its finest—at the height of the recession, Matthew Desmond moved into some of the poorest sections of Milwaukee and immersed himself in the lives of the people who had little choice but to live there. He tells the stories of the tenants and the landlords in their own voices, with such clarity and precision that it’s almost easy to forget that this is not a novel. This is real life, and it’s an incredibly important work.
The truth is that poverty, homelessness, and the constant threat of eviction are issues that are nearly impossible to understand unless you’ve been there yourself and too many of the people making policies on these topics fail to grasp the realities of poverty. I think particularly of a piece on poverty by Bill O’Reilly—he was trying to point out the ways in which the welfare system is abused by saying that more than 90% of people below the poverty line have refrigerators. And all I could think was even the shittiest apartments I’ve ever seen have come with a refrigerator. Just because someone is renting an apartment with a refrigerator does not mean they bought the refrigerator.. How can you criticize the poor—let alone help them—if you don’t have even the most basic understanding of poverty?
Before I got my MA in English and started working in books, I was actually a psychology major. When I told the internship supervisor at my high school what I was thinking about studying in college, she suggested that I do my internship at a residential homeless shelter nearby. And even though I ultimately decided I didn’t have what it takes to work in a field like that, my semester there was a real eye-opener. The thing that stuck with me the most was how easy it was to become homeless due to even one small setback and how hard it was to climb back out of it and stay out of it for good. A man came to us because a back surgery depleted his bank account and cost him his job. Several women arrived because they left an abusive partner and had nowhere else to turn. Several had lost everything to an addiction they were battling to keep under control. Too many were simply unable to find or hold onto a job for long enough to pay rent--sometimes they were irresponsible, but sometimes they were just unfortunate.
Desmond has filled this book with similar stories. His subjects run the gamut: a nurse who lost everything to an addiction to the opioids he used to battle chronic pain and grief, the no-nonsense manager of a trailer park, a single mother spending as much as 80% of her meager welfare check on rent for an apartment with no functional plumbing, the slumlord who evicts the family a few days before Christmas after one too many second chances, a man with no legs who performs various maintenance duties for his landlord in an attempt to reduce the amount of back rent he owes, a woman who spend every extra penny she manages to scrounge up on luxuries you might deem unnecessary – the proverbial lobster dinner on food stamps.
(Side note: I appreciate that Desmond points out why people in abject poverty will sometimes engage in spending habits that drive outsiders insane, which is also something that I’ve seen many, many, many times in my own life: if you so rarely have an extra $100 lying around that its occasional presence is notable, you don’t expect that you’ll ever be able to save enough to amount to anything so you figure why not spend it on something that it going to make things just a little brighter, even for the length on a lobster dinner? I know that’s a sticking point for so many people who are opposed to public assistance programs. I get why it’s so frustrating—but I also get why people using public assistance do things like that.)
Desmond doesn’t too much time advocating for a particular solution, but his epilogue argues for increasing the reach of housing vouchers and suggests that he’d be in favor of programs like the one that Utah has used in recent years to make drastic reductions in their homeless numbers: Surprise—housing the chronically homeless costs the state less than when they’re on the street. Even bigger surprise—once they have a home, they are more able to focus on solving the problems that contributed to their homelessness in the first place and they’re more likely to get off the public assistance that wasn’t assisting them all that much to begin with.
Anyway, this is a phenomenally well-researched, well-written book that is going to make you angry. You’re going to be angry at the tenants who make bad choices, angry at the landlords who won’t make repairs because they know they can serve eviction papers and someone else will pay for substandard housing, angry at the system that allows these situations to perpetuate. It can sometimes be hard to keep the many stories straight, but Desmond doesn’t bog his reader down with too many numbers (his stats and methodology are included in the extensive notes and the epilogue). For such a big book, it’s an easy read. It’s so highly recommended.
The truth is that poverty, homelessness, and the constant threat of eviction are issues that are nearly impossible to understand unless you’ve been there yourself and too many of the people making policies on these topics fail to grasp the realities of poverty. I think particularly of a piece on poverty by Bill O’Reilly—he was trying to point out the ways in which the welfare system is abused by saying that more than 90% of people below the poverty line have refrigerators. And all I could think was even the shittiest apartments I’ve ever seen have come with a refrigerator. Just because someone is renting an apartment with a refrigerator does not mean they bought the refrigerator.. How can you criticize the poor—let alone help them—if you don’t have even the most basic understanding of poverty?
Before I got my MA in English and started working in books, I was actually a psychology major. When I told the internship supervisor at my high school what I was thinking about studying in college, she suggested that I do my internship at a residential homeless shelter nearby. And even though I ultimately decided I didn’t have what it takes to work in a field like that, my semester there was a real eye-opener. The thing that stuck with me the most was how easy it was to become homeless due to even one small setback and how hard it was to climb back out of it and stay out of it for good. A man came to us because a back surgery depleted his bank account and cost him his job. Several women arrived because they left an abusive partner and had nowhere else to turn. Several had lost everything to an addiction they were battling to keep under control. Too many were simply unable to find or hold onto a job for long enough to pay rent--sometimes they were irresponsible, but sometimes they were just unfortunate.
Desmond has filled this book with similar stories. His subjects run the gamut: a nurse who lost everything to an addiction to the opioids he used to battle chronic pain and grief, the no-nonsense manager of a trailer park, a single mother spending as much as 80% of her meager welfare check on rent for an apartment with no functional plumbing, the slumlord who evicts the family a few days before Christmas after one too many second chances, a man with no legs who performs various maintenance duties for his landlord in an attempt to reduce the amount of back rent he owes, a woman who spend every extra penny she manages to scrounge up on luxuries you might deem unnecessary – the proverbial lobster dinner on food stamps.
(Side note: I appreciate that Desmond points out why people in abject poverty will sometimes engage in spending habits that drive outsiders insane, which is also something that I’ve seen many, many, many times in my own life: if you so rarely have an extra $100 lying around that its occasional presence is notable, you don’t expect that you’ll ever be able to save enough to amount to anything so you figure why not spend it on something that it going to make things just a little brighter, even for the length on a lobster dinner? I know that’s a sticking point for so many people who are opposed to public assistance programs. I get why it’s so frustrating—but I also get why people using public assistance do things like that.)
Desmond doesn’t too much time advocating for a particular solution, but his epilogue argues for increasing the reach of housing vouchers and suggests that he’d be in favor of programs like the one that Utah has used in recent years to make drastic reductions in their homeless numbers: Surprise—housing the chronically homeless costs the state less than when they’re on the street. Even bigger surprise—once they have a home, they are more able to focus on solving the problems that contributed to their homelessness in the first place and they’re more likely to get off the public assistance that wasn’t assisting them all that much to begin with.
Anyway, this is a phenomenally well-researched, well-written book that is going to make you angry. You’re going to be angry at the tenants who make bad choices, angry at the landlords who won’t make repairs because they know they can serve eviction papers and someone else will pay for substandard housing, angry at the system that allows these situations to perpetuate. It can sometimes be hard to keep the many stories straight, but Desmond doesn’t bog his reader down with too many numbers (his stats and methodology are included in the extensive notes and the epilogue). For such a big book, it’s an easy read. It’s so highly recommended.
March 8, 2023
This book describes the misery of living at the ragged edge of homelessness. The first 80 percent of the book follows in detail the experiences of eight low-income families (including both black and white) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The final part of the book is a long Epilogue that provides a concluding summary and a description of how the author collected his information and data by living among the subjects he writes about.
The reading experience of exposure to the stories in this book is disturbing. It includes incident after incident where people are facing miserable dilemmas in their efforts to find housing. It was a relief to reach the Epilogue at the end where I knew there weren't going to be additional hard luck stories to read.
Evictions are a growing problem that is creeping up the economic ladder. The 2008 housing crash and subsequent foreclosures turned millions of former homeowners into renters, which kept rents rising even as incomes fell.
The number of low income housing units has not increased to match this demand. Consequently, the only market force preventing rental rates from rising even higher is the ability of renters to pay. The competition for rental space has forced a growing number of low-income households to pay crushing shares of their income for shelter.
Another fact brought out by this book is that eviction isn't just another hardship, but rather a forced entry onto a much harder path with harsh consequences—"a cause, not just a condition, of poverty." In other words, once a renter has an eviction on their records, many landlords will be reluctant to rent to them. Even the government low income rental program—which has long waiting lists—consider past evictions to be a negative mark on their record.
Another sad fact is that the frequency of evictions falls disproportionately on poor women. They are more likely to have dependent children under their care which can lead to problems leading to eviction. Also, police calls due to physical abuse inflicted by boyfriends leads to some evictions because police calls are considered to be a undesirable nuisance.
In the Epilogue the author makes the case for a universal voucher program. Such a voucher program would need to include some sort of rental rate controls, otherwise increased availability of money would simply increase rental rates. But rental rates would need to be sufficient to make construction of affordable units financially viable. The author believes a comprehensive universal voucher program would change the face of poverty in this country.
The following link is to some updating notes on this book from the author:
https://www.goodreads.com/notes/40004...
The reading experience of exposure to the stories in this book is disturbing. It includes incident after incident where people are facing miserable dilemmas in their efforts to find housing. It was a relief to reach the Epilogue at the end where I knew there weren't going to be additional hard luck stories to read.
Evictions are a growing problem that is creeping up the economic ladder. The 2008 housing crash and subsequent foreclosures turned millions of former homeowners into renters, which kept rents rising even as incomes fell.
The number of low income housing units has not increased to match this demand. Consequently, the only market force preventing rental rates from rising even higher is the ability of renters to pay. The competition for rental space has forced a growing number of low-income households to pay crushing shares of their income for shelter.
Another fact brought out by this book is that eviction isn't just another hardship, but rather a forced entry onto a much harder path with harsh consequences—"a cause, not just a condition, of poverty." In other words, once a renter has an eviction on their records, many landlords will be reluctant to rent to them. Even the government low income rental program—which has long waiting lists—consider past evictions to be a negative mark on their record.
Another sad fact is that the frequency of evictions falls disproportionately on poor women. They are more likely to have dependent children under their care which can lead to problems leading to eviction. Also, police calls due to physical abuse inflicted by boyfriends leads to some evictions because police calls are considered to be a undesirable nuisance.
In Milwaukee's poorest black neighborhoods, eviction had become commonplace—especially for women. In those neighborhoods, 1 female renter in 17 was evicted through the court system each year, which was twice as often as men from those neighborhoods and nine times as often as women from the city's poorest white areas. Women from black neighborhoods made up 9 percent of Milwaukee's population and 30 percent of its evicted tenants.Among the individuals interviewed extensively by the author was an entrepreneurial African American woman who is the owner of numerous rental units and is one of the landlords issuing eviction orders. By including the story of a landlord in the book the author has included the other side of the story. Landlords need to maximize the amount of income from their rental units in order pay their bank loans. But one of the points of the book is that there is plenty of money to be made in renting to impoverished tenants. Maintenance and upkeep doesn't cost much because poor people can't complain for fear of eviction.
If incarceration had come to define the lives of men from impoverished black neighborhoods, eviction was shaping the lives of women. Poor black men were locked up. Poor black women were locked out. [underline emphasis is mine]
Tenants who fell behind either had to accept unpleasant, degrading, and sometimes dangerous housing conditions or be evicted.Evictions have negative consequences for whole neighborhoods, including those remaining who have not been evicted. Evictions destabilize neighborhoods. The more people come and go, the less chance there is for cohesion and neighborhoods become less safe. The effects are enduring, as measured by incidents like hunger or lost utilities.
The year after eviction, families experience 20 percent higher levels of material hardships than similar families who were not evicted.The availability of affordable rental units has not kept pace with the rise in demand. In 1970, the US had nearly a million more affordable units than poor households, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Two decades later, the situation had reversed—there were five million more poor households than affordable units.
In the Epilogue the author makes the case for a universal voucher program. Such a voucher program would need to include some sort of rental rate controls, otherwise increased availability of money would simply increase rental rates. But rental rates would need to be sufficient to make construction of affordable units financially viable. The author believes a comprehensive universal voucher program would change the face of poverty in this country.
Evictions would plummet and become rare occurrences. Homelessness would almost disappear. Families would immediately feel the income gains and be able to buy enough food, invest in themselves and their children through schooling or job training, and start modest savings.Regarding the present situation in the United States, the author has the following comment:
No moral code or ethical principle, no piece of scripture or holy teaching, can be summoned to defend what we have allowed our country to become.UPDATE
The following link is to some updating notes on this book from the author:
https://www.goodreads.com/notes/40004...
October 31, 2020
This book that showcases tenants and landlords/landladies and the barriers that exists on all sides. This is a must read for everyone. We (Americans) doom people to permanent poverty and a lower caste simply by not ensuring safe and adequate shelter that is affordable. In this book we see people who have the least being exploited for every penny. We see landlords barely above poverty themselves who are regulated in ways that make them have to evict people or face penalties and/or undesirable scrutiny. Buildings are not maintained, property values fall, the amount of low cost housing decreases and people are paying large rents for housing that is substandard. Long story short, America has to do better in providing shelter for the poor. Yes, there will always be greedy landlords and poor people unwilling or unable to do a minimum. But there is a gigantic gap in between of people trying and obstructed by environment, conditions, regulations, etc. There has to be a better way. No easy answers here, but can we stop pretending that poverty is the result of bad life choices and that unsafe or lack of low income housing is because property owners are monolithically greedy and evil. We are a capitalist society. As with all things, it's not either/or, there is always nuance. And despite Herculean efforts to deny it, nuance is where the vast majority of us live. There are a lot of very good reviews of this excellent, enlightening and heartbreaking book. Stop reading this one and go find those. Better yet, find the book and read it!!!
5 Stars
Listened to the audio book. This was expertly narrated by Dion Graham
5 Stars
Listened to the audio book. This was expertly narrated by Dion Graham
April 18, 2017
This author is coming to my institution on Wednesday so I sped through the reading of this book, making some notes.
I think I'll start by saying how impressed I was by how he did the research, which you don't learn about until the end of the book. He lives in Tobin's trailer park. He lives with Scott. He moves to the north side and acknowledges this weird white buffer he is given. Along the way he develops relationships with people struggling to stay in their housing, with landlords who are participating in typical practices, with social workers and cops and others in the system in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
He uses Milwaukee as an example of a large city that isn't as huge as New York, Chicago, or Detroit, to capture more of the typical experience of someone facing eviction. He tells the story through eight different families. The people and situations are complicated, and they are further complicated with each eviction.
(It's too big to write about right now, so I'll dump these facts and quotes here for a bit)
"Three in four families who qualified for assistance received nothing." (59)
"Eviction had a way of causing not one move but two: a forced move into degrading and sometimes dangerous housing and an intentional move out of it." (69)
"A single eviction could destabilize multiple city blocks." (71)
"For many landlords, it was cheaper to deal with the expense of eviction than to maintain their properties; it was possible to skimp on maintenance if tenants were perpetually behind; and many poor tenants would be perpetually behind because their rent was too high." (75)
"Screening practices that banned criminality and poverty in the same stroke drew poor families shoulder to shoulder with drug dealers, sex offenders, and other lawbreakers." (89)
70% storage from eviction gets trashed
"It was not enough simply to perceive injustice. Mass resistance was possible only when people believed they had the collective capacity to change things. For poor people, this required identifying with the oppressed, and counting yourself among them - which was something most trailer park residents were absolutely unwilling to do....For more residents, the goal was to leave, not to plant roots and change things. Some residents described themselves as "just passing through," even if they had been passing through nearly all their life...." (181)
The issue of facing eviction simply for calling the police or an ambulance!! ("nuisance citations")
"America is supposed to be a place where you can better yourself, your family, and your community. But this is only possible if you have as table home." (294)
Residential stability - > emotional stability
I think I'll start by saying how impressed I was by how he did the research, which you don't learn about until the end of the book. He lives in Tobin's trailer park. He lives with Scott. He moves to the north side and acknowledges this weird white buffer he is given. Along the way he develops relationships with people struggling to stay in their housing, with landlords who are participating in typical practices, with social workers and cops and others in the system in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
He uses Milwaukee as an example of a large city that isn't as huge as New York, Chicago, or Detroit, to capture more of the typical experience of someone facing eviction. He tells the story through eight different families. The people and situations are complicated, and they are further complicated with each eviction.
(It's too big to write about right now, so I'll dump these facts and quotes here for a bit)
"Three in four families who qualified for assistance received nothing." (59)
"Eviction had a way of causing not one move but two: a forced move into degrading and sometimes dangerous housing and an intentional move out of it." (69)
"A single eviction could destabilize multiple city blocks." (71)
"For many landlords, it was cheaper to deal with the expense of eviction than to maintain their properties; it was possible to skimp on maintenance if tenants were perpetually behind; and many poor tenants would be perpetually behind because their rent was too high." (75)
"Screening practices that banned criminality and poverty in the same stroke drew poor families shoulder to shoulder with drug dealers, sex offenders, and other lawbreakers." (89)
70% storage from eviction gets trashed
"It was not enough simply to perceive injustice. Mass resistance was possible only when people believed they had the collective capacity to change things. For poor people, this required identifying with the oppressed, and counting yourself among them - which was something most trailer park residents were absolutely unwilling to do....For more residents, the goal was to leave, not to plant roots and change things. Some residents described themselves as "just passing through," even if they had been passing through nearly all their life...." (181)
The issue of facing eviction simply for calling the police or an ambulance!! ("nuisance citations")
"America is supposed to be a place where you can better yourself, your family, and your community. But this is only possible if you have as table home." (294)
Residential stability - > emotional stability
May 10, 2016
The content of this book was not the problem for me - as expected, it was emotionally heavy and difficult to process sometimes. The author did a fantastic job of making both the evicters and the evictees easy to sympathize with.
My problem was the formatting. There was so much bouncing around between different peoples' stories and no sense of time during any of it that it just got a little confusing for me. I couldn't remember which story behind to which tenant and who had which children. The timeline was just difficult to follow with the format.
My problem was the formatting. There was so much bouncing around between different peoples' stories and no sense of time during any of it that it just got a little confusing for me. I couldn't remember which story behind to which tenant and who had which children. The timeline was just difficult to follow with the format.
July 27, 2020
Eviction is a cause, not just a condition, of poverty.
Yesterday, on July 24, the federal moratorium on evictions—protecting about 12 million renters—ended; and many state-level moratoriums will conclude soon as well. Enhanced unemployment benefits, which gave households an extra $600 per month, will terminate this month, too, meaning that families will lose income at just the moment they are vulnerable to eviction. Meanwhile, as the virus rages on, so does massive unemployment. It seems likely, then, that the United States is on the cusp of a huge wave of evictions. Under these circumstances, I thought it was a good time to read this book.
This is an urban ethnography written about the lives of the desperately poor as they struggle to find stable housing. Matthew Desmond lived for months in a trailer park and then in the inner city, following people around, taking notes and photographs, recording conversations, conducting interviews, and carrying out large surveys. In many ethnographies—especially since the postmodern turn—the author has striven to include herself in the narrative, emphasizing the subjectivity of the process. But Desmond has effaced himself from this book, and has instead written a kind of nonfiction novel of eight families undergoing eviction.
The first thing that strikes the reader is that Desmond is an excellent writer. The narration is gripping from the beginning—dramatic, vivid, and even occasionally poetic—meaning that my first reaction was emotional rather than intellectual. Wrenching pity for the people caught up in this cycle of poverty alternated, at times, with light disapproval at seemingly self-destructive behavior, which disappeared into outrage at the landlords profiting from this situation, and then incredulity that such things can be allowed to go on in a supposedly advanced nation. Often, I found it hard to take in, and had to put the book down to take a breath:
[Crystal] had been born prematurely on a spring day in 1990 shortly after her pregnant mother was stabbed eleven times in the back during a robbery—the attack had induced labor. Both mother and daughter survived. It was not the first time Crystal’s mother had been stabbed. For as far back as she could remember, Crystal’s father had beat her mother. He smoked crack and so did her mother and so did her mother’s mother.
But if this book were merely a collection of such stories, it would be little more than poverty voyeurism. This book has quite an important point to make, though, and that is how eviction is not only a consequence of poverty, but one of its major causes.
Any account of housing instability needs to begin with the fact that most people who qualify for housing aid to not get it—3 out of 4 receive no aide whatsoever. This leaves them at the mercy of the private housing market, which has seen steadily rising rents for years, at a time when wages are stagnant. Though it is normally recommended to pay no more than 30% of your wages in rent, the subjects of this book paid far, far more—in some cases, over 90%. This has serious consequences. Most obviously, if you are paying so much of your income in rent, it is impossible to save, and often even to pay basic expenses. What is more, this means that virtually any unforeseen expense—repairs, medical problems, or a funeral—can make a renter fall behind.
Once behind, it is extremely difficult for a renter to catch up. This effectively puts them at the mercy of the landlord. Even if the house is in disrepair and violates safety codes, missing rent means that the renter can be evicted on short notice. As Desmond describes, some landlords are willing to be lax—at least for a time—and cut deals with tenants. But for many who fall behind, the sheriff will soon be knocking on their door, along with a team of movers, giving the tenants a stark choice: to have their things left on the curb, or put into storage (where they need to pay extortionate fees in order to keep it from being trashed). Most evictees do not have housing lined up, and many end up in homeless shelters.
In a market where buyers are desperate and sellers are relatively scarce, there is little incentive for landlords to reduce prices, or even to make basic repairs of their properties. As Desmond explains, it is often more profitable for landlords to evict late-paying tenants and contract new ones than to make their properties livable. The tenants in these pages put up with rats, roaches, broken walls, smashed windows, clogged plumbing, sagging ceilings, to give just a short list. Desmond himself did not have hot water during his stay at the trailer park, despite paying rent on time, repeatedly asking the landlord, and even informing them that he was writing a book about life in a trailer park.
Eviction is not a rare occurrence—there are well over one million per year in the United States—and it is also not merely a private tragedy. Unsurprisingly, evictions concentrate in poor neighborhoods; and when residence in an area is unstable, it makes it an even less desirable place to life. As Jane Jacobs pointed out, neighborhoods are not primarily made safe by patrolling police, but by the constant presence of people on the street, people with a sense of ownership of the neighborhood. Ejecting residents obviously erodes this possibility—and not only in the area where people are evicted from, but also in the areas they unwillingly move to—which makes the city generally less safe.
Eviction is also not colorblind. Just as black men are disproportionately locked up, Desmond found that black women are disproportionately thrown out. And when you consider that having either a conviction or an eviction record can disqualify you from public housing, and can legally be used to screen potential renters by private landlords, you can see that this disadvantage is compounded. The white families in these pages certainly did not have an easy time finding and maintaining housing, but the black families were significantly worse off. Desmond followed one white couple who managed to find a place despite both of them having eviction and felony records, and one of them an outstanding warrant!
It is crucial to remember that housing instability is not merely the byproduct of individuals navigating private markets. The government is not only culpable for being a bystander to suffering citizens, but for propping up this very situation. Just as government force—in the guise of police officers and prisons—has been used to deal with the social fallout of disappearing jobs, so has government force—in the form of eviction courts, sheriffs, movers, public eviction records, and homelessness shelters—been used to deal with the disappearance of affordable housing. Without this government backing, the situation could not exist.
In many cases Desmond documented, government workers actually encouraged landlords to evict their tenants. Since many properties do not meet building codes, virtually any government attention—whether from the police, the fire department, an ambulance, or social services—can motivate a landlord to eject a tenant. What is more, if too many 911 calls come from an address, the property is labeled a ‘nuisance property,’ and landlords are forced by the police to ‘take action’—usually through an eviction. Even victims of domestic abuse are often evicted, one reason that many victims do not contact the police.
If we can agree that this situation is unconscionable, then of course we must do something to change it. But what? One solution is rent control: establish maximum prices that landlords can legally charge. This can have some quite negative unintended consequences, however. For one, if low-income housing ceases to be profitable, then there is no incentive to create more. This leads to shortage. But what about simply giving people more money, such as by raising the minimum wage or a basic income scheme? The problem with this strategy is that rising rents can easily offset income gains.
One fairly easy, short-term solution would be to provide defendants in civil courts with public defenders. Currently, in the United States, only defendants in criminal courts have such a right, though many other nations also provide legal counsel in civil cases. At the moment, most people do not even show up for their eviction hearings; the majority who show up do not have a lawyer, and most of them lose the case. Legal counsel can profoundly change the odds of evictees. And it is worth noting that, though hiring lawyers is expensive, cycling people through homelessness shelters is even more so—and this does not even take into account the other forms of economic disruption caused by eviction, such as job loss (quite common when people lose their home).
Another solution, popular in the past, has been to build public housing. This has several obvious problems, too. For one, as happened in NYC, vibrant and affordable neighborhoods were bulldozed to make way for enormous housing projects. What is more, the design of public housing projects was ill-conceived: enormous high-rises with parks in between. By isolating the poor into these buildings—with no shops or other services nearby, and few good communal spaces—the projects became dangerous and dysfunctional.
It is possible that smarter public housing could play an important role in the housing crisis. If apartments are scattered through the city, rather than concentrated, and integrated with shops, restaurants, and other businesses, then it is much less likely that they will become dangerous. An added benefit to cheap public housing is that they exert a downward pressure on the housing market, since private apartments must compete with them. However, the housing shortage is so acute that public housing alone is unlikely to be enough; it would require too much building.
This is why Matthew Desmond advocates housing vouchers. These vouchers basically pick up the tab for renters, covering anything above 30% of their income. However, there is an obvious problem with such a scheme: landlords are incentivized to overcharge for their properties, since the money is guaranteed. Indeed, according to Desmond, this often happens, which leads to a lot of wasted taxpayer money. Clearly, some mechanism is necessary to establish reasonable prices. But the voucher scheme does have the great advantage of scalability: they can be distributed quickly and widely.
Such a program would not be cheap. And in the United States, welfare programs tend to be politically divisive, since in our individualistic culture we prefer to hold the poor responsible for their own poverty. This mindset runs very deep. Desmond even records a preacher who, after giving a sermon about the importance of charity, refused to help a homeless woman so that she could learn her lesson. And certainly many of the people in this book did make bad, self-destructive choices. But as Desmond points out—and as psychological studies have shown—living in poverty actively erodes people’s ability to choose wisely and to think in the long term. Furthermore, many behaviors which seem irrational to middle-class onlookers are actually sensible adaptations to poverty.
The other important point to consider is that those of us lucky enough not to live in poverty are also benefiting from government policies. The federal government subsidizes mortgages—a policy that mainly benefits people with six-figure incomes. The capital gains exception means that homeowners who sell their house do not have to include much of that money in their income, and thus are not taxed. Indeed, the United States loses far more in tax revenue through these kinds of tax breaks than it spends in housing aid for the poor. This fits into a common pattern in American life: that those least in need of help are those most likely to receive it (and vice versa, of course).
As I hope you can see, this is a gripping and important book. The reader comes away with both an intellectual and a visceral understanding of housing insecurity. There are some things that I wish Desmond included—most notably, what economic trends drove this change—but, on balance, I do not think anyone could have written a better book on this topic. Now, as we face the prospect of mass evictions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, perhaps we will summon the political will to do something about the problem.
September 30, 2018
4.5
I don't often read non-fiction and, almost always after making the effort to, I realise I should be making more room for it in my reading diet. Especially for books of the quality of Evicted. This was everything I would hope for and more from a Pulitzer prize winner. A cataclysmic expose of the affordable housing crisis and grinding poverty in the United States.
In the author's own words-
I wanted to try and write a book about poverty that didn't focus exclusively on poor people or poor places. Poverty was a relationship, I thought, involving poor and rich alike. To understand poverty, I needed to understand that relationship. This sent me searching for a process that bound poor and rich people together in mutual dependence and struggle. Eviction was such a process.
I thought he succeeded remarkable well in this goal. Desmond spends an enormous amount of time following both renters and landlords, essentially embedding himself in their lives. The access he gains was surprising to me. He follows them to housing court, AA meetings, homeless shelters, through the mill of multiple evictions and the never-ending search for a place to call home. He witnesses moments of despair and astounding unfairness.
It is easy to despise the Landlords here but I thought this was a very balanced reporting of the struggles of both parties, placing them squarely within a social system that provides the conditions for this inequality to occur. He also leaves the reader with some hope that this is not as an intractable problem as it first seems.
I was unprepared for how emotionally draining this book would be, and this is a testament to how empathetically he writes about these Dickensian-characters. I was surprised how attached I became to these people, willing them to succeed. I didn't want to leave them at the end of the book. A startling achievement for non-fiction.
This book makes it into my top reads of 2018 and it has made an indelible impression on me.
I don't often read non-fiction and, almost always after making the effort to, I realise I should be making more room for it in my reading diet. Especially for books of the quality of Evicted. This was everything I would hope for and more from a Pulitzer prize winner. A cataclysmic expose of the affordable housing crisis and grinding poverty in the United States.
In the author's own words-
I wanted to try and write a book about poverty that didn't focus exclusively on poor people or poor places. Poverty was a relationship, I thought, involving poor and rich alike. To understand poverty, I needed to understand that relationship. This sent me searching for a process that bound poor and rich people together in mutual dependence and struggle. Eviction was such a process.
I thought he succeeded remarkable well in this goal. Desmond spends an enormous amount of time following both renters and landlords, essentially embedding himself in their lives. The access he gains was surprising to me. He follows them to housing court, AA meetings, homeless shelters, through the mill of multiple evictions and the never-ending search for a place to call home. He witnesses moments of despair and astounding unfairness.
It is easy to despise the Landlords here but I thought this was a very balanced reporting of the struggles of both parties, placing them squarely within a social system that provides the conditions for this inequality to occur. He also leaves the reader with some hope that this is not as an intractable problem as it first seems.
I was unprepared for how emotionally draining this book would be, and this is a testament to how empathetically he writes about these Dickensian-characters. I was surprised how attached I became to these people, willing them to succeed. I didn't want to leave them at the end of the book. A startling achievement for non-fiction.
This book makes it into my top reads of 2018 and it has made an indelible impression on me.
Want to read
March 13, 2018I'm not sure I'm going to be able to finish reading this one - it is bloody harrowing. I got about 30 pages in and thought, I can't do this over and over again. If you can read this and still believe that it is okay for the poor to be treated like this, you are devoid of all human feeling.
February 27, 2018
I have been wanting to read this book forever since this book talks about the truth with eviction in Milwaukee, Wissconsin- an area that I visit often: just last weekend...
The author, Matthew Desmond, takes us to some of the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee and shares the stories of eight families. One of the families is Arleen's. She is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Another person story he shares is Scott's. He is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut. All are spending almost everything they have on rent, and all have fallen behind.
These stories are heartbreaking and true... I suggest this book to everyone so they can learn about the unacknowledged problem of evictions and poverty.
The author, Matthew Desmond, takes us to some of the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee and shares the stories of eight families. One of the families is Arleen's. She is a single mother trying to raise her two sons on the $20 a month she has left after paying for their rundown apartment. Another person story he shares is Scott's. He is a gentle nurse consumed by a heroin addiction. Lamar, a man with no legs and a neighborhood full of boys to look after, tries to work his way out of debt. Vanetta participates in a botched stickup after her hours are cut. All are spending almost everything they have on rent, and all have fallen behind.
These stories are heartbreaking and true... I suggest this book to everyone so they can learn about the unacknowledged problem of evictions and poverty.
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