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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Eviction significantly impacts the mental health of mothers, which in turn affects their parenting and overall happiness.
This quote highlights the profound effects of eviction on the mental health of mothers, suggesting that being evicted not only contributes to their immediate financial instability but also leads to long-term depressive symptoms. It implies that the stress and trauma of losing one's home can diminish their interactions with their children and erode their sense of happiness, illustrating how eviction acts as a catalyst for deeper issues related to poverty and well-being.
Themes
EvictionDepressionPovertyMotherhoodMental Health
In practice
Example use cases
In discussions about housing policies, this quote can serve to emphasize the importance of preventing eviction.
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.
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When I was confronted with just the bare facts of poverty and inequality in America, it always disturbed and confused me.
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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
You meet folks who are funny and really smart and persistent and loving that are confronting this thing we call poverty, which is just a shorthand for this way of life that holds you underwater. And you just wonder what our country would be if we allowed these people to flourish and reach their full potential.
Matthew DesmondRead
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