Summary: Part 3, After: Chapter 24–About this Project

In Chapter 24, “Can’t Win for Losing,” Arleen managed to get one of the 90 landlords she’d contacted to give her an apartment. Her boys had to switch schools again, but they were used to it. The new apartment was clean, and everything worked. But a series of events derailed her progress to a more stable situation. She had to call 911 for one of Jafaris’s asthma attacks, Jafaris dropped an object out of their apartment window, her food stamps were delayed by the address change, and then Jori got in trouble after kicking his teacher. She lost the apartment and moved in with friends and then with family and then into a series of apartments. She lost her stored belongings when the bill wasn’t paid. She missed appointments at the welfare office when the notices went to an old address, and she lost her welfare. Jafaris and Jori went to live briefly with family. They all dreamed of a better life.

In “Epilogue: Home and Hope,” Desmond argues that home is “the center of life” and “the wellspring of personhood.” He believes that it shapes a person’s identity as well as their way of interacting with the community. He points to Scott’s continued stability and sobriety as a case study of how simply living in a stable home can bring about a wholesale change in a person’s life. He notes that something similar happened when the Hinkstons finally moved to Tennessee: Patrice got her GED (tests of General Education Development) and went on to community college.

Yet, he explains, each year millions of people are evicted from their homes in the United States. Many then fall into poverty’s trap: Ironically, once evicted, they are disqualified from many programs meant to help the unhoused. Desmond also notes that eviction leads to both physical and mental suffering and can lead to suicide. Yet, he suggests, there is a solution, if only people come to believe that having a stable home is fundamental to the unalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Part of the solution includes revamping government housing assistance programs and the eviction system, and part involves protecting tenants from exploitative landlords. He believes one option, among many, is a greatly expanded and more efficient housing voucher system—one that addresses the problems inherent in the current voucher system. An expanded system might bring people out of grinding poverty into a more stable life.

In “About This Project,” Desmond provides a little background on his own life and how he came to begin this work. In college, he began learning about poverty and injustice in America, and at the same time his childhood home was foreclosed on by the bank. He decided to continue to research poverty in America in graduate school, pursuing a PhD at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. His study eventually focused on poverty as a relationship between poor and rich people, not something that operated in a vacuum. He came to believe that eviction was one of the processes that held rich and poor together. As part of his research, he lived in Tobin’s trailer park and in one of Sherrena’s rentals, getting to know his neighbors and their landlords as best he could. He recorded many interactions on a digital recorder so that the dialogue in the book is exactly what was said. He notes that he continued his research by establishing the Milwaukee Area Renters Study, which provided more data on the problem of eviction. He ends by recalling the generosity of those he worked with, saying “Poverty has not prevailed against their deep humanity.”

Analysis: Part 3, After: Chapter 24–About this Project

Chapter 24 continues to follow the stories of the tenants as they spiral downward into increasing crisis and instability. Arleen, whose eviction begins the book, has been in and out of housing throughout the book and is now facing multiple obstacles to a stable life. Her continued troubles are also clearly tied to eviction. She misses appointments because her mail goes to a previous address. Her landlord becomes angry when she calls 911 for Jafaris’s asthma and cautions her against it in the future.

In the epilogue and “About This Project,” Desmond gives a little more information about his own life and research, speaking to his own credibility and authenticity, perhaps to make his argument more persuasive. He also digs into his conclusions about housing, poverty, and eviction. He gives a few more details about the people he features in the book—including that Scott maintained his sobriety and that the Hinkstons also manage to restart after moving to a new place. These positive outcomes support his claim that stable housing leads people to be more stable in other ways—as individuals, as community members, as students, as parents. It also speaks to the resilience of those whose lives have been marred by poverty, since they are often able to gain ground once they have stable housing.

His proposed solution, expanded housing vouchers, is an attempt to address what he says is the true nature of poverty: a relationship between rich and poor. He suggests that a well-regulated and administered housing voucher system would help moderate the relationship between landlords and tenants, to reduce the exploitation that comes to mark their relationship.