The biting cold of Chicago's winter season has cast a sharp contrast to the warmth of a stable home, a luxury eluding far too many in the city. Grounded in the stark realities of the housing crunch, the National Public Housing Museum has opened its doors to the "Evicted" exhibit. This exhibit lays out the narratives and statistics of America's eviction crisis, a grim tableau of the struggle to keep a roof over one's head.
Reportedly, the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies finds that a staggering 22.4 million renter households in the U.S. are coughing up more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. According to the Chicago Tribune, nearly half of those are spending over 50%, a harrowing indicator of the eviction and homelessness surge. In Chicago's own backyard, over 6,000 individuals find themselves homeless on any given day in 2023, and since August 2022, the city has grappled with providing shelter for over 35,000 asylum seekers.
The "Evicted" exhibit, open through March 10, draws inspiration from Matthew Desmond's Pulitzer Prize-winning work and aims to forge a path for discussion on the widespread issue of housing insecurity. Visitors are plunged into a world of eviction, viewing house structures, statistics, and videos. They can absorb the breathtaking array of eviction maps and personal stories that shed light on the far-reaching impact this crisis has on communities, particularly on Black women, who are disproportionately affected.
Lisa Yun Lee, the museum's executive director, highlights the urgency of the dialogue around housing insecurity. "This issue of housing insecurity is weighing heavy on so many of us," Lee told the Chicago Tribune. "‘Evicted’ is an incredible window for us to understand, not just the surface budding statistics about eviction in America, but this idea of what it means for everybody to have a right to a place to call home and the devastating impacts of what happens when you lose your home." The exhibit features three educators with first-hand experience with eviction, offering a personal touch to the hard data.
In collaboration with entities such as ART WORKS Projects and the Chicago Housing Justice League, the "Evicted" exhibit offers a sobering look through photos, interviews, and artifacts. It aims to dismantle stereotypes about eviction, as noted by Block Club Chicago. As the museum prepares to relocate to its new home in Little Italy, Lee expressed the importance of bringing the exhibition to Chicago: "Eviction is not an us-them, tenant-landlord situation. Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance did some of the best work by building alliances with landlords. And this exhibition is about the idea of home. Everyone needs a place to call home."
