Summary Of The Book 'Evicted' By Matthew Desmond

The crippling effects of poverty is one of the main themes explained in “Evicted,” by Matthew Desmond. The author illustrates the poor state of the housing market in Milwaukee. The housing markets state explains how poverty is affecting people and the economic exploitation that was also experienced. “Evicted” explains how private properties were rented to the poor and disadvantaged tenants. A large portion of the poor population are excluded from homeownership and public housing which consequently leads people to rent in the private housing market. Renting in a private housing market, allows landlords to charge more, to then make a profit. Vouchers are intended to help assist people with rental expenses, “In Milwaukee, renters with housing vouchers were charged an average of $55 more each month, compared to unassisted renters who lived in similar apartments in

similar neighborhoods” (Desmond 149).

Tenants being charged a higher rate is also seen in Samiya Bashir’s “Home is Where the Harm is: Inadequate Housing as a Public Health Crisis”. The higher monthly rate is forcing families to neglect other needs, “when families are forced not only to meet, but often exceed, standard spending on housing, other important needs suffer, such as food, health care, and insurance as well as family activities that provide exercise and emotional stability” (Bashir 735).
The higher rates directly correlate to the struggle of trying to make rent. This is explained through Lamar’s story in “Evicted”. Lamar was a disabled veteran who was unable to collect SSI. He was denied and was told that he could still work in his condition. Despite being told he could still work in his condition, he was

then faced with the problem of job scarcity. The Milwaukee job market has historically struggled, “between 1979 and 1983, Milwaukee’s manufacturing sector lost more jobs than during the Great Depression- about 56,000 of them” (Desmond 24). Making rent was also made challenging by the welfare reform that occurred, “When W-2 fully replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children in 1997, it provided two types of monthly stipends: $673 for beneficiaries who worked and $628 for those who didn’t or couldn’t, usually because of a disability” (Desmond 25). There were challenges associated with making rent for the tenants, however, Sherrena Tarver, a Milwaukee landlord was not concerned. Sherrena would be sure to collect rent and could even charge voucher holders above market rate rent since she was the landlord. Sherrena was able to to net roughly $10,000 (p. 152) a month on three dozen inner city units filled with tenants at or below the poverty line. When examining the roles of the individuals in this book, it simply showing the the spectrum of people who are affected by the current system. There is no easy fix for the market. The market is taking advantage of the vulnerable because housing is a necessity. This raises the question of, is housing a basic human right? How can we protect vulnerable populations from the market? How do we reform the current system?