Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
by Matthew Desmond
View on GoodreadsPrinceton sociologist Matthew Desmond's Pulitzer-winning ethnography of eviction in Milwaukee — eight families and two landlords, tracked across years — arguing that eviction is a cause of poverty, not just a symptom.
Core ideas
- Housing instability isn't a downstream effect of poverty; it's an upstream driver — eviction destroys jobs, schools, mental health, and the relationships that produce mobility.
- The eviction economy is genuinely profitable for landlords in poor neighborhoods, with margins often better than in wealthier ones — incentives align against tenant stability.
- The policy implication is housing as a basic right (vouchers, right to counsel, eviction-record sealing) — without it, every other antipoverty program is rebuilding on collapsing ground.
Published2016
Pages418
ISBN9780553447439
ReadApr 2023
