Matthew Desmond
Eviction is not merely a consequence of poverty but a primary engine driving it. In marginalized American neighborhoods, the basic human need for shelter has been transformed into a highly lucrative, extractive business.
Eviction acts as a fundamental cause of poverty rather than just a symptom, triggering cascading crises like job loss, depression, and severe material hardship.
Landlords operating in highly impoverished areas extract substantial profits by collecting maximum rents while deferring maintenance on dilapidated properties.
The eviction crisis disproportionately devastates Black women and mothers, serving as an economic parallel to the mass incarceration that heavily targets Black men.