# Black Women Face Highest Risk Of Eviction



## larry3344 (Oct 8, 2018)

https://www.colorlines.com/articles/study-women-color-living-poverty-face-highest-risk-eviction
*STUDY: Women of Color Living in Poverty Face Highest Risk of Eviction*
A new report from Eviction Lab explores who is experiencing housing insecurity in the United States.


catherine lizette gonzalez APR 9, 2018 2:13PM EDT





Deputies from the Baltimore City Sheriff's Office walk through the Gilmor Homes delivering eviction notices on April 19, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. 
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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Nearly one million American households received eviction notices in 2016, according to newly released data from a team of Princeton University researchers at Eviction Lab. 

On Saturday (April 7), The New York Times reported on the research, which examines 83 million eviction records that demonstrate widespread housing insecurity in both urban and rural locales around the country. The article spotlights Richmond, Virginia—the city with the second highest eviction rate in the nation—where eviction judgments are far more common in areas where people of color live than they are in predominantly White neighborhoods.

Sociologist Matthew Desmond led a team of researchers to capture millions of court records dating back to 2000. They found 900,000 court-ordered eviction judgments for 2016. “That equates to about an estimated 2.3 million people evicted in that year, many of them children,” Desmond said in an interview with Marketplace. “That’s about 6,300 people a day that are evicted.”

And those numbers only include eviction cases that made it to the courtroom. Per The Times, many renters do not appear in court because they cannot afford an attorney, they see the process as labyrinthine or they feel there is not much to argue when they do not have the funds owed to landlords. In Richmond, the median amount owed was $686.

From the Eviction Lab:

Today, most poor renting families spend at least half of their income on housing costs, with one in four of those families spending over 70 percent of their income just on rent and utilities…. Only one in four families who qualifies for affordable housing programs gets any kind of help. Under those conditions, it has become harder for low-income families to keep up with rent and utility costs, and a growing number are living one misstep or emergency away from eviction.

Per Pew Research Center, Black and Latinx households in the United States are about twice as likely to rent their homes as White households. Researchers noted that poor women of color, domestic violence victims and women with children have a high risk of eviction. In a 2014 study authored by Desmond, Black women with low-incomes were evicted at alarmingly higher rates than other racial groups due to factors such as having children, low wages and landlord-tenant gender dynamics.

Apart from Richmond, cities with the highest eviction rates included North Charleston, South Carolina; Hampton, Virginia; Newport News, Virginia; and Jackson, Mississippi. The research stressed the long-term consequences of court-ordered evictions, including access to affordable housing, since landlords often screen for recent evictions. Evictions can also impact mental health outcomes, especially among mothers living in poverty, studies show. “The evidence strongly indicates that eviction is not just a condition of poverty, it is a cause of it,” Eviction Lab writes on its website.

Learn more about how housing eviction affects millions of people around the United States at Eviction Lab. Find resources for housing assistance and tenants’ rights at Just Shelter.


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## GreenEyedJen (Oct 9, 2018)

This is so sad to me. I live in Hampton, VA. All the properties around here offer no grace period on rent. If it’s not recieved on the 1st, it’s late. They also charge fees even when their own systems are the reason for the error. For example, my SO has our rent on auto-pay. He doesn’t ever look at his statements and relies on me to make sure we’re getting charged correctly. Our property wasn’t taking the money out on time, sent out a statement that their system was down, and then still charged him a late fee! I marched to that rental office so fast...

We’re actually moving to the other side of the James River when our lease is up, and we’re a DINK household. I can only imagine how difficult it can be to keep a roof over your head in this area when there’s only one income and multiple kids.


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## Keen (Oct 9, 2018)

The real problem here is people can't afford housing. Landlords still have to pay the mortgage whether rent is received or not. Yes, most times landlords don't work with tenants, too many bad apples spoiled it for the bunch.


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## dyh080 (Oct 9, 2018)

Unless one is physically or mentally disabled or very aged , there are very few , if any at all, reasons why an adult  U.S. citizen should be living in poverty. I'm not saying one can't be broke or momentarily lacking funds but but actually living in poverty? No excuse for it.


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## Keen (Oct 9, 2018)

dyh080 said:


> Unless one is physically or mentally disabled or very aged , there are very few , if any at all, reasons why an adult  U.S. citizen should be living in poverty. I'm not saying one can't be broke or momentarily lacking funds but but actually living in poverty? No excuse for it.


It's a cycle which is very hard to break. It's about mentality and your environment. I do think there's a lot of talk about telling people to pull themselves up by their bootstrap but not enough resources to help or show them how to do it.


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## dyh080 (Oct 9, 2018)

Keen said:


> It's a cycle which is very hard to break. It's about mentality and your environment. I do think there's a lot of talk about telling people to pull themselves up by their bootstrap but not enough resources to help or show them how to do it.


I agree...mostly. But what I see in my field of work is that the resources initially created for blacks decades ago are now being taken up by others who are referred to as minorities. The reason? A void created by us not fully taking advantage of resources and opportunities available.

And yes, it comes to a point where the adult thing to do IS to be motivated to pull yourself up by the bootstraps. That's what adults DO.

Having babies one can't afford, not staying in school no matter how good or bad it is, engaging in illegal activity and many other bad habits make it more difficult to elevate oneself.


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