Abstract
In the book Collateral Damages: Landlords and the Urban Housing Crisis, Meredith Greif examines how laws and regulations that were created to protect renters and communities end up having negative consequences for them by creating greater financial precarity (i.e., risk or insecurity) for landlords. Laws and regulations around housing codes, eviction, criminal activity nuisance ordinances (CANOs), and water bills, combined with macro-level factors such as low wages and declining property values in marginalized communities, influence landlord behavior toward properties and low-income tenants. Poor maintenance, strict screening and surveillance, and threats by landlords lead to experiences of housing insecurity, poor housing conditions, and blocked housing opportunities for low-income tenants. Greif also highlights the influence of race and stereotypes, arguing that these behaviors of landlords end up violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating based on source of income, employment status, and number of children in the household. Thus, these laws and regulations end up having the greatest consequences on those who are already most marginalized in society.
Greif’s research is based in Cleveland, Ohio. This makes for an interesting study site, as Cleveland is similar to many other cities in the Rust Belt that have experienced postindustrial decline. It also has a higher level of cost-burdened renters (paying over 30 percent of their income) than the national average. The shift from stable, decent-paying manufacturing jobs to unstable, low-wage work in the service economy makes it difficult for tenants to pay rent, increasing the financial strain on landlords.
The book draws on a rich set of data, beginning with 60 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with landlords who rented property in the Cleveland metropolitan region to lower-income households between 2013 and 2015, as well as ethnographic observations with a subsample of these landlords. About two-thirds of the sample rented 30 or fewer units, which allowed the study to capture the experience of mom-and-pop landlords and mid-sized property holders, who are most likely to provide affordable housing for low-income households. Sample selection combined stratified random sampling of low-cost rental listings by poverty and race and snowball sampling. Greif uses this to make comparisons of how landlords operate in low-poverty communities as opposed to high-poverty, racially segregated communities. She also includes ethnographic observations of a subsample of landlords. Capturing their interaction with various stakeholders at housing court, during housing inspections, and while showing units to potential tenants adds helpful context about the system within which landlords are operating.
Through a series of well-organized chapters, Greif attempts to explain landlords’ bad behavior toward tenants. Why do landlords evade the rules? Why do landlords cut corners and turn a blind eye toward keeping decent housing conditions? What makes them use such strict screening criteria and surveillance practices and sometimes resort to threats?
In Chapter Two, Greif focuses on the macro-level forces that affect landlords. We see the macro-level disadvantages facing lower-income renter households who are also racial minorities. These include the long-term impacts of redlining on Black communities and the more recent issues tied to the decline in housing values that occurred in this area in the 2000s. This led to many foreclosures and changes in the housing markets within the city and the surrounding suburbs.
In Chapter Three, we learn why landlords cut corners. In communities where property values have declined and they cannot collect rent, landlords cut back on quality and limit maintenance. Landlords describe feeling stuck, unable to invest in the property and unable to sell as a result of declining property values. Greif then shows how a “reactive” housing code enforcement system, where authorities only investigate when someone calls an issue in, leads to tenants remaining in poor housing conditions. Tenants end up in a vulnerable position, as calling in code violations risks retaliation from the landlord. She also highlights the issue of mistrust between tenants who are marginalized and government institutions, making it less likely for them to feel comfortable calling in violations.
This chapter also focuses on housing court. Greif details the mediation program as an alternative to court. The majority of mediation cases resolve without a formal eviction. Some tenants gain extended move-out periods and occasionally settle on a payment plan. Additional services include caseworkers who can help connect people with services.
In Chapter Four, Greif focuses on how criminal activity nuisance ordinances (CANOs) create more barriers for low-income tenants to live in communities with more resources. CANOs dictate that once a certain number of calls have been made to the police, a landlord's property can be declared a “nuisance” and the landlord will receive letters of warning about a fine. Greif shows how this leads landlords to increase screening and surveillance practices, even encouraging tenants to leave, which creates more barriers to housing opportunity and stability for the most marginalized populations.
Perhaps the most compelling part of the book is Chapter Five, with a focus on water bills. Greif shows how water costs have increased recently, creating an extra cost for landlords, and how water bills are also an increased risk over which landlords have limited control. Through landlords’ stories, Greif shows how the financial consequences of a large water bill can mean less money for operating costs and can eventually lead to losing their property. As a result of this added risk, landlords are more likely to screen out potential tenants with larger and unemployed households who they suspect may be more likely to use more water at home. Thus, Greif argues, these laws reinforce the mistrust between landlords and their tenants. She also argues that, in practice, this leads to greater impacts on poor, minority renters and communities.
Chapter Six is focused on the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. Greif highlights how incentives to participate vary based on local market conditions. She finds that landlords in resource-rich communities are less likely to participate. When they do, they practice strict screening around issues of employment or cleanliness, and they may charge extra money on the side. Landlord participation is also limited by the time it takes to sign up a tenant, inspection inconsistencies, and administrative burden.
Greif’s book concludes with a broad set of recommendations for change that address housing code enforcement, eviction practices, CANOs, water bill regulation, and the HCV program. These proposals, including a universal housing code that creates consistency between federal and city-level requirements and a rental tax credit, would address many of the limitations of the HCV program and increase the potential supply of affordable housing.
Overall, Greif's book provides an important contribution to the question of providing affordable and quality housing to lower-income households, which continues to be a pressing issue today. She makes clear how social and structural forces contribute to the behavior of landlords and how this can be detrimental to low-income tenants. Greif also highlights the issue of race as it shapes the interactions between landlords and tenants, the opportunities or barriers that people face in finding stable housing, and the legacy of redlining on marginalized communities. She argues that laws and regulations end up violating the Fair Housing Act as they affect marginalized populations the most. A more systematic investigation of this in future research is important.