Eviction The Hidden Child Welfare Problem

america has an eviction crisis

and richmond virginia is ground zero our

rich

eviction rate here in richmond is 11.44

the second highest in the u.s amongst

its large cities

imagine a single mother she works every

day she has a full-time job

it’s not a lot but it’s enough to take

care of the rent

the bills one morning when she goes to

work she is told that her hours will be

reduced

and without any other source of income

she will not be able to pay her rent her

landlord files an eviction lawsuit

against her

and she is ultimately put out of her

home

she is forced to stay with family

members and friends because she doesn’t

have anywhere to go

this has an impact on her child’s

attendance at school

the school staff begin to notice the

chronic absenteeism

and tardiness and despite interventions

to

help this mother she is unable to

correct the situation this mother who is

doing the best she can

ends up in court with a failure to send

petition filed against her because she

is unable to get her child to school

she faces a fine money she does not have

all because she was evicted now

the scenario that i just described to

you is something that i know

a lot about for 10 years i was a

prosecutor in the city of richmond

and i’ve seen these types of cases over

and over again

and i may not remember the names of the

individuals i may not remember the faces

but the hardship that they endured still

lingers with me to this day

and what it makes clear is that our

children are not protected

an eviction is a social child welfare

problem that’s been hiding in plain

sight

now in virginia the eviction process

goes like this

on the first month your rent is

typically due

um maybe the fifth if there is a grace

period

if you are unable to pay the if you do

not pay the landlord can file

um give notice to you a five-day payer

quit

and in that time period you have to

either pay or leave

if you do neither your landlord can file

a an eviction lawsuit this process

can take from less than a month to a car

in less than a month you can be facing

the threat of homelessness

and in richmond approximately eighteen

thousand

eviction lawsuits are filed annually

to put that into perspective that’s

about

forty thousand individuals forty

thousand individuals

in the city of richmond every year who

face the threat

of homelessness and of those eighteen

thousand

lawsuits that are filed eleven thousand

of those results in a favorable

outcome for the landlord meaning a

monetary judgment

or the right to put the tenants out

whatever way you boil it down at the end

of the day what that means is that

you have every day you have children

you have families that are

evicted or facing the threat of eviction

in the city of richmond

and how this all happened is that

when you’re you’re looking at evictions

in the city of richmond

and even when you’re looking at race in

this country

we have to go back to through history

for the last 400 years

in this country race has played

an integral part in determining how

one can enjoy their inalienable rights

their rights to life

liberty and pursuit of happiness this is

a concept that was

included in the declaration of

independence

by thomas jefferson however that concept

was derived from john locke

interestingly

john locke actually substituted out

pursuit of happiness for property or

should i say

thomas jefferson substitute suited out

pursuit of happiness for property

but whatever way you look at it whatever

p you adopt property pursuit of

happiness

it’s been clear throughout the course of

america’s history

that it was not to be meant to be

enjoyed equally by all members of

of this country and in fact

it’s racist determining factor and race

is determining

and who has been able to enjoy those

rights

now race has also been

a significant factor in determining

where one can live

and one can raise their family

in the 1930s the

homeowners loan corporation a new deal

agency

surveyed the communities

and neighborhoods of some of the largest

u.s cities

and they surveyed them based on

loan desirability and riskiness

they generated a map or should i say

generated

maps which were color coded and

categorized

um to determine whether that that

community or that neighborhood

was one that was appropriate

to lend their lending desirability black

neighborhoods and neighborhoods of

color were consistently categorized to

be

high risk therefore those people in

those communities

were fenced out of um are not permitted

to obtain mortgages and other types of

housing loans

this practice commonly known as

redlining

actually was outlawed over some 50

years ago but its effects

can still be felt to this day research

has shown

that race and

redlining is a significant factor

in the disparity of wealth that we have

to this day between

um black people and the white people

in this country but richmond virginia

also

bears the scars and is tarnished by the

practice of

redlining research conducted by the rva

eviction lab shows that race

is a significant or one of the most

prominent

determining factors when analyzing

which neighborhoods are most at risk

of having high eviction rates and that’s

after controlling for other values such

as

property value as well as poverty

what’s even more alarming is that

when you look at the neighborhoods in

richmond that

have the highest eviction rates it

shares the same geographic

markers as those neighborhoods who

who were redlined in those realigning

maps from the 1930s

but it’s not just evident in those

particular factors

it’s not just evident the the race

and how this plays a factor in who can

live it’s not just evident in

the what we can we typically consider to

be

impoverished communities by the

sprawling

housing developments or dilapidated

buildings

but it’s also something that is seen

in the disparities that our children

face when it comes to the

to um to the education and their ability

to thrive

research shows that families with

children get

evicted at a higher rate

and that’s for many factors but what is

to talk about today

is because of the

affordability as well as

housing affordability as well as

discriminatory practices that may be in

place

let’s face it children are expensive

after paying for rent utilities

other household necessities there’s just

not a lot not a left left over

at the end of the month if an emergency

arises

so a family who has an unexpected

medical expense

one unexpected major car repair

can find themselves being one month away

from facing

home distance and this idea of race and

eviction

is also evident and

our children’s education or ability to

learn

imagine being a child who’s facing um

eviction or has in fact been evicted and

instead of focusing

on you know reading writing and

arithmetic

they’re focused on shelter clothing and

food

now it has to be hard to try to focus

when you’re in survival mode

and even and also the research shows

that there’s a correlation

between absenteeism

chronic tardiness and evictions

also in richmond 10 of the 18

elementary schools that are in areas

or communities where the eviction rate

is higher than the city’s average

are not accredited so why is that the

case

well these communities are already over

taxed

and under resourced and then

to add to that you have children

who may be moving from place to place

when it comes with that

the instability the the teachers

already being pulled into other

directions but now having to take in new

students

who may need to have some type of

remediation

and at the end of the day what it shows

is just that

it’s already taxing an over-tax system

and the resources are just that there

to embrace these children the way they

need to be embraced

to get them through this struggle it is

common for children who

are caught in this eviction process

or should i say trauma of the eviction

process

they may commonly act out there is a

correlation between delinquency

and the eviction now for an adult going

through this trauma of an eviction

having to found housing

trying to figure out where you would

stay from day to day is

is is something that’s hard can be

difficult

emotionally and mentally to process now

as a child who doesn’t have the

emotional maturity

to actually process those to process

those feelings

and process what it all means they may

not know what’s going

on but they know it doesn’t feel good

and in a school setting

or even in a community unable to process

those feelings that child

may act out and it’s particularly in

school if they’re acting out that may

bring that negative attention

where they may get put out of school or

they may drop

out of school which leads to

they’re having a impact on the rest of

their lives the inability to secure

stable jobs and it goes back to

housing without a stable job you’re

unable to

you know buy that home or get a home in

in a decent area

and so that cycle repeats that

generational wealth that was taken away

or that was

something that that was taken away is no

longer

in their grasp because of the behavioral

issue that resulted

from that eviction now how do we fix

this situation

one-time rent relief programs that

assist

and help with the imminent crisis

they’re good

they’re gap fillers you can say they’re

band-aids but there’s not a long-term

solution

there needs to be some systematic

changes to

address this issue one being

allowing for unlawful detainers which is

the name for an eviction lawsuit

to be dismissed

i’m sorry expunged from her attendance

record

currently there is no system in place so

even if

if a tenant is able to successfully

challenge a

an eviction case and dismiss it still

remains on their record

and that leads me to the second point

currently an unlawful detainer or an

eviction stays

on a tenant’s record for um on a court

system for 10 years

that’s a long time and things can

drastically

change in 10 years but yet that’s a

stain on that person on that tenant’s

record that they would have to explain

to a potential landlord therefore

limiting their ability to

get decent get obtain decent housing

all because of something that may have

occurred when they were in that rut

in that bad month in that bad time

period in their life

and another suggestion is that having

local school systems

partner up with legal aid organizations

and

other resources in the community

teachers

and school social workers are on the

front lines of this they are the first

to notice when a child may

be impacted their education may be

impacted

or see their absence here at the

absenteeism rate increasing

allowing those families to have those

resources at their disposal may just be

what they need to redirect them

and get them on a path before things get

worse

now i remember vividly as a child

um gathering around the tv with my mom

during the holiday time actually um we

were watching

wizard of oz because it would come on

around thanksgiving time every year

and i remember mimicking dorothy as she

clicked her shoes together and would say

there’s no place like home and now that

i’m adult

those words can’t be any more truer

because

your home is not just the structure

the roof that you live in

it’s a place where memories are created

it’s a place where

celebrations occur but for a lot of kids

in richmond virginia and of course

throughout this nation

they’ve been stripped of their

opportunity to have a place to call home

and to have a place to to have those

good

fond memories it doesn’t have to be that

way

and now is the time to make those

systematic changes

so that every children can enjoy

a place to call home