The Spark


The housing crisis:
Tenants evicted

Aug 25, 2008

More and more renters are being evicted, even though they are paid up in their rent. Often their security deposit isn’t returned to them.

It’s a scam – and another fallout of the mortgage crisis. As the owners of apartment buildings lose their buildings to foreclosure, tenants are pushed aside.

The Chicago Reporter examined the evictions of thousands of people in apartment buildings made up of two to six units. It found that many of the tenants weren’t given the notice required by law before being evicted, and they often didn’t have the chance to challenge their eviction in court.

Why should tenants be evicted from buildings because the owner fell behind in mortgage payments? Why should people lose their house and have their belongings thrown on the street because Wall Street speculators drove up prices, creating a collapse of the housing market and mortgages that couldn’t be paid?

This society that protects the property of bankers and wealthy investors and kicks renters out into the street is showing its viciousness more than ever.