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Removed In The Book 'Evicted' By Matthew Desmond

711 Words3 Pages

Have you ever had to choose between eating or having a roof over your head? If you answered no, you are one of the fortunate ones who most likely fall somewhere between middle class to upper class. Those who answered yes are a part of the millions of Americans who are currently facing a fairly new problem that has a light upon it – the lack of affordable housing. In Matthew Desmond’s book Evicted, he writes about numerous eviction stories of families or individuals for several different reasons. Simply knowing about evictions are upsetting, but reading about real-life stories and how it impacted their life is horrifying. Without a place of safety – a place to call home – everything else seems to no longer matter. It’s like looking in a mirror and seeing beauty just to watch it shatter and fall to the floor. Imagine trying to pick the pieces of glass off the floor and put them back together. There are too many pieces to make it whole again, just like there are too many factors that play into being evicted and getting back on your feet. It’s not impossible, but it’s difficult. Unfortunately, predicaments such as hunger, gentrification, and lack of necessary …show more content…

He eventually lost his apartment and job. They moved around from shelters to abandoned houses, tearing up the carpet as blankets. Mid-winter and high, he climbed into an abandoned house and when the high wore off, he couldn’t climb out. He jumped out of the second-floor window. Lost both of his legs due to frostbite. He has yet to fall back into his bad habit since. (Page 27). What do we do in these situations? Do we still help? This just shows that not every case is the same, but does that mean that some reasons are “better” than others? Some people are “more deserving?” I’ll leave that up to you to decide. Who knows, maybe even if Lamar had affordable housing, he still could have gone through this

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