High rent prices and high unemployment often spells eviction; especially for low-income black single mothers in urban neighborhoods. Property owners are paying big time in their efforts to dispose of their tenant’s belongings, and according to the Associated Press, moving and storage companies are reaping all the benefits.
“The odds of a woman being evicted in black neighborhoods is twice that of men,” Matthew Desmond, a sociologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison said to the Associated Press. “Just as incarceration has become typical in the lives of poor black men, eviction has become typical in the lives of poor black women.”
Desmond led a study in Milwaukee that found that in majority black neighborhoods, one in 10 renter households is evicted.
It’s a growing misfortune that has property owners spending millions of dollars a year on evictions.
Property owners may pay about 2500 to evacuate a two-bedroom apartment, according to moving company owner Eli Navon. Job prices vary as movers must pack up everything including the garbage, as they are not allowed to throw anything out. When the tenant is not in the home, some companies choose to take their time, earning more money as they are paid by the hour.
Eviction moving does not come without its risks. Mirtal, of White Glove Moving & Storage told the Associated Press that once time he and his fellow movers were met “with bats and chains” and were told that they were evicting a friend.
In addition to paying for the movers’ services, property owners than must pay for a storage unit to hold the displaced belongings for 30 days. Owners that choose to hire a lawyer to resolve the matter completely take on even more costs.
Evictions become a heavy burden for both the tenant and the property owner, for the moving and storage companies who find themselves in between the drama, making money off of other people’s unhappiness has never been more profitable.
