Summary: Part 3, After: Chapters 21–23

Chapter 21, “Bigheaded Boy,” explains that Sherrena had her burned house bulldozed, collected the insurance money, and used it to buy two more properties.

In the Hinkston home, Natasha was sorting hand-me-down baby clothes. The toilet and sink still weren’t working right, and dirty dishes piled up, attracting more insects. But Doreen didn’t want to ask Sherrena for anything, because she didn’t think Sherrena would do anything to help. And Doreen didn’t want to pay to fix the issues herself. So things just stayed broken. This state of disrepair and growing filth took a toll on the mental health of the family. Doreen stopped cooking. The children struggled in school. Patrice slept more and more. Then Natasha delivered her baby, Malik Jr.

In Chapter 22, “If They Give Momma the Punishment,” one of Vanetta’s kids pulled a fire alarm in the shelter, and she was kicked out as a result. She went to live temporarily with her sister. Crystal, meanwhile, had found another roommate in Patricia, a woman twice her age whom she began calling “Mom.” This relationship was short-lived, as a disagreement over a cell phone led to Crystal beating Patricia up. Things looked up for a short time, as Crystal and Vanetta finally found a landlord who would rent to them, knowing they knew better than to ask for repairs. It wasn’t too long, however, before Crystal had another violent outburst and was evicted again. She began to rely on sex work to get by yet continued to have faith in God.

Vanetta went to her sentencing hearing for the robbery and was sentenced to state prison.

In Chapter 23, “The Serenity Club,” Scott began going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at the Serenity Club and began to get clean from opioids. He was nearly three weeks sober when he was evicted again. He moved in with friends. He found a little work. He began to plan to get his nursing license back—a process that would involve regular drug testing, five years of sobriety, regular attendance at AA meetings, and thousands of hours. He began taking antidepressants. However, this period of sobriety didn’t last long. He started using heroin, got kicked out of his friends’ house, and finally decided to go to the methadone clinic for help with his heroin addiction. For about a year, he stuck with the methadone treatment. He lived at a men’s shelter and then got a job there. Then, in a stroke of good luck, he obtained housing through a program at the shelter. His new apartment made him feel deserving of a better life, so he returned to his long-term plan to get his nursing license back.

Analysis: Part 3, After: Chapters 21–23

As the book winds down, its various narratives end. What is striking is how much the level of crisis in each family has escalated by this time. There’s been a fire, killing a child, and the tenants living in that house have now been displaced. The mental and physical health of tenants has deteriorated. The Hinkstons aren’t even trying to keep their place clean anymore and have given up asking Sherrena to make repairs, even when the disrepair is egregious. Crystal’s violent outbursts increase, causing serious harm, and she resorts to sex work. Vanetta goes to prison, leaving her children without their mother. Scott relapses into drug addiction, after a brief period of progress.

Each thread of the narrative emphasizes the downward spiral of poverty and eviction’s role in it. The threat of eviction weighs heavily on Doreen, as does her resentment of Sherrena, and both forces stop her from reporting the increasingly awful conditions of the apartment. Vanetta’s continued poverty and record of evictions is one of the factors the judge takes into consideration when he sentences her to prison; he argues that since her situation had not improved since the robbery, she can’t be trusted not to rob again. In effect, her poverty sends her to prison, not only the robbery. Scott’s unstable housing situation puts him in situations where drugs are more available and causes a depressed state of mind that lends itself to addiction. These details clearly articulate how easy it is for people to be caught in the trap of poverty. There are many contributing factors to poverty—some people in poverty struggle with drug addiction or were victims of childhood or domestic abuse—but Desmond argues that eviction’s role in keeping people in poverty is an important piece of the puzzle.

Scott’s story begins to show a glimmer of hope, however, as his life takes a turn for the better once he has a decent apartment. This hints that once free of housing instability and substandard housing, people can better do the work required to turn their lives around.