Housing evicted: poverty and profit in the American city

Matthew Desmond addresses the intersection between race, class, and gender in Evicted. The case studies Desmond uses take place in Wisconsin, which serves effectively as a microcosm for the United States. While the overarching issues Desmond discusses can be one of the book’s main draws, it is the details in each of the stories that compels readers to take action or learn more about issues like institutionalized poverty, institutionalized racism, the perpetuation of the housing crisis, and systematic economic exploitation. The people Desmond profiles lack the power to stimulate change, and yet through collective action and self-empowerment it becomes possible to foresee policy change or at least normative changes in addressing the needs of the poor.
As the title suggests, Evicted focuses on the causes and ramifications of both legal and quasi-legal evictions that take place with alarming frequency. By conducting field research separately in predominantly white and predominantly black neighborhoods, Desmond also shows how race factors into the causes and effects of poverty and housing insecurity. Housing insecurity affects each person and their family differently, but ultimately does cause tangible problems linked to instability and fear. Discrimination and segregation compound the problems that African American families face. While technically discrimination is illegal, race-based decisions on housing still exist and few have the resources—time, energy, or money—to turn to litigation when their next bed and meal remains an uncertainty. Bias certainly exists, though, as Desmond demonstrates with quantitative data showing that white landlords are more likely to rent to white tenants than black or Hispanic ones, even when other variables are controlled for (346). Race-based segregation also prevents solidarity among the poor—the type of solidarity that could facilitate policy and legislative changes.
All of the individuals Desmond profiles use coping mechanisms to subvert or undermine their condition and status in society. Even when those coping mechanisms do not actually work in bringing about real change or self-empowerment, they do allow for psychological resilience or social networking. Lying is a common coping tactic, used to influence landlords (Desmond 3). Many of the single moms also need to lie to their children in order to protect them from the harsh realities of the world, or to insulate them from fear, anxiety, and pain. A few actually hide their children from landlords, who prefer not to rent to single mothers (Desmond 26). Some people effectively subvert the system in other ways, such as by “stealing electricity (Desmond 66). Tenants can sometimes pay off part of their rent via under-the-table work for landlords, a process that provides landlords with easy access to cheap or free labor while helping the tenant avoid eviction (Desmond 135). Those who have state or federal assistance like food stamps can manipulate or stretch the ways these meager resources are spent.
All of the people need to stretch their meager resources, using the majority of their income to pay their rent while figuring out creative ways to circumvent starvation or unsafe, unsanitary living conditions. Some of the individuals self-medicate with drugs or alcohol, and others suffer grave psychological and physical illnesses due to their circumstances. Many do not cope well, while others seem to have a sense of humor and hope that transcends their suffering. Because of the stressors associated with asking family members or friends for support—and because those traditional means of social support are often unavailable—some of the people turn to strangers and other “disposable ties,” (Desmond 163). Networking with disposable ties prevents the erosion of pride and family ties, but prevents the self-reliance, self-efficacy, and empowerment that would more meaningfully help people in positions in which they may be evicted. Desmond also shows how while the poor often help each other, relying on disposable ties can open up vulnerable members of society to abuse.
Abuse, domestic violence, and other issues are prevalent among the poor because these types of behaviors can be viewed as coping mechanisms. The women profiled in Evicted often hide their experiences with domestic violence because making an official police report would lead to unwanted attention by the landlord and a probable eviction (Desmond 189). Coping strategies reflect gender and race-based social norms, as women are more prone to being evicted, or allowing themselves to remain victims of abuse instead of changing their circumstances due to financial instability and the lack of support systems. Women like Crystal turn to prostitution as a financial coping mechanism and a means by which to achieve a semblance of financial independence (Desmond 268). Many men, on the other hand, act out in ways that lead to criminal charges, and black men in particular are more likely to be branded as criminals rather than address the root causes of criminal behavior. Therefore, the coping mechanisms used to mitigate the deeply damaging problems of systemic poverty are complex and interconnected. Hopelessness and despair are social and psychological precursors to antisocial and violent behaviors: a sense that nothing matters and nothing works.
Some people simply lower their expectations gradually, until they tolerate intolerable living conditions. As living conditions deteriorate, the person also learns from experience that complaining to the landlord leads to potentially disastrous consequences. Getting on the landlord’s bad side could lead to sudden evictions at short notice and the inability to find a future home. Because an eviction can lead to impaired ability to make it to a job on time, housing instability exacerbates an already challenging time finding viable work. Being unskilled or under-educated could be solved with adequate access to pathways of personal improvement and professional development, but these opportunities rarely if ever exist. Not only are the poor considered write-offs, beyond help or unwilling to improve themselves, their status in the society serves a definite purpose. The landlords and property owners capitalize on the poor and the system enforces their rights to do so. Most of the poor lack any effective coping mechanisms, instead succumbing to disillusionment, cynicism, fear, and depression.
Desmond continually demonstrates the ways structural inequalities and public policy compounds poverty, making it nearly impossible for even the most motivated person to extricate themselves from the situation. Housing instability leads to employment instability, which prevents access to opportunities for professional and personal development. Likewise, housing instability causes problems for children in school, leading to underachievement and poor academic performance, which entrenches poverty throughout multiple generations. Hopelessness and despair also permeate the neighborhoods Desmond visits, with few tangible or real means of experiencing any respite. While landlords and property owners certainly have rights to participate in the capitalist economy, when their work becomes exploitative to the degree Desmond demonstrates, policy needs to change in order to reflect the fundamental tenets of human rights and civil liberties. Likewise, social services and social safety needs need to become more robust in the United States, leading to improved quality of life outcomes for all citizens and not just the poor. There will always be persons who abuse the system, but the majority of people prefer pathways to self-empowerment and meaningful work than to suffer the ongoing degradation of victimization and dependency.
The changes that would alleviate the conditions described in Evicted start with normative and value-based changes in American culture. Laws reflect social norms and attitudes. Housing and healthcare in America are not yet viewed as fundamental rights, or as the means by which to ensure rights and freedoms. If Americans adopted a view that recognized the structural variables that lead to perpetual, inter-generational poverty, then it may be more likely to see legislation that prevents systematic exploitation. To promote the pursuit of happiness among all persons, laws need to be in place; laws that allow the disadvantaged to receive help. Relatively small changes can lead to exponential benefits in outcomes. As Desmond points out, changes do need to focus on housing specifically because wage increases are meaningless unless they are accompanied by laws that empower tenants over landlords. Laws also need to prevent exploitation by providing more effective social support networks for low income families. It is not just about providing financial assistance directly, but providing the means by which low income families can enjoy long-term security and access to opportunity.
Desmond proposes a sort of universal voucher program. A universal voucher program is designed to provide families with options and choices, thereby empowering them to make the housing selections that worked for them and their family. As Desmond suggests, a voucher program can be designed to use complex algorithms that help to balance the needs of the economy with the needs of the poor to find a stable housing option within their means (Desmond 308). A voucher program could also help eliminate incentives to exploit the poor, instead building social responsibility and social justice imperatives into property management laws. Having more tenant unions, or access to free legal counsel, would also help empower the poor to receive important safety upgrades and other necessities for living a fruitful life. Making small changes to existing policies, at little to no additional costs but only greater administrative efficiency, would tremendously reduce the systemic causes of poverty.
As Desmond also points out in Evicted, laws and public policy do need to change to reflect human rights and values rather than unbridled capitalism. With a small amount of social assistance, people can make tremendous progress in terms of planning their career paths, saving money, and providing their children with the stability and security they need to do well in school and pursue their own path. Increased community pride and solidarity would also help to reduce unnecessary aggression and violence, preventing victimization and the perpetuation of criminological patterns in poor communities. More dialogue between community members, land owners, and tenants would also help, but raising awareness about the poor is essential. Class-based and race-based discrimination continue to impede communication and discursive practices that would otherwise bring about the changes that benefit all citizens.
In addition to the universal voucher program that Desmond recommends, the problem of housing insecurity can also be addressed in other ways. One would be to promote entrepreneurship and self-empowerment through community-based programs. Individuals can learn about the ways they can improve their lives by becoming community leaders, working in whatever capacity, interests, and strengths they have to ensure that the money they earn goes more into their own pockets rather than towards a livelihood that offers no chance of personal fulfillment or self-actualization. With parents who are more empowered to be leaders in their community, their children will inherit a greater sense of hope for the future, realizing that their work in school will pay off in greater access to opportunities in their own chosen career path.
Finally, judges and law enforcement officers have the discretion to make decisions that benefit the poor rather than continue to stack cards against them. Law enforcement officers, judges, and other stakeholders could take a stand by refusing to blame the poor, or to criminalize one’s inability to pay rent. Additionally, the entire housing system could be redesigned so that low-income housing has much less of a profit motive than it does, and more of a cooperative system that promotes the economic empowerment of residents. Cooperative housing options are in fact one of the many small steps that could be taken to alleviate the problem. Criminal justice reform is a major component of change, offering the means by which legitimate reform and rehabilitation can take place. Persons who work in social services, housing authority organizations, social workers, and educators all have a part to play in the process of advocating on behalf of the poor, and putting into place solutions that will lead to improved quality of life for all Americans. Other means of offering long-term assistance to people with housing insecurity include offering role models that inspire people to take back their power through politics and collective action.
Housing insecurity is not just a consequence of poverty; it can also cause or entrench poverty. When low-income individuals and their families are offered the means by which to restructure their living expenses in ways that allocate more funds towards self-improvement, or the other basic needs like healthy food or the clothes they need to get a better job, they can avoid the degradation and hardship that comes from abject poverty. Changing existing housing policies and programs requires the support of Americans who are otherwise far removed from the systemic issues that Desmond discusses in Evicted. The media has a strong and powerful role to play in presenting poverty differently and portraying the real lives of individuals like those Desmond profiles.
Works Cited
Desmond, Matthew. Evicted. New York: Penguin Random House, 2017.