Eviction has become a special burden for low-income African American women, many of whom live in run-down rental housing and are raising children in single-parent homes. University of Wisconsin sociologist Michael Desmond, quoted in an article in the New York Times, argues, “Just as incarceration has become typical in the lives of poor black men, eviction has become typical in the lives of poor black women.”
In Milwaukee, one tenant in every 25 renter-occupied units is evicted annually. Poor African American women constitute 13 percent of the City’s population but 40 percent of those evicted. The impact of evictions on social connections, school enrollments, and credit ratings should not be underestimated.
To the extent it pays attention to housing issues, the media has of late focused almost exclusively on mortgage foreclosures, and, to be sure, the damage subprime lenders have done to the hopes and dreams of the working class has been huge. However, there is a socioeconomic class trying to carry on without even the assets and income of the working class. We might reflect on its plight when we drive through the center-city and see the humble furniture and other possessions of low-income African American women stacked alongside the curb by landlords who have just finished evicting. But, then, how many of us even drive through the center-city?
Prof Papke,
Interesting post. I would also like to note that while mortgage foreclosures of single family homes has been the focus of media and government policy, this approach has may be to a certain extent a bit misguided. At my work we are looking at foreclosure and lending trends of multifamily housing. We looked at Cook County (Chicago), and found that there are roughly 32,000 rental units that are in some state of foreclosure (somewhere between foreclosure filing and sheriff sale), compared to 38,000 single family homes. Most alarming, residents who have in good faith paid their rent can find themselves subject to eviction on the street (sometime literally) with little notice, due to the foreclosure.
Brian Guyer,
The figures from Chicago regarding the foreclosures on multifamily housing are very interesting. I suspect there are abuses galore involving the tenants in those developments and the methods through which they are evicted, but the tenants’ recourse via constitutional law is very limited. The Supreme Court, in its infinite wisdom, has told us that housing is not a fundamental right in the U.S.
David Papke