Poor renters are often abused by landlords, despite laws in place designed to protect them.

Throughout the book, various families face many challenges as a direct result of their landlord’s actions. Once a tenant is behind on rent or violating any of the rental stipulations, the protections that would normally be afforded to poor renters are suspended. Normally, if a renter reports a safety issue or health risk in their home to the Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS), an inspector would arrive and assess the situation. The inspector would then issue a citation to the landlord and require that the issue be resolved within a few days. This could be bad plumbing, appliance issues, lack of smoke detectors, non-functioning locks, broken windows, etc. By law, landlords cannot retaliate against renters for reporting a property to DNS.

However, evicting a renter that is behind on rent or in violation of their rental agreement is not considered retaliation. Any time a renter falls behind on rent, they can assume that none of their appliances will be fixed, nor their plumbing, doors, or otherwise. With the threat of eviction, once a renter falls behind in rent, their landlord can ignore the status of their unit, leaving them to live in properties that might otherwise be condemned or labeled unfit for habitation. Ignoring repairs and upkeep saves repair money, so landlords are incentivized to maintain the threat of eviction and find ways to make hand-shake deals with renters that keep them behind on rent indefinitely.

Family members with the most resources are the least likely to be contacted when trouble arises.

It might seem counterintuitive, but when people struggle with poverty, especially long-term, grinding poverty, they rarely reach out to family members who are not impoverished. Instead, people will often ask for help from their peers or family members who are in a similar situation. Financially comfortable family members are contacted sparingly, only in times of true desperation or if the rare opportunity arises to truly better one’s life (by moving to a new state, or securing meaningful employment, etc.). In Scott’s case, he only contacts his mother when he believes he will stay sober and needs $150 to get started on methadone.

Family members who are also experiencing poverty, while they often do not have the resources to help, will be more likely to help when they do. Further, contacting them does not expose the asker to the same shame associated with eviction and poverty as asking someone who is not experiencing it. Throughout the book, people secure a temporary place to sleep, a ride, or small amounts of money from people who are also suffering from poverty. In Chapter 12, Arleen refuses to call her Aunt Merva, who is well-off, except in a true emergency.

Substandard housing negatively affects mental health, in addition to physical health.

Living in a home that lacks running water or heat, is full of cockroaches and mold, or lacks smoke detectors will likely cause someone physical harm. Whether due to illness or structural accident, a family will have a difficult time staying healthy. On several occasions, Desmond points out that there are just as many negative effects on a family’s mental health. Evictions themselves are harrowing, causing people to lose possessions, face imminent homelessness, and change neighborhoods or schools. While some people are evicted after missing rent payments due to unemployment, evictions often cause people to lose their jobs as well. When someone is concerned about where they will live and spends many hours of their day seeking a new home (and moving out of the old one), they are often unable to work continuous shifts at their job.  

Substandard housing also creates a stigma. As seen in both the College Mobile Home Park and Sherrena’s units on the North Side, many of the tenants believe that they are where they deserve to be. In Chapter 14, Desmond also describes a certain lack of solidarity among poor families and how when one is evicted, the others believe that it is a sign of the evicted tenant’s personal failure. Further, in the Epilogue, Desmond talks about the lasting effects of material hardship (going without food, heat, enduring illness without medical care, etc.). The instability stops people from investing in their home and neighborhood and prevents the creation of meaningful relationships. Desmond even mentions a letter in the publication Psychiatric Services in 2006, where a group of psychiatrists labeled eviction as a “significant precursor to suicide.”

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