Christmas In Room 400
In his book Evicted, Matthew Dasmond exposes the pressing dilemma of eviction in America and the miserable consequences many families must cope with as a result of this issue. Desmond offers both sides of the eviction scenario by regarding the struggle of the tenants and the landlords. He shows the situations and backgrounds of each side involved and the consequences they experience during and after the eviction process. In the chapter Christmas in Room 400, Dasmond delves into the court process of eviction cases and the unfortunate statistics attributed the people dealing with these cases. Sherrena has eviction cases to deal with right before Christmas and Dasmond accounts her experience with various tenants while also including general
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information on eviction cases. He says that most tenants are poor and “92 percent of them had missed rent payments” (97). Additionally, most of them were spending all of their household income on rent and many did not have another option for housing set up as a back up plan. In regards to who had to deal with these situations, “3 in 4 people in Milwaukee eviction court were black” and “3 in 4 were women” (97). It became a common situation for many women to experience, and in poor black neighborhoods “1 female renter in 17” was evicted in court. Women were more likely to be evicted then men, and black women were more likely to be evicted then white women. He makes the comparison of these women to black men who are more likely to be incarcerated and says how eviction truly shapes their lives. Dasmond says, “Poor black men were locked up. Poor black women were locked out,” highlighting this racial factor in these issues. Many tenants could not even make their court dates because they had no one to replace their job, take care of their kids, or simply did not care at all and not want to be ashamed in court. If the tenants did not show up three stamps are put on their file as an automatic eviction statement. One of Sherrena’s tenants Patrice expressed this contempt towards the court, as she felt that nothing good would come from arguing with more educated people. She rather focused on maintaining her job instead of dealing with the hopeless conclusions she felt the court could offer. Sherrena as a landlord felt that the “system is flawed” and that the money the tenants owed her along with their damage in the rooms was no where close to met by the court case resolutions (102). She knows the money from the tenants will never reach the amount of the debt they truly owe, and the amount she asks for will “not even scratch the surface” of what she deserves in return (102). She accepts the fact that this situation is hopeless and unfair for her. This allows Desmond to highlight the risk landlords experience in this situation, as they are responsible for the payments missing from their tenants. She even showed Arleen, another one of her tenants, a huge bill of charges and fees that she was in charge of to drive home the fact that they were both in an unpleasant and unfair situation. She knew it was not Arleen’s fault, but also expressed that she had to suffer from this as well. Most tenants even need two court dates for cases: one for the debt and the other for the property. Sherrena’s tenant Arleen was also in court going through her eviction case with her. Sherrena rejected the commissioner’s initial question about working out a deal and avoiding eviction. She explained that Arleen was too behind in debt and had not fulfilled the debt amount with the generous amount of time she gave her. Now that eviction was the conclusion, Sherrena wanted Arleen out by the first so she could offer the space to new tenants who were interested. Arleen’s eviction day was set to a few days after the first so the commissioner told Sherrena she would need to make a deal for Arleen’s voluntary, early leave from the space. Sherrena would have to dismiss the eviction judgment and therefore drop the money judgments of everything she had not been reimbursed for. Sherrena ere expresses again her feelings of this unfair system and gets frustrated that she “loses out on every single” case. She is annoyed that again she would be receiving the worse end of the deal and not gaining the money she was entitled to. While Sherrena understood that this situation was unfair, she also empathized with Arleen who had two children.
She offered her a car ride home and told her that she would never want her and her children to be evicted onto the streets with no home. They had both been overwhelmed with the tiring day and Sherrena was exhausted from the cases, while Arleen was hungry from not eating that day. Sherrena tells Arleen how some landlords are cruel and heartless, yet she hopes to be mostly caring towards her tenants because she knows “this system is screwed” (107). She ends the car ride conversation by warning Arleen to never be a landlord because they always “get the short end of the deal” (107). This story speaks to the existence of inequality in America as there are many issues facing these people in poverty. Many people must face the true hardship of surviving these circumstances and avoiding being evicted to the street, shelters, or worse neighborhoods. Even within this group of poor people, the statistics highlight how some based on gender or race are more likely to suffer from these eviction situations. The cycle unfortunately continues for all the parties involved in the eviction process, and this issue remains an urgent one in our
world.
information on eviction cases. He says that most tenants are poor and “92 percent of them had missed rent payments” (97). Additionally, most of them were spending all of their household income on rent and many did not have another option for housing set up as a back up plan. In regards to who had to deal with these situations, “3 in 4 people in Milwaukee eviction court were black” and “3 in 4 were women” (97). It became a common situation for many women to experience, and in poor black neighborhoods “1 female renter in 17” was evicted in court. Women were more likely to be evicted then men, and black women were more likely to be evicted then white women. He makes the comparison of these women to black men who are more likely to be incarcerated and says how eviction truly shapes their lives. Dasmond says, “Poor black men were locked up. Poor black women were locked out,” highlighting this racial factor in these issues. Many tenants could not even make their court dates because they had no one to replace their job, take care of their kids, or simply did not care at all and not want to be ashamed in court. If the tenants did not show up three stamps are put on their file as an automatic eviction statement. One of Sherrena’s tenants Patrice expressed this contempt towards the court, as she felt that nothing good would come from arguing with more educated people. She rather focused on maintaining her job instead of dealing with the hopeless conclusions she felt the court could offer. Sherrena as a landlord felt that the “system is flawed” and that the money the tenants owed her along with their damage in the rooms was no where close to met by the court case resolutions (102). She knows the money from the tenants will never reach the amount of the debt they truly owe, and the amount she asks for will “not even scratch the surface” of what she deserves in return (102). She accepts the fact that this situation is hopeless and unfair for her. This allows Desmond to highlight the risk landlords experience in this situation, as they are responsible for the payments missing from their tenants. She even showed Arleen, another one of her tenants, a huge bill of charges and fees that she was in charge of to drive home the fact that they were both in an unpleasant and unfair situation. She knew it was not Arleen’s fault, but also expressed that she had to suffer from this as well. Most tenants even need two court dates for cases: one for the debt and the other for the property. Sherrena’s tenant Arleen was also in court going through her eviction case with her. Sherrena rejected the commissioner’s initial question about working out a deal and avoiding eviction. She explained that Arleen was too behind in debt and had not fulfilled the debt amount with the generous amount of time she gave her. Now that eviction was the conclusion, Sherrena wanted Arleen out by the first so she could offer the space to new tenants who were interested. Arleen’s eviction day was set to a few days after the first so the commissioner told Sherrena she would need to make a deal for Arleen’s voluntary, early leave from the space. Sherrena would have to dismiss the eviction judgment and therefore drop the money judgments of everything she had not been reimbursed for. Sherrena ere expresses again her feelings of this unfair system and gets frustrated that she “loses out on every single” case. She is annoyed that again she would be receiving the worse end of the deal and not gaining the money she was entitled to. While Sherrena understood that this situation was unfair, she also empathized with Arleen who had two children.
She offered her a car ride home and told her that she would never want her and her children to be evicted onto the streets with no home. They had both been overwhelmed with the tiring day and Sherrena was exhausted from the cases, while Arleen was hungry from not eating that day. Sherrena tells Arleen how some landlords are cruel and heartless, yet she hopes to be mostly caring towards her tenants because she knows “this system is screwed” (107). She ends the car ride conversation by warning Arleen to never be a landlord because they always “get the short end of the deal” (107). This story speaks to the existence of inequality in America as there are many issues facing these people in poverty. Many people must face the true hardship of surviving these circumstances and avoiding being evicted to the street, shelters, or worse neighborhoods. Even within this group of poor people, the statistics highlight how some based on gender or race are more likely to suffer from these eviction situations. The cycle unfortunately continues for all the parties involved in the eviction process, and this issue remains an urgent one in our
world.