If you have someone who is paying 88 percent of her income on rent, and we have laws that allow a landlord to evict a tenant who falls behind under those circumstances, eviction becomes an inevitability.
Matthew DesmondRead
If we continue to tolerate this level of poverty in our cities, and go along with eviction as commonplace in poor neighborhoods, it's not for a lack of resources. It will be a lack of something else.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the moral responsibility society has to address poverty and eviction issues, suggesting that the failure to act is a matter of values rather than resources.
Matthew Desmond emphasizes that the persistent poverty and evictions in urban areas are not due to a shortage of resources but rather a deficiency in moral and ethical commitment to address these social issues. The quote serves as a call to action, urging society to recognize the human cost of inaction and to reconsider the values that guide our responses to poverty and inequality in our communities.
Themes
PovertyEvictionSocial JusticeResourcesMorality
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech addressing urban development, a leader could use this quote to underline the need for sustainable housing solutions.
More from Matthew Desmond
All quotes →Do we believe housing is a right and that affordable housing is part of what it should mean to be an American? I say yes.
Matthew DesmondRead
The texture and hardship of poverty and eviction is something that I think left the deepest impression on me, and I hope that I try to convey a little bit of that to the reader.
Matthew DesmondRead
When I was confronted with just the bare facts of poverty and inequality in America, it always disturbed and confused me.
Matthew DesmondRead
Arguably, the families most at need of housing assistance are systematically denied it because they're stamped with an eviction record. Moms and kids are bearing the brunt of those consequences.
Matthew DesmondRead
Moms that get evicted are depressed and have higher rates of depressive symptoms two years later. That has to affect their interactions with their kids and their sense of happiness. You add all that together, and it's just really obvious to me that eviction is a cause, not just a condition, of poverty.
Matthew DesmondRead
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