News
Eviction affects more than just finances
Home, in theory, is a haven. But when that home doubles as an investment, renters often face a different reality: rent increases and eviction notices. What’s more, new research links eviction to premature death, stress-related illnesses, and other health consequences. In Massachusetts, displaced individuals are feeling the impact.
Because of fragmented data collection, it can be difficult to gauge the true number of people affected by eviction, but researchers have begun to uncover the full picture of what happens to the human body as it experiences displacement. The state’s housing court saw nearly 39,000 evictions last year. As of April 2024, more than 13,000 cases had been seen in the state, according to data from Mass property owners and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. Reasons range from non-payment of rent to “without guilt(which accounted for about 12 percent of cases last year). In no-fault evictions, the process allows landlords to seek to remove tenants without cause related to the tenant’s wrongdoing. The population affected by the eviction is larger: The researchers suggested that court records do not list all household members, as well as situations handled outside the court system.
“You fall asleep thinking about it and then… the minute your eyes open, that’s the first thing you think about,” said Annie Gordon, who has lived in Mattapan for 48 years. Fairlawn Apartments (renamed “SoMa Apartments at the T”). In 2018, DSF Group purchased the 347-unit building for $65 million, after which Gordon received a rent increase, followed by eviction proceedings.
Gordon, along with other neighbors, is now a leader of the building’s tenants’ union, run by a nonprofit organization. Urban Life/City Lifeand has been struggling to resist displacement for the past six years.
Nationally, a threat of eviction alone is associated with a 20 percent increase in premature death risk, he said Nick Graetza postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University Dump Labaccording to research delivered last winter that cross-referenced eviction data with census data. That risk increases to 40 percent with a formal trial. Those affected Black renters, especially mothers living with children, are the most vulnerable to eviction, and Graetz said nearly 30 percent of all Black women renting with children are threatened with eviction each year.
“Some days I just go into my room, close the door and sit there and cry,” said Betty Lewis, another SoMa resident and tenant association member who received a notice to leave after more than 40 years of residence.
Housing security can become precarious for anyone, researchers said.
“We generally live under a system that makes it very difficult to keep our housing whenever we experience a problem,” Graetz said. “A sudden health issue in your family, a car accident or any other unexpected issue can turn into something that is effectively an eviction in a very short period of time.”
Lauren Honigman, attorney and clinical social worker at Greater Boston Legal Servicessaid the organization serves many clients with “very significant disabilities,” such as anxiety, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Expulsion can exacerbate underlying health problems and worsen stress-related substance abuse, she said.
“I think unfortunately a lot of families who are displaced end up in the emergency shelter system,” Honigman said.
It starts before the court session begins.
“As soon as that eviction notice is posted on your door, as soon as you get that process, it comes with a tremendous burden of stress,” he said. Kathryn Leifheitresearcher at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Stress itself can alter gene expression (“the process by which information encoded in a gene is used to direct the assembly of a protein molecule,” according to Genome.gov) and disease processing, said Leifheit, whose research has found links between dumping and high blood pressure and an increased risk of premature birth and low birth weight.
Eviction can mean more than a change of address: it can remove individuals from support systems.
Once just minutes from her best friend, Cloie Andrysiak now lives more than an hour away. It took her seven months to find a new place to live when her landlord in Watertown notified her that he was moving into her apartment. After going to 50 open houses and living with family for a while, Andrysiak and her husband, Matt, used their retirement savings to put a small down payment on a house in Southbridge. The couple feels lucky, but also overwhelmed by the now-doubled housing costs, and they struggle to trust the idea of permanence.
“I hope at some point I can find time to paint the walls, but right now I’m just trying to maintain them,” Cloie said.
“I have sleepless nights now like I’ve never had before, where I can’t stop these wheels turning, like, how are these bills going to get paid?” Matt said. The couple is employed full time, but is considering taking on a second job.
“It wasn’t like, OK, you buy a house and everything’s fine,” Cloie said. “Now it’s like, you buy a house that really puts you behind the ball, and now you have to work twice as hard to maintain it, and then maybe… you’ll be lucky enough to get to the comfort level that you were before.”
In interviews with the Globe, tenants described feeling forced to choose between health care costs and housing. And experts say the stress can become psychological trauma.
“People who are evicted are more likely to fall outside of social safety nets, so they may forget to renew their Medicaid, their SNAP or their WIC,” Leifheit said, noting that reminder letters sent in the mail may not include a recipient who recently moved.
The impact spreads to the community. During the pandemic, Leifheit noted that after displacement, sharing a home with friends and family was associated with an increase in infectious disease transmission and COVID-19 deaths.
Among the most serious outcomes of displacement is homelessness, Graetz said, noting that the population is notoriously difficult to track.
“Trying to find alternative housing is incredibly difficult,” Honigman said, adding that people are turned away for many reasons, even with subsidies.
“I’m exhausted,” said Bree Whelon, an activist in southern New Hampshire who has lived with chronic homelessness since she was 13 and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2016. Whelon said she has failed to match Section 8 vouchers with landlords twice and is now waiting in a line thousands of feet long for another chance.
“People have asked me to speak at different rallies and things like that recently, and [I] I had to decline because when I say that, I feel like I’m shouting into the void,” said Whelon, who is sleeping in a tent on a friend’s property.
“People don’t choose to live in poverty,” Honigman said.
For those who continue to rent, the impact of eviction lingers, as public court records, regardless of the reason, can mark a tenant as problematic to future landlords. Early intervention is essential to mitigate the threat before it happens.
“We need to consider policies to reduce evictions and ensure affordable housing not just as housing policy, but also as health policy,” Graetz said.
Lindsay Crudele can be reached at lcrudele@gmail.com.
Loading…