Project · Podcast
#HerHousing
A podcast on today’s housing issues with a gendered focus — and a website of vetted housing resources for women.
#HerHousing brand illustration
Why this show
The starting point is Matthew Desmond’s Evicted: Poverty and Profit in an American City and the Eviction Lab that grew out of it — 83 million eviction records documenting how widespread housing insecurity is, in cities and small towns alike.
Inside that data is a pattern that rarely leads the coverage. Women are the group most severely affected: poor women of colour, survivors of domestic violence, and women with children all carry a higher risk of eviction. And Black women are evicted at higher rates than any other group.
The reasons compound. Lower wages from the pay gap. Living paycheck to paycheck. Primary responsibility for raising children. A rent burden that falls disproportionately on women. And the gender power dynamic between mostly male landlords and female tenants.
That is the gap the show exists to close: the data names women as the worst affected, and almost none of the coverage is built around their accounts of it.
Education does not protect you
Renters threatened with eviction in the past year, by education
The gap does not close as education rises — it widens. Among renters with a bachelor’s degree or higher, Black households report being threatened with eviction at close to three times the rate of white households.
Scroll the chart sideways →
View as table — including all groups surveyed
| Education | Black | Other | White | Hispanic | Asian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High school or less | 15.3% | 11.2% | 10.5% | 7.9% | 5.5% |
| Some college | 13.6% | 9.6% | 6.8% | 6.8% | 4.4% |
| Bachelor’s or higher | 6.4% | 3.8% | 2.2% | 1.1% | 1.1% |
Source: Apartment List 2017 Renter Survey, US Census and Apartment List calculations, as presented in the #HerHousing deck. Values are read from the published chart and are approximate.
Why it matters to her
In 2015, working full time in advertising while doing her M.A. in Women’s History full time, she found a bedbug in her apartment. She reported it to her landlord. His response was that she needed to clean her apartment.
She fought him. Because she spoke up, she was retaliated against — and eventually evicted.
Pursuing the legal battle is what showed her the gap this show exists to fill: plenty of outlets and organizations cover housing, but very few cover it through a gendered, intersectional lens. The data that does exist concentrates on poor women, which leaves out the broader truth — that the disparity holds at every level of education and class.
The show
Format
Part scripted, with banter, recurring segments and interviews. She hosts. Largely self-contained, with studio sessions for interviews and live recording at events.
Scripted · Segments · Interviews · LiveWho speaks
Women who have been through the dark side of housing, telling their own stories — alongside policymakers, activists, artists, mental health advocates, lawyers, disability advocates, seniors and scholars.
First-person · Expert · Cross-sectorAudience
Women first, and with them policymakers, students, activists, housing stakeholders, and religious, educational, legal and housing institutions.
Advocacy · Policy · AcademicThe resource list
A companion website listing housing resources for women — every one of them vetted. The show builds the network; the site makes it usable.
Vetted resources · Referral networkWhat it takes to make
The budget is deliberately small. This is a show that can start now.
| Item | Detail | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Microphone | Audio-Technica ATR2100 | $64 |
| Foam microphone cover | — | $7 |
| XLR cables | 2 × | $40 |
| Software | GarageBand, included with Mac | $0 |
| Hosting | Buzzsprout, monthly | $12/mo |
| Cover art | Commissioned | $5–100 |
| Original music | Free to commissioned | $0–200 |
| Editor | Per episode | $50 |
| Incorporation | In the Bronx | $150 |
Scroll the table sideways →
Figures from the #HerHousing pitch deck.