TEACHING GUIDE NOTE TO TEACHERS Teachers: For a printable version of this guide, download the PDF attachment at the bottom of this page. Based on years of embedded fieldwork and painstakingly gathered data, Evicted transforms our understanding of extreme poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving a devastating, uniquely American problem. After finding out about the damage, the landlord evicted Arleen Bell and her sons, Jori and Jafaris. · Arleen and her sons moved into a shelter known as the Lodge. They later moved from house to house. The majority of poor renting families spend over half of their income on housing. One in four pays over 70% in rent and utilities. · Landlords evict roughly 16,000 adults and children every year in Milwaukee—or roughly 40 people every day. · Sherrena gave Patrice Hinkston an eviction notice. Patrice and her three children moved in with her mother who lived in the bottom-floor unit. · Nearly one in five poor renting families nationwide miss utility payments and receive disconnection notices. · WE Energies in Milwaukee disconnects approximately 50,000 households each year for nonpayment. The city places a moratorium on disconnection during the cold winter months. Every year in Milwaukee, evictions spike in the summer and early fall, when families pay the utility company, and go down in November when the moratorium begins and families pay their landlords. · Landlords can evict tenants at any time for not paying their rent or for other violations. Landlords are prohibited from retaliating against tenants who contact the Department of Neighborhood Services. Chapter 2: Making Rent · Lamar, a disabled veteran, rented the lower level of a duplex. Sherrena waived his security deposit, believing he would be approved for Supplemental Security Income SSI. · The unemployment rate in Milwaukee climbed into the double digits, with the black poverty rate at 28%, in 1980. By 1990, it had climbed to 42%. Chapter 3: Hot Water · College Mobile Home Park was situated on the far South Side of the city where poor white folks lived. · Milwaukee has a long history of racial and ethnic segregation. Actions included evicting nuisance tenants, hiring an independent management company, and addressing property code violations. This allowed Tobin to shift responsibility for maintenance and created opportunity for profit when tenants were evicted or moved and could not afford the towing expenses. Tobin had little incentive to lower rent or forgive late payments because there was such a high demand for the cheapest housing. Chapter 5: Thirteenth Street · At the time Arleen and her sons moved into the house on 13th Street, Arleen received state benefits for chronic depression. He also had frequent asthma attacks and required daily medication. · Arleen rented a subsidized apartment when she was 19. She moved in with a friend and stayed in the private rental market for the next 20 years. In order to be eligible for a subsidized housing voucher, Arleen would have to repay the Housing Authority for leaving her subsidized apartment without notice. · Three out of four families in America who qualify for assistance receive nothing. In Milwaukee, the list for rental assistance is frozen and in larger cities, the wait for public housing is counted in decades. · Sherrena rented an upstairs unit to Trisha, a client of Belinda Hall—a representative payee responsible for handling finances of SSI beneficiaries found incapable of managing on their own. Arleen, however, did not receive any help from her family and her welfare benefits were decreased after she missed an appointment. Their landlord filed a five-day eviction notice after a building inspector, summoned following a neighborhood shooting and police investigation, issued repair orders. · Doreen hired a plumber to repair a non-working bathtub, sink, and toilet. She withheld the charges from her rent and was threatened with eviction. Poor families like the Hinkstons are often compelled to accept substandard housing in the aftermath of eviction. For many landlords, evictions are cheaper than the cost of maintaining rental properties. · Natasha discovered she was four months pregnant. Chapter 7: The Sick · Scott and Teddy met at a homeless shelter and decided to rent a trailer together. Scott assisted Teddy with the cooking, cleaning, and shopping, and helped Teddy manage his partial paralysis. · L
