Summary: Part 2, Out: Chapters 12–14

In Chapter 12, “Disposable Ties,” Arleen was close to eviction, so Sherrena brought a potential tenant over for a showing. The new tenant, Crystal Mayberry, decided to take the rental but offered to let Arleen stay until she found a new place. Crystal was 18 and had just aged out of the foster care system. She’d just spent a month staying with a woman she’d met on the bus. She didn’t have many possessions, and Arleen suspected she let them stay on because Arleen had some furniture and a microwave.

These kinds of temporary connections among those in poverty are unlike family ties, Desmond notes, which are longer lasting. They are “disposable ties,” suited to meet the needs of the moment but not go beyond that. They lead to increasing instability.

In Chapter 13, “E-24,” Larraine had moved in with her brother Beaker, and he’d agreed to let her stay if she paid some of the bills. She’d also missed a welfare meeting and lost her food stamps. And she had to pay to have her belongings stored. She struggled to pay all these expenses while also trying to save for a new place.

At the trailer park, a new company, Bieck Management, fired Lenny and Office Susie. The park’s tenants worried that the new management company might be harder on them—less likely to work with them on rent, for example. Bieck put a young, recent college grad in charge, and Tobin took a more active role in the trailer park for a while. He evicted the tenants of unit E-24 but soon had new ones.

In Chapter 14, “High Tolerance,” Scott didn’t fight his eviction; he just looked for a new place to live. Pito, a friend from Narcotics Anonymous, helped him find a new place, and he moved in with Pito’s nephew, just out of prison. Scott still took drugs when he could afford it, seeing the high as a “mini-vacation” from his life. But he also believed drug use was the cause of many evictions. He and many others living in poverty saw evictions as the result of individual mistakes or failings. They did not identify themselves as an oppressed group, which might have led them to bond and push for change. Seeing so much suffering made them less able to see the possibility of making things better. They were apathetic about inequality and more focused on day-to-day problems.

Then Scott lost his job and—after getting drunk and high—called his mom in Iowa. She told him he could always come home. He dismissed the idea.

Analysis: Part 2, Out: Chapters 12–14

These chapters focus on how those in dire poverty must spend their time solving their day-to-day problems, leaving little time or mental energy to make any significant improvement in their lives. Some do this by creating “disposable ties” with strangers and casual acquaintances, made in moments of urgent need. Crystal lives a month with a woman she meets on a bus. Crystal invites Arleen, whom she has just met, to stay on until she finds a place. Some have family they can depend on in a pinch, like Larraine’s brother Beaker. But often these family members are also scraping to get by or have health problems or drug habits that make them less-than-stabilizing influences. These family and friend connections, as well as disposable ties, can provide housing when a person has just been evicted. But they come with their own set of problems, and they don’t meet the longer-term need for true stability.

In addition, evictions create a host of other problems—not only taking away housing. They also impact a person’s ability to collect mail and make it to work or meetings. They often result in other expenses, such as paying for storage or needing to get transportation to government offices to get help. As becomes clear in Scott’s case, they result in or exacerbate mental health and addiction problems. These problems make it less likely that a person will be able to work their way out of housing instability.