Evicted Part 1: Chapters 5–8 Summary & Analysis

Chapter 5: Thirteenth Street

Chapter 5 is named after the location of Arleen’s new unit. She has settled in with her two sons, Jori and Jafaris. The boys’ school is close enough that she can walk there with them. Jafaris has asthma, which requires regular medication and a nebulizer at night. He also has difficulties in school, but Arleen refuses to put him on medication, insisting that he needs more 1-on-1 instruction. Desmond recounts Arleen’s various relationships, resulting in 6 children. Jori and Jafaris are her two youngest. Desmond states that Arleen receives $7,536 a year (as of 2008), an amount which has not increased since 1997, in Milwaukee or most other places. Arleen goes to the Housing Authority and asks about The List, the waiting list for housing assistance. She is told that the list is “frozen” with 3,500 families already on it. Desmond notes that in Washington, D.C., people wait multiple decades for public housing.

Trisha, a young woman who is described as illiterate and fragile, moves into the unit above Arleen. She has been referred to Sherrena by Belinda Hall. Belinda specializes in helping people who are on SSI (through disability) but have difficulty finding housing. Since Belinda pays the rent directly, her clients are Sherrena’s favorites. At the end of the chapter, Sherrena calls Arleen to remind her that she is behind on rent. Arleen spent money on a close friend’s funeral. Unfortunately, Arleen’s welfare income is not enough that she could ever pay extra to pay off her debt over time. Arleen’s most recent welfare check was also reduced, since she missed an appointment with her welfare caseworker.

Chapter 6: Rat Hole

Chapter 6 introduces the Hinkston family. They live in the same building as Lamar. Initially, Doreen lived with her three children, Natasha, C.J., and Ruby in a lower unit while Patrice (Doreen’s eldest daughter) and her three children lived in the unit above. Earlier in the book, when Lamar was served his eviction notice, Patrice was also served one. Patrice decided to move her family in with Doreen, leading to eight people with messy living habits living in a small unit. Now, the sink, bathtub, and toilet have all become clogged. When Doreen asks Sherrena to fix the issues, Sherrena reminds them that they are violating the rental agreement by having Patrice live there.

Desmond points out that it is common for landlords to use unpaid rent or violations of the rental agreement as an excuse to rent properties that are unfit or even dangerous to live in. Doreen knows that if she calls an inspector, she will be served an eviction notice. After paying a plumber $150 to deal with the issues, Doreen tries to deduct the amount from the rent. Sherrena tells her that she will be evicted if she does not pay in full. The chapter ends with Natasha, Doreen’s 19-year-old daughter, finding out that she is pregnant. Natasha becomes increasingly concerned with the living conditions. Doreen tries to reassure her that everything will work out.

Chapter 7: The Sick

Chapter 7 follows Scott and Teddy. Scott lives in the same trailer park as Ned and Pam, who moved in with Scott temporarily at the end of Chapter 4. Ned and Pam moved out, but the eviction notice for Scott and his roommate, Teddy, remained in effect. Scott used to be a nurse but had his license suspended after becoming addicted to pain medication and diverting meds from patients. Teddy was partially paralyzed and needed help throughout the day. The two had met at the Lodge, a homeless shelter, and became friends. Scott found that he could acquire drugs easily in the trailer park, eventually befriending Heroin Susie and Billy, a couple who ran scams or salvaged scrap to buy drugs.

In a short interlude, Tobin, Lenny, and Office Susie attend Milwaukee’s Landlord Training Program. A speaker there stresses the importance of screening financial and criminal records. In an aside, Desmond describes the Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP), where anyone can view a person’s civil or criminal court affairs, including evictions, tickets, child support disputes, etc. During the training program, when someone in the audience asks whether landlords can go, unannounced, into common areas of the units that they manage, the presenter gets all of them to chant, “This is my property!”

The chapter ends with Teddy moving to Tennessee to live with one of his sisters and Scott finding work cleaning out homes that were foreclosed on. While at work, with Teddy gone, other residents raid Scott’s trailer, knowing he will be leaving soon as well. Scott comes home and is relieved that his box of keepsakes from when he was sober and still a nurse was left alone.

Chapter 8: Christmas in Room 400

Chapter 8 returns to Arleen. Sherrena has decided to evict her based on unpaid rent. Sherrena and Arleen attend Milwaukee Small Claims Court on December 23rd. Most tenants (70 percent, according to Desmond) in Milwaukee or other major cities do not attend eviction court. A disproportionate number of the people waiting in Milwaukee’s eviction court are Black women. Black women are only 9 percent of the population, but 30 percent of the people being evicted. When Patrice was evicted, she did not show up to court, because she did not want to miss a work shift.

When Arleen arrives at court, Sherrena takes her aside and shows her a bill from a different unit, over $11,000, for taxes on a property that had been condemned. Sherrena uses it to explain that she too faces economic challenges. Sherrena and Arleen go before the commissioner and Arleen admits that she is behind on rent. She states that she will be out by the first of the year at the latest. Sherrena objects and states that she has people who want to move in on the first and that is the beginning of the rent cycle. The commissioner does her best to reach a compromise. Afterward, Sherrena gives Arleen a ride home and advises her not to become a landlord, because it’s a “bad deal.”

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