This is a special guest post from Alexis and Anna, LA Forward’s summer fellows —

For our fourth housing book club, we read Evicted by Matthew Desmond, a book that follows eight stories of families living in Milwaukee facing extreme poverty. The book focuses on the relationship between tenant and landlord, centered on the landlords unfair use of their power against tenants who have little to no bargaining power when it comes to eviction and rent control. The author paints a detailed picture of the lives of people trapped by the cycle of poverty and how housing policies play a huge role in keeping them there.

Our members were taken back how much profit is made by landlords who own houses in poor neighborhoods. The amount of chronic debt that residents live with was also staggering. Everyone agreed that eviction is an epidemic that we need to address and that starts by limiting the extraordinary powers that landlords have under the law.

We’re looking forward to reading about not-for-profit solutions to the housing crisis on September 9. Learn more and sign up here.