Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, written by Matthew Desmond, a tenured sociology professor at Princeton University, was published in 2016 and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2017. In this influential work, Desmond highlights the interconnected issues of extreme poverty and affordable housing in the United States, themes he continues to explore in his more recent book, Poverty, by America. Through an ethnographic study, he follows the experiences of eight families living in some of Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods during the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath. The book reveals how eviction often acts as a cause of poverty rather than merely a consequence, challenging commonly held assumptions about this dynamic.

Summary

Desmond opens the book by describing two landlords: Sherrena Tarver and Tobin Charney, both of whom own rental properties worth millions of dollars. Tarver, a young Black woman and former elementary school teacher, is the focus of much of the book, while Charney—older, white, and taciturn—plays a lesser role. Both are driven by self-interest and show little empathy for their tenants.

Desmond then introduces a cast of Milwaukee tenants, documenting their experiences of poverty and eviction. Tarver’s North Side tenants are predominantly Black and include Arleen Belle, a single mother perpetually undone by bad luck, and Crystal Mayberry, a volatile young woman with an IQ of 70. There’s also Lamar Richards, a double amputee who does handiwork for Tarver to catch up on his rent, and the Hinkstons, a family of eight crammed into a small duplex.

At Charney’s South Side trailer park, College Mobile Home Park, which is predominantly white, Pam Reinke, Ned Kroll, and their four daughters face eviction, as does Lorraine Warren, a fading beauty in her fifties. Scott Bunker, a former drug addict in his late thirties, is also introduced. Bunker is one of the few people in Desmond’s narrative whose circumstances improve by the end of the book, as he finds a more stable living situation and begins to make positive changes in his life.

Desmond then unpacks the numerous forces working against tenants: exploitative landlords, punitive assistance programs, an unfair legal system, and the police. In addition to using personal stories, Desmond relies on statistical data and historical context to illustrate these forces in action, showing how eviction can both create and consolidate extreme poverty.

In the Epilogue, Desmond outlines what he believes should be done about eviction and its effects. First, he argues that safe and stable housing should be a right, not a privilege. Second, more pro bono legal resources should be available to renters during eviction hearings. Third, the federally funded housing voucher program must be expanded to all poor people. Fourth, rent and rent increases should be price-controlled. In Desmond’s view, the current state of affairs violates American values.

In the final chapter, titled “About this Project,” Desmond explains that the repossession of his parents’ house inspired him to write the book. At the time, he noted the lack of eviction-related studies available, a gap he decided to fill. While acknowledging the disheartening events he witnessed during his research, Desmond also found his faith in the human spirit renewed by the small acts of kindness and charity from those he encountered.