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MacArthur 'Genius' Matthew Desmond On Eviction In Low-Income Areas

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Dr. Matthew Desmond is a sociology professor at Harvard and studies the effects of eviction on low-income families and individuals. (John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)
Dr. Matthew Desmond is a sociology professor at Harvard and studies the effects of eviction on low-income families and individuals. (John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)

Monday night, the MacArthur Foundation announced its class of 2015 'Genius' Fellows. Among the winners was Dr. Matthew Desmond, associate professor of sociology and social studies at Harvard University.

Desmond researches the effects of eviction on low-income families. He lived for a time in low-income housing in Milwaukee to conduct ethnographic research and also started the Milwaukee Area Renters Study to collect data on informal and formal evictions in the city's poorest neighborhoods.

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Matthew Desmond, associate professor of sociology and social studies at Harvard University. His new book, "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" will come out next year.

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Harvard Magazine: Disrupted Lives: Sociologist Matthew Desmond Studies Eviction And The Lives Of America's Poor

  • "Although Desmond’s Milwaukee research is a mixed-methods endeavor involving multiple datasets and a team of research assistants and collaborators, the study began with ethnography, that old-fashioned practice of immersing oneself in a community and recording detailed observations of everyday life."

Institute For Research On Poverty: Unaffordable America: Poverty, Housing, And Eviction

  • "Owing to rising housing costs, stagnant or falling incomes among the poor, and a shortfall of federal housing assistance, most poor renting families today devote over half of their income to housing costs, and eviction has become commonplace in low-income communities."

This segment aired on September 29, 2015.

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