“Evicted” by Matthew Desmond

June 1, 2024

Few books left me as intrigued and intuitive as Matthew Desmond’s non-fiction book, “Evicted”, published in 2016. Considering today’s economic climate and the cost of living increase, poverty and affordable living continue to be an increasing topic of discussion. Especially in Toronto, where the housing crisis has reached an epidemic and left many people with fewer options, it has only become more crucial to examine sustainable means of shelter. 

The book examines the lives of both White and Black families and individuals across Milwaukee in 2007-2008, struggling with eviction, affordable housing and poverty. Although several factors lead to poverty, Desmond emphasizes how, “For decades, we've focused mainly on jobs, public assistance, parenting and mass incarceration,” yet have failed to identify stable housing as one of the fundamental causes.

As a sociologist, I appreciated the book's intensive research intertwined with a compassionate lens and proactive approach. The author wrote this book based on his ethnographic studies, where he got to live with the characters and saw their lived realities first-hand. To add, the author not only writes from this experience but from his own experience growing up with marginal means of income. I found this to be significantly important because addressing social issues should not only come from the lens of the sympathizer but also from the empathizer. I also appreciated his approach to observing poverty not as the individual and segregated community but in relation to wealthy people, often regarding these groups without acknowledging their existence in synchronization with the upper class.

While we simultaneously cannot help but be disappointed with some of the character’s poor life choices, we also cannot help but recognize that poverty is cyclical and a continuation of bad luck. For instance, we learn about Pam’s job loss because of her car breaking down and her inability to afford repairs. We also see this continuation of inaccessible resources, such as a lack of internet, phones, vehicles, or education, which further enables the inability to ameliorate economic status. 

However, as a legal enthusiast, what I found most eye-opening was the lived realities of inaccessible legal resources, which additionally divide social classes and inevitably result in further marginalization of poor people. The legal system was never designed to address the needs of the poor. In this case, low-income tenants rarely can afford a lawyer in civil disputes and aren’t entitled to one. On the other hand, landlords usually can afford to retrieve legal counsel, thus guaranteeing a stronger case against their tenants. More so, obtaining a lawyer doesn’t just improve your chances of winning a case but informs you of your legal rights and social resources. A lawyer would also be able to prepare a strong case while removing the burden of time and effort on the client who would otherwise be required to spend many hours preparing a case. These legal disparities, therefore, naturally force low-income tenants to lose hope and assume it’s simply easier to give up and save energy. 

Based on these realities, we cannot claim that the legal system is enforcing just results in the cases between landlords and low-income tenants. In many cases, we hear about nearly unbelievable living conditions, many of which are almost incomparable to what we consider to be “third-world” countries. For example, many tenants were forced to live in homes ridden with cockroaches, a lack of running water, no working toilets, and a lack of doors. One may believe that these living conditions would be illegal to rent, yet it was the living situation of many. 

These housing problems contributed to a community ridden by poverty and low socioeconomic individuals, which were often associated with higher crime rates, lower rates of education, lower employment rates, higher teen pregnancy rates, higher single-parent households, etc. A lack of social and legal resources, such as available legal counsel, rehabs, and safe shelters only burdened these issues. 

When these neighbourhoods are ridden with social problems, they also inflict consequences on the entire community. As a result, we must ask ourselves: How do these problems impact the types of relationships between residents and between residents and their own community? 

The centre of life happens in the home, so when the home is unstable, we also tend to have unstable family dynamics, unstable employment, unstable education, unstable relationships, etc. In the home, “we can be ourselves” and are nurtured and taught. We copy the behaviours from the inside onto the outside world. Thus, when these problems persist, how can we expect people to contribute not only to themselves but to their social environments? 

In a world that often degrades and shuns the poor, it's worth thinking about the proactive measures we can take as a community to ensure the greater good of all. When individuals face unbearable challenges, their talents, abilities, and skills are wasted, and ultimately cause a drift between them and society. Not only do they lose for themselves and their families, but our communities lose contributing members of society. More so, approaching the issue with a compassionate lens is vital as these are often individuals and families met with perpetuating bad luck and a lack of resources or knowledge on how to get out of these vicious cycles. Recognizing them as important and worthy of the same chance as everyone else could ultimately create a difference in one’s future.