Matthew Desmond

Matthew Desmond is a sociologist, author, and MacArthur Fellow, best known for his award-winning book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Desmond has spent his career trying to understand the issues of poverty and inequality. His research focuses on housing insecurity, eviction, and other forms of displacement. In addition to his book, Desmond has published several influential academic articles and is a sought-after speaker on the subject.

Desmond was born in 1983 and grew up in an upper-middle-class family in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He first gained recognition as a young scholar for his research on eviction, poverty, and racial inequality in Milwaukee. He was one of the first social scientists to take an in-depth look at Milwaukee’s housing crisis, which became the primary subject for his first book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City.

Evicted paints a vivid picture of the struggles of poor families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as they grapple with eviction notices and the instability that comes with them. It documents the large-scale displacement of people due to poor housing policies, urban development, and gentrification. The book humanizes poverty, offering an insider's view of the profound and harmful effects of eviction, and providing a nuanced perspective that relies on data and in-depth interviews. Evicted won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.

Throughout his career, Desmond has advocated for social and policy reforms related to eviction and housing insecurity. He has been especially active in the fight for tenant protections for low-income citizens of Milwaukee and around the country. He was a lead architect in the development of Milwaukee’s eviction-prevention ordinance, which requires landlords to provide legally mandated relocation compensation for court-ordered evictions.

In 2018, Desmond was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship—also known as the “genius grant”—for his work on evicting and its effects on vulnerable populations. In awarding the fellowship, the MacArthur Foundation commended him for his “groundbreaking research into the epidemic of housing instability and eviction in the United States”.

Desmond is currently a professor at Princeton University, where he is teaching a course on race and housing policy. He remains a prominent advocate for effective social policies to address housing insecurity and is a leading voice in the fight against urban displacement and homelessness.

Desmond is also the founder of Princeton’s Eviction Lab, a resource that tracks and identifies eviction data in the U.S. The Lab has served as the basis for much of his most recent research, and its work has been instrumental in the development of eviction-mitigation policies.

Desmond’s commitment to understanding and alleviating poverty in America is an inspiration to many. His words, both in his works and his public appearances, are infused with a passion for justice and reform. He is committed to using data-driven evidence to drive social reform, and his findings can provide us with a better understanding of urban poverty and housing policies.