The Circle of Dispossession: Evicting the Urban Poor in Baltimore

Abstract

Although tenant evictions are routine in impoverished urban communities throughout the USA, scholars of housing and urban poverty have consistently overlooked this social problem. Drawing predominantly upon participant observation on eviction crews in Baltimore, this study examines the social drama of eviction, focusing upon the orchestration and execution of the court-ordered physical removal of tenants and their property. I find that property managers delegate the 'dirty work' of dispossession to a dispossessed population and that laborers on eviction crews tend to differentiate and distance themselves from the people they are evicting, adopting the dominant belief that eviction is rooted in the individual, moral deficiencies of the tenant. These findings reveal that those who are excluded from the American 'paradigm of propertied citizenship' -the homeless -are used to enforce, and serve to legitimate, that very paradigm. I argue that evictions entail a circle of dispossession, reproduced both materially and ideologically. Articleby robert silverman on May 27, 2014 crs.sagepub.com Downloaded from Critical Sociology 'the paycheck looks good to [his] P.O. [parole officer] ', and Joseph, a homeless, who is hoping to scrape together enough money to start renting a room of his own. 1 By the time the Sheriff arrives, there is palpable excitement in the air. Mr. Frank, a stern, 50-something 'maintenance man' who serves as our supervisor for the day, shouts out the apartment number to which we are headed, pointing up a steep, trash-strewn hill to one of more than a dozen two-story, eight-unit, brick buildings. When Mr. Frank knocks on the door of the second floor unit, Calvin, a light-skinned, 42-year-old standing on the staircase behind me, mimics the sound of gunfire -'pow-pow-pow' -referencing the tales he shared earlier that morning about his previous experiences 'putting people out '. 'Most folks don't want to leave,' he had said, to which I had nodded in agreement. 'No, you don't get what I'm sayin'. They ain't gon' leave. They'll be sitting there with their chrome [gun] in their lap. ' The group of laborers huddled in the stairwell laugh, thrilled by the imaginary violence of this conflict-laden encounter. When no one answers, Mr. Frank -who oversees between five and 18 evictions per month in this apartment complex alone -opens the door and sets about changing the locks. We excitedly shuffle inside. The Sheriff watches as the first table is carelessly thrown onto the curb and then follows Mr. Frank and a handful of crew members to the next unit, which reeks of cat urine, forcing those inside to burrow their noses in their shirt sleeves. Eight of us are left alone to finish clearing out the unit; we are entirely unprotected, in the unlikely event that the tenant -about whom we draw numerous assumptions -returns to the property. As we throw out the bright-pink eviction notices that are scattered on the living room floor, Joseph exclaims, 'Maybe she be illiterate or shit. Or just high out of her fuckin' mind...

Serial Filing: How Landlords use the Threat of Eviction

“…In Purser's words: “the specter of forced displacement — and homelessness — looms large” (7). At the community level, having entire neighborhoods trapped in a “circle of dispossession” (Purser ) can limit individuals’ inclination to invest in their communities, organize for common goals, form strong ties, and implement collective efficacy (Sampson ).…”

“…In Baltimore, landlords first notify tenants of late rent through an official court process. Work by the Baltimore Public Justice Center analyzed these filings and found that landlords file for failure to pay rent (the first step in eviction) 150,000 times per year in Baltimore city-a shocking figure given that the city contains only 130,000 rental households (PJC 2015; similar estimates are found in Purser 2014 andHartman andRobinson 2003). This means that landlords are serially filing on the same tenants multiple times in the same year.…”

“…These emergent literatures have greatly improved our understanding of the role the affordability crisis plays in maintaining the “circle of dispossession”—the periodic cycles of involuntary mobility and wealth extraction faced by poor renters (Purser ).We add to this work by addressing two key and interconnected gaps. First, is that despite a few rough sketches, there has been little attempt to understand eviction from the supply‐side.…”

“…threat of eviction each month. In Baltimore, for example, about 6,500 evictions are executed per year, while landlords file for eviction approximately 150,000 times, more than once for every renter household in the city (PJC 2015;Purser 2014). 1 An enormous number of poor families live under constant threat of eviction, even when they are not forced to relocate.…”

“…These findings emphasize the importance of examining the precarious and power-laden relationship of landlords and tenants while they are still in residence. Poor families live under constant threat of eviction, facing housing insecurity, fees, and legal sanction, with negative impacts for their sense of home and community.Recent research has drawn attention to eviction as a primary cause of involuntary residential mobility (Desmond 2012;Hartman and Robinson 2003;Purser 2014), with detrimental consequences for children and families (Dong et al 2005;Oishi 2010;Pribesh and Downey 1999;Sampson, Morenoff, and Earls 1999;Sharkey and Sampson 2010;Ziol-Guest and McKenna 2014). However, while the execution of an eviction notice-along with the physical removal of a family from the home-is endemic in the lives of the urban poor, its frequency pales in comparison to the number of poor families who face the…”