Date of Conferral

7-30-2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Criminal Justice

Advisor

Tammy Evans

Abstract

The unending increase in eviction rates and existing housing problems in the United States of America is not an exaggeration. Heterogeneity of requirements or eviction laws is a pervasive phenomenon across the states nationwide. These fundamental issues require immediate attention and must be addressed. The purpose of this study is to explore the dynamic gap in our criminal justice system, the lack of legal aid, and potential criminality resulting from eviction and housing problems. Moreover, the psychological, physical, and emotional effects of these problems on the victims in relation to the roles of social workers, community advocates, and housing policy makers. The institutional analysis and development framework was adopted to query and ascertain the main reasons why a certain class of people are victims of marginalization in various communities. Questionnaires were facilitated through social media online to enable voluntary and anonymous participation of the targeted focus group to relate their unique experiences. Thirty-four participants were critically analyzed and administered, of which 22 participants were the evicted and 12 were the respondent landlords. Coping with substantial related documents explored and the data generated from the respondents, the sample size was derived and critically analyzed. However, this qualitative research used content analysis, questionnaires, and thematic analysis to identify patterns, themes, and biases. Meanwhile, the findings of this study reveal that poverty, racial inequalities, lack of sufficient legal aid to victims, and ignorance of the court’s procedures are the major causes of housing problems in America. As such, the aforementioned proposition’s implication for positive social change is its plenipotentiary for policymakers to advocate and implement genuine and suitable housing reforms.

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