猫咪社区

Look into the eyes of a person who鈥檚 being evicted, and you鈥檒l see what the experience feels like, says Jim Willis. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e numb. They鈥檙e devastated. Someone鈥檚 taken over for them and told them to move everything they own. They鈥檙e in emotional and physical pain.鈥�

Willis is a co-founder of SACC Movers, a volunteer service project of South Acton Congregational Church in Massachusetts. For 50 years, SACC Movers has moved household goods for people facing the challenge of moving without sufficient funds. 鈥淲e go into someone鈥檚 home and move all their worldly possessions,鈥� notes Willis. 鈥淲e carry a person鈥檚 life. And we make a unique and vital contribution each time.鈥� 

Eviction and Losing Everything

Before COVID-19 hit, there were approximately  affecting 2.3 million people annually, notes Matthew Desmond, founder of the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. That number doesn鈥檛 include people forced out of housing because of rent increases, illegal lockouts, and failed living arrangements. And evictions don鈥檛 just happen in cities. According to a  published by the Eviction Lab, research showed that about one in every 30 urban renting families and one in every 50 suburban renting families faced eviction each year.

With evictions looming as a public health threat at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government placed a moratorium on evictions in September 2020. This action kept countless housing-insecure people in their homes during a time of economic uncertainty, but the moratorium was struck down by the Supreme Court in August 2021. Renters in some parts of the country were still protected by state and local eviction moratoria in 2021. But as those protections are lifted, the numbers of evictions are rising.

The lack of affordable housing means that evictions or sudden loss of housing will continue to threaten lower-income people, with racial disparities due to systemic long-term discrimination. In its 2022 study 鈥�,鈥� Harvard University鈥檚 Joint Center for Housing Studies found that even with income assistance under the CARES Act, 15% of renter households were in rent arrears by the end of 2021. Due to job losses during the pandemic, Black households were almost three times as likely, and Hispanic and Asian households twice as likely, to be behind on rent as White households.

People facing eviction frequently contend with a requirement to leave their home quickly. Many have to store items as they look for new housing. But this can set up a no-win scenario for many lower-income people. 

鈥淲e hear, over and over, that people end up one payment late and get forced out of their homes,鈥� notes Andrew Witherspoon, of the nonprofit . 鈥淭hey put their items in storage to look for a new place and can鈥檛 afford to make their storage payments to get their furniture back. Then they lose everything. When they find their new place, they come to us.鈥� 

Witherspoon co-founded Chicago Furniture Bank in 2018 to address the need for dignified, comfortable shelter for low-income people. In just three years, it became one of the largest furniture banks in the U.S., having furnished 7,600 homes for over 18,000 people. Clients hand-pick all their new home鈥檚 furnishings for free.

鈥淪helter doesn鈥檛 just mean four walls and a floor,鈥� asserts Witherspoon. He notes that when people get evicted, they鈥檝e lost a lot of choice. Many have to move to a place that鈥檚 foreign and uncomfortable; they鈥檝e lost their friends, neighbors, and support systems. 鈥淲e believe everyone should be able to sleep in a bed, share a family meal at a kitchen table, and enjoy the comfort of a furnished home,鈥� he says.

Many Chicago Furniture Bank clients don鈥檛 have the income and resources they need for daily life, let alone to move on short notice. Over 50% of the furniture bank鈥檚 clients take advantage of its low-cost delivery service. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a matter of accessibility,鈥� says Witherspoon. 鈥淓ven using the cheapest way possible, renting a van and moving things yourself, for instance: If you don鈥檛 have a major credit card, you have to pay 200% of the booking fee as a deposit that鈥檚 refunded when you return the truck. Many of our clients simply don鈥檛 have that kind of money.鈥�

In Massachusetts, the SACC Movers work with Household Goods, a nonprofit that partners with social services agencies to provide free household furnishings to people in need. Many of its clients have experienced eviction and have lost everything. Household Goods is powered by a network of volunteers who accept furniture donations and distribute them to over 60 households who are moving to public and affordable housing each week. 

鈥淗ousehold items, which many take for granted, may seem unimportant, but they make a huge difference,鈥� says Sharon Martens, executive director of . 鈥淢any of our clients have lost everything when they鈥檙e forced out of their homes. Our clients tell us that they find more than just a couch, dishes, or a lamp: They also find hope. Waking up comfortable and having a shelter that they鈥檝e turned into a home makes it easier for them to start every day.鈥�

Scenes of Moving Help:

The SACC Movers are called to help a woman and her two young children, recent immigrants from Pakistan who鈥檝e found a place through the local housing authority but have no way to move their possessions. A few hours later, boxes and furniture fill every corner of their new apartment. The beds are assembled, the kitchen supplies unpacked. It looks like the job is finished, and the movers prepare to leave. But one man quietly approaches the woman and asks, 鈥淲here will you pray?鈥� 

She gazes around the room, her glance alighting on space next to a sunny window. 鈥淭here, I think,鈥� she replies, pointing, though the spot is filled with boxes and furniture. The team sets to work again. When the space is cleared, the woman gathers her children to her side, her face breaking into a smile.

***

The SACC Movers show up to move a woman whose landlord has decided to upgrade her apartment and wants her out immediately. She lives on the second floor, with no elevator. The team will have to carry her possessions down two flights of stairs. When they arrive at the apartment, they find her packing the last boxes in a dark one-bedroom apartment. She moves easily in her wheelchair as she does her final organizing. There is almost no food to pack: She reports that her helper hasn鈥檛 come lately. Once her furniture and boxes are in the moving van, it is time to go. 

鈥淲ho鈥檚 carrying me?鈥� she asks. The volunteers look at her quizzically; she repeats her question. 鈥淲ho鈥檚 carrying me? I don鈥檛 walk.鈥�

鈥淗ow do you usually go out?鈥� they ask. 

鈥淚 never leave,鈥� is the short reply. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 been out of this apartment in two years. My helper brings me everything I need.鈥� 

The local fire department is called, and two firefighters carry her down the stairs to her long-neglected car. The housing authority luckily has a good option available: The woman鈥檚 new place is a ground-level one-bedroom in a large apartment complex, with access to the outdoors and other people. She can even drive again. 

Surrounded by boxes in her new home, the woman takes a long breath. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 felt sunshine on my face in a long time,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 home, I鈥檓 really home.鈥� 

Volunteers who help soften the hardships of eviction and moving on a low income show that 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of good out there, and a lot of good people,鈥� says Martens, of Household Goods. They鈥檙e helping others make a new home, with furniture, lamps, and access鈥攁t last鈥攖o some sunshine.聽