Indiana's Eviction Problem

After reading Matthew Desmond's Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, I wondered how many people are impacted by eviction in my own state. Desmond's Pulitzer Prize-winning book tells the story of individuals and families struggling to find stable, safe housing in Milwaukee, calling special attention to the vicious, nearly-inescapable cycle of anxiety and desperation wrought by eviction. The lives of the evicted are characterized by relentless struggle for basic needs, namely food and shelter. So, I wondered: How big is this problem in Indiana and its largest cities?

During the pandemic, several policies were put in place to limit/pause evictions. The expiration of these policies has led evictions to surge well beyond pre-pandemic levels in some places. In Indiana, eviction filings in the past year and in the past month have essentially returned to their "pre-COVID averages."

Unfortunately, this return to "normal" is not worthy of celebration. Here's why: In 2016, three of the top 20 large evicting cities in the United States were in Indiana. Fort Wayne was ranked 13th with an eviction rate of 7.39%, Indianapolis was ranked 14th with an eviction rate of 7.27%, and South Bend was ranked 18th with an eviction rate of 6.71%. As seen in the chart below, only Virginia had more large evicting cities.

But so far, these are just comparisons and percentages. How many people are actually being impacted by eviction filings? According to Princeton University's Eviction Lab, there have been 74,719 eviction filings in Indiana in the last month, leading to a 10% eviction filing rate. This means that 10 evictions are filed for every 100 renters! This rate strikes me as astronomical, especially since many, if not most, eviction filings impact families. In other words, thousands of mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, and shift workers and students are facing hunger and homelessness every month.
 
What do we do about this problem? Based on his experiences and research, Desmond's Evicted concludes that we need a universal housing voucher program, a proposal that I want to learn more about in the days ahead. Desmond's idea invites the following question: Is housing a right? Consider his argument.

"The United States was founded on the noble idea that people have 'certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' Each of these three unalienable rights - so essential to the American character that the founders saw them as God-given - requires a stable home."

While I'm not yet sure if a universal housing voucher program is the solution, I'm confident of this: In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, this feels like a problem that we should be able to solve, especially if we aspire to give every adult and child the best opportunity to lead an independent, fulfilling life.

Image courtesy of The Eviction Lab at Princeton University