Eviction Lab has made nationwide eviction data publicly available and accessible. They hope the data is used by policymakers, community organizers, journalists, educators, non-profit organizations, students, and citizens interested in understanding more about housing, eviction, and poverty in their own backyards (Eviction Lab).
Drawing on tens of millions of records, the Eviction Lab at Princeton University has published the first-ever dataset of evictions in America, going back to 2000 through 2018. The project is still ongoing. However, the mapped data has yet to be updated (Eviction Lab).
Project Lead Matthew Desmond started studying housing, poverty, and eviction in 2008, living and working alongside poor tenants and their landlords in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Combining ethnographic fieldwork with original statistical analyses, Desmond discovered that eviction was incredibly prevalent in low-income communities and functioned as a cause, not just a condition, of poverty. So, With the support of the Gates, JPB, Ford Foundations, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Desmond founded the Eviction Lab in 2017 with the conviction that stable, affordable housing can be an effective platform to promote economic mobility, health, and community vitality (Eviction Lab).
Researchers can use the data to help document the prevalence, causes, and consequences of eviction and to evaluate laws and policies designed to promote residential security and reduce poverty. The Eviction Labs team hopes their findings will inform programs to prevent eviction and family homelessness, raise awareness of the centrality of housing insecurity in the lives of low-income families, and deepen our understanding of the fundamental drivers of poverty in America (Eviction Lab).
The Eviction Lab project is highly significant to both its area of study and the field of Digital Humanities. In the realm of housing policy, urban studies, sociology, and economics, the project provides crucial data on eviction patterns across the U.S., offering empirical evidence to inform housing policies and tenant protections. By analyzing eviction trends, it contributes to a deeper understanding of how housing instability affects economic security, urban development, and public health. The project highlights the social consequences of eviction, demonstrating its links to poverty, mental health struggles, and community displacement, making it a vital resource for researchers, policymakers, and advocates (Eviction Lab).
From a Digital Humanities perspective, the Eviction Lab exemplifies data-driven storytelling by transforming complex eviction data into interactive visualizations, maps, and narratives. Through open-access datasets and public scholarship, it democratizes information, allowing researchers, journalists, and the public to engage with its findings. Additionally, its interdisciplinary approach merges computational methods with social justice issues, showcasing how digital tools can enhance research, advocacy, and policymaking. By making eviction data accessible and actionable, the project embodies the core DH principle of using technology to address pressing societal challenges (Eviction Lab).