In February, we’re reading Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond for our Book Club.
This Pulitzer Prize-winning work chronicles the struggles of eight families and individuals living in low-cost apartments and trailers in Milwaukee. Desmond analyzes the causes of poverty in the United States and identifies the importance of having a secure home — which connects to Habitat’s mission of ensuring that everyone has access to a safe, affordable, decent home.
Join us on Thursday, Feb. 13, to discuss the book!
11 a.m.-noon in person, ReStore Northeast, 6250 Tutt Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80923. We’ll meet in the conference room (go to the cabinet area in the northwest corner of the showroom and look for the door!). Snacks will be provided, and you are welcome to bring lunch. Add the in-person discussion to your calendar!
7-8 p.m. on Zoom
Meeting ID: 874 3162 2617
Passcode: 331586
Add the Zoom discussion to your calendar!
Regardless of whether or not you plan to join us in person, consider these questions as you read the book!
Personal Connections
Do you rent your home? If not, have you ever rented? What are/were your experiences as a renter?
How much of your income did you spend on rent?
Have you ever faced eviction? Why or why not? What factors outside your control contributed to your stability or instability as a renter?
Reflection Questions
Why has the number of evictions in the United States increased so dramatically?
Of the tenant stories in the book, are there any that particularly resonate with you? Which ones, and why?
Desmond introduces readers to two landlords, Sherrena and Tobin. How did they become involved in owning rental properties? What is your impression of them? Do your thoughts about them change throughout the book, and if so, why and how? What might you do differently — or the same — in their situations?
How do these landlords prey on their tenants? How do they support them?
How do the landlords’ actions — such as failing to keep their properties up to legal standards — impact tenants? What resources do tenants have in these situations?
What role does race play in the rental market in Milwaukee, according to Desmond?
What incentives do landlords have to work with tenants who struggle to pay rent? What incentives do they have to evict such tenants?
What factors does Desmond discuss that explain why poverty and crime are so often linked?
How does the system of high rents and evictions keep people in generational poverty?
Why did Desmond’s research show that women are more likely to be evicted than men?
What role does domestic violence play in eviction? What are the consequences to (primarily women’s) lives?
Why does Desmond say people in deep poverty might appear careless with money to outside observers?
Why is having a stable home so important? (Also check out Habitat for Humanity International’s evidence briefs.)
What solutions does Desmond propose to the affordable housing crisis? What do you think about those solutions?
What’s one thing you learned from this book that particularly surprised you?
What will you do as a result of reading this book?
