Children and Families Facing Eviction: Featuring Matthew Desmond

Date/Time
07/19/2017
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Event Type

• Briefing

Import
Google

Each year millions of families in the U.S. are evicted from their homes. Families with children are evicted at higher rates and children who experience eviction often face high rates of mobility, unstable living environments and homelessness. This lack of stability has severe negative implications for a child’s academic achievement, physical and mental health and interpersonal relationships.

Sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Dr. Matthew Desmond spent years living in Milwaukee among low income families struggling to afford and maintain stable housing. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, he shares the findings of his fieldwork though detailing the heartbreaking stories of eight households caught up in the vicious cycle of eviction. These stories collectively paint a picture of the many obstacles low income families face that prevent them from fighting for their rights as tenants, resulting in court orders and judgments that hamper their ability to find new rental housing and maintain stable employment.

Please join First Focus and Honorary Cohost Congressman Keith Ellison for a Congressional briefing, Children and Families Facing Eviction in the U.S., featuring Dr. Matthew Desmond and a panel of national experts. This briefing will provide information for lawmakers on the experience of families facing evictions in the U.S., including research on the negative implications of residential instability and homelessness for a child’s healthy development. In addition, presenters will provide programmatic and policy solutions to increase support for these children and families.

This event will be live-streamed at www.facebook.com/Keith.Ellison/

Access materials from the event: 

• Report: Policy Recommendations for Children and Familes Facing Eviction (Read the report)
• Handout: Equal Opportunity for Residential Representation Act of 2017 (H.R. 1146) (Read the handout)
• Press Release: First Focus, Rep. Ellison Host Matthew Desmond to Discuss Kids and Families Facing Eviction (Read the press release)
• Presentation: Bruce Lesley, President of First Focus (Download PDF)
• Presentation: Beth Mellen Harrison, DC Legal Aid (Download PowerPoint)
• Handout: Landlord Tenant Court-Based Legal Services Project (Download PDF)
• Presentation: Dr. Brittany Lewis, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at University of Minnesota (Download PowerPoint)
• Article: “Solution to help tenants avoid eviction lags in Maryland” (Read article)

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