Evicted Main Ideas

Housing

In Evicted, Desmond presents the argument that stable housing should be considered a right, instead of a commodity. As evidence, he explores the stories of several tenants whose lives are characterized by repeated evictions and a cycle of exploitation by an industry of landlords, movers, and other people who profit from the status quo. Through these stories, he traces the consequences of not having stable, affordable housing on these tenants’ lives.

These consequences were broad and devastating. Many of the tenants were forced to spend most of their monthly income on rent, leaving little to buy food and clothing, pay for utilities, or manage unexpected expenses. This led to health consequences. Larraine, for example, did not always fill her prescription medication because rent needed to be paid. Suicides increased when evictions increased, Desmond also notes.

The financial strain also led to overcrowded homes and filthy living conditions. Many tenants went without proper plumbing, working appliances, or hot water because landlords did not make needed repairs and because utility bills went unpaid. The Hinkstons, for example, slept on bare, worn-out mattresses on the floors of various rooms in an apartment overrun with cockroaches and without working plumbing. The children, consequently, slept poorly and did not perform well in school. Perhaps the most destructive consequence of commodifying housing is the development of systems that perpetuate the problem because, in fact, it is more profitable than fixing the problem. Thus, keeping people in dire poverty becomes a feature of the system, not a bug. 

Poverty and Inequality

The people Desmond features in Evicted are effectively trapped in poverty. In detailing the cycles that keep people in poverty, he stresses that eviction is “a cause and not just a condition of poverty.” One eviction, he points out, is all it takes to be caught in this trap. That one eviction often leads to at least two more moves—one to whatever can be found quickly, often in a dangerous area and in terrible condition, and then (with luck) another to a slightly less terrible situation. Not having a stable address impacts other areas of life. One might miss an important piece of mail, for example, and suffer financial consequences. This happened to Arleen, whose notice about a welfare meeting went to an old address, and so she did not go. Her welfare benefits were reduced as a result.

Eviction also leaves people vulnerable to landlords who exploit their tenants. Not all landlords accept tenants with a history of evictions, and those that do often use past evictions as leverage against their tenants. Landlords may not make needed repairs, for example, knowing that the tenant has few, if any, other options. By including both landlords and their tenants in the narrative, Desmond illustrates the tension between them, as he also highlights the difference in their overall wealth and lifestyles.

Desmond also reveals the connections among racial and gender inequality and evictions. One-third of evicted tenants are Black women, he notes, and Black women are evicted nine times more often than poor white women. Women who report abusive partners are also more likely to be evicted, due to nuisance laws that make it expensive for landlords to house them. Inequities in the law and in its application keep women—and Black women in particular—from rising out of substandard housing situations.

Profit

In Evicted, Desmond sets out to show that poverty is a relationship between the rich and the poor, not just a condition of some people who simply lack money. At the heart of this relationship is society’s prioritization of making profit over all other values. He shows that lenders wanting to make a profit triggered a housing crash, and then landlords whose main motive was profit swept in and bought up the foreclosed properties. He shows that these landlords often cut corners on repairs and maintenance and trap tenants in situations where they are perpetually behind on rent, have few rights, and must tolerate terrible living conditions or risk eviction. This exploitative situation arises because housing is a basic need, and so people will do whatever it takes to have any kind of roof over their heads—even a leaky, rotten roof.

The book also shows how the entrenched cycle of eviction leads to the development of other profitable enterprises. It isn’t just landlords making money. Movers must be hired to move people’s possessions out of homes. Storage companies charge for storing evicted people’s belongings while they go to a shelter. Services that “help” evicted people find new homes and get their financial lives in order also turn a profit. In the end, Desmond says, there is money to be made from exploiting those in poverty. And while there is profit, there is often little will to change.