Humanities Homework Help

Summarize

1. Summarize the entirety of the module’s OER reading in 5-10 sentences. (file attached)
2. Summarize the entirety of the module’s lecture in 5-10 sentences.

Reflect

1. What did you know about the module’s topic before you began the module?
2. What did you learn about the module’s topic by completing the module?
3. What do you still not understand about the module’s topic, despite completing the module? (i.e., what questions remain for you?)

Connect

1. Summarize the entirety of the module’s case study in 5-10 sentences.
2. How does the topic that you learned about in this module connect to the case study? (Be specific. For example, consider applying the module’s concepts to the case study.

–Lecture ( https://youtu.be/Zrh-KcVVI0o)
–Case Study 3: Stratified Evictions in America 

110 million Americans live in rental housing. After COVID-19 struck, Congress and many state governments imposed bans on evictions, or landlord-initiated involuntary moves of renters, to protect suddenly unemployed workers who can’t or don’t pay rent from losing their homes. 

Evictions most typically impact poor renting families who spend at least half of their income on housing costs and fail to qualify for or receive affordable housing support. Unfortunately, over the past 50 years, incomes for Americans of modest means have flat-lined while housing costs have soared. 

Low-income women are particularly vulnerable to eviction, as are domestic violence victims and families with children. The reasons for this are varied, including women’s lower wages, the costs and pressures of childcare, and the gender dynamics between male landlords and female heads of rental households. 

Additionally, studies from different cities indicate that people of color comprise about 80% of those facing evictions. Notably, evictions are most heavily concentrated in the Southeast, with its large historic African-American population, and in counties with large black communities. Families of color living in white neighborhoods are also at elevated risk of eviction: Hispanic renters who regularly miss rent payments and live in predominantly white neighborhoods are almost twice as likely as other late-rent payers to be evicted. 

Eviction causes a family to lose their home, expelling them from their community and their children from their schools. Because an evicted family’s belongings are piled up on the sidewalk or placed in storage to be reclaimed after paying a fee, eviction can also lead to a family’s loss of possessions. Additionally, a legal eviction comes with a court record, which can prevent families from relocating to replacement housing in safe neighborhoods. Studies also show that the stress of eviction can cause job loss and affect mental health. 

Further, communities as a whole suffer the effects of evictions. Neighborhoods with a high prevalence of evictions experience constant turnover and instability, which thwarts civic engagement. Evictions also impose societal costs in the form of increased burdens on court dockets, increased use of the marshal or sheriff services in the removal of families, and increased demands on social services, shelters, and hospitals by those who become homeless.

According to Matthew Desmond, Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, thousands of evictions could be prevented if emergency funds were provided to tenants who find themselves in a jam because of circumstances such as a lost job or a medical emergency. Desmond also recommends free legal representation for low-income tenants facing eviction. In his research, Desmond often notes a South Bronx legal assistance program that helped more than 1,300 families in a three-year period, preventing evictions in more than 85% of cases. The program cost $450,000 but saved an estimated $700,000 in shelter costs.