We will discuss Matthew Desmond’s Evicted at our meeting on Wednesday, January 15th at 4:00p.m. in the GAHS library. Please post questions, comments, concerns, criticism, and the like on this blog prior to, during, or after our meeting (before January 22nd if you want extra credit). All questions and responses should indicate an active reading of the text and function to move the conversation forward. (Note: surface-level or obvious questions and responses will not count as participation.)
Those of you unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts may participate in the discussion below by posting a discussion question and offering a detailed response, or by responding to two questions already posted. The note above applies here as well, so heed it!
My question about the book is, why would Sherrena choose to focus on poor tenants if she could most likely get more money by concentrating on tenants with more money. She did mention in the chapter The Hood is Good, how in wealthier cities, rent is higher, while in poorer cities, rent is lower and how the FMR exceeds it’s market rate, so she does gain from it, but is it actually more than what she could get if she rented to richer people? I also get confused on how she explains how she makes her net profit, like vouchers and how she obtains so much money from tenants nearly below poverty. Sherrena also has more problems to deal with in poorer communities, such as not getting total rent, broken appliances, and evicting people. I can see how working in poorer towns can be an advantage; she can gain more money because there are more poor people, so she has more houses to sell.
Sherrena chose to work with poor tenants because she can make a larger profit than renting out to rich people. She would not get more profit if she rented to richer people because then she would have to make sure all the appliances are fixed, make sure the property is in adequate condition, etc. Another issue with renting to well-off families is you cannot charge them prices that are unfair because they have several housing options they can choose from unlike poorer families. Low-income families do not have many options when it comes to housing because some of them may have criminal records or bad credit. Landlords will not rent to them because they are a liability. Sherrena uses this to her advantage because she can charge the tenants however much she wants since they have nowhere else to go. She also can leave her property in sub par condition since the tenants most likely will not report her to the authorities because then they will have to search for a while to find a new place to live. Even though she may face more problems as Angelina said, the amount of profit will outweighs all the issues.
Shrenna focuses more on poorer tenants rather than wealthier tenants. There aren’t many places where poorer people can afford to stay, so Shrenna is guaranteed business with the poor people. If Shrenna were to do business with wealthier people then she isn’t guaranteed business like she would be with the poor people, since they have other options to where they could go. Other landlords don’t want to do business with the poor people because some of them are criminals or struggling with addictions. Although they may have enough money to afford rent for one month, the landlords can’t be sure that they’re going to have enough money to pay rent for the following month. Wealthier people usually results in more money, but not in this case. Wealthy people expect things to be nice, because that’s what their used to. Shrenna would have to put more effort into maintaining things for the wealthy, while poor people are used to working with what they have. She may have to deal with the tenants breaking appliances in search for money, but they’re commonly an easy fix that doesn’t require a lot of money.
Why are there so many evictions and why are they practically contagious? Many people are poor and do not have enough money to pay rent on time. Even if they do pay their rent on time, most of the time it is not the full amount they own. For example, in Tobin Charney’s trailer park, it was one of the places where eviction was practically like a disease of some sort because it was “contagious”. He worked with his tenants. Some of them could not pay off their rent, so he let people work off their rent. Pam and Ned moved from Greenbay to Milwaukee after seeing an ad Tobin had put in the local paper. They lived in the trailer park. Pam and Ned were given an eviction notice. They knew they needed a home so they asked if they could stay with their Scott and Teddy until they got back on their feet. The only problem was that Tobin signed the trailer onily to Teddy and Scott. The eviction notice that Tobin had given to Pam and Ned had now spread to Teddy and Scott. That is a reason why eviction was contagious.
There are so many evictions because the residents are short on money. If they do not pay their rent, the landlord is forced to evict because people paying rent is their livelihood. When people do not pay, they’re basically just staying on the landlord’s property for free. In some parts of the book, some people would purposely break appliances and damage their rooms to try and make the landlord pay for them, as an attempt to get the landlord in trouble, or to try and get out of paying rent. So, the landlord may evict them in that case as well because the residents are trying to make the landlord lose money or lose the property. Eviction is “contagious” because in these areas of poverty, most of the people do not have enough money to pay rent.
The reason there are so many evictions is that they don’t have enough money to pay rent. The reason it seems contagious is because Shrenna focuses on the poor which are more likely to be evicted. It’s not the landowner’s fault. It’s the renters fault for not being able to provide the money needed to continue living in their home. The landowner’s are just trying to do their job, and evicting people is a hardship that comes with it.
These evictions are contagious because tenants are in an endless cycle of poverty. These tenants can’t afford to stay and renters like Sherrena and Tobin can’t afford to give in constantly and let tenants stay who can’t pay for the housing. This isn’t necessarily solely the tenants’ fault for being evicted and thus creating a spiral- evictions used to be rare. It’s the change of morals and integrity of renters that induces this spiral. Renters are greedy and want money- when tenants don’t pay rent on time or call the cops- it costs the renters money and time. So these evictions more than anything are endless cycles of greed- and poverty is just what fuels the cycle. Each and every time a renter evicts a tenant they feed want for money and the greed they feel, the wealth that they crave. Each time they evict a poor mother or disabled person the renters lose a some of the last bits of hope that the renters will ever focus on helping others than the greed that runs through their veins. But you can’t solely put the blame on the renters either. These renters have families to feed, they have bills to pay- they can’t just take hit after hit. This endless spiral is because of the greed and its because of poverty. Together these two cause an environment that holds back future generations from escaping poverty. All because you can’t give a little or you will need someone to give to you.