Book Review: Evicted by Matthew Desmond
This book was given to all the commissioners of our local housing authority, which is how I came to know about it. Matthew Desmond went under cover, so to speak, moving into the inner city to see housing struggles firsthand. He went to work for a local landlord and followed the stories of his neighbors.
The book takes place in Milwaukee, the stories are incredible. The tenants aren’t following their leases or being at all proactive; the book helps paint a picture of how and why things unravel. The landlords, though, aren’t any better. I would be ashamed to be written in this light. The book reads as a very interesting story, but also made me pause and reflect on the shortcomings of low income housing.
Desmond is a big proponent of expanding the Section 8 housing voucher program, potentially to all low income families, to reduce homelessness, reduce evictions, reduce health care costs, and increase stability for adults and children. People who are being evicted and don’t know where they and their belongings are headed are not effective employees or students. With a universal voucher program would come the inability of landlords to opt out of serving the Section 8 population.
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