Tenant navigation as a critical infrastructure of care

Source abstract

Millions of eviction filings occur annually in the US, displacing hundreds of thousands of tenants and particularly affecting Black, Brown, and impoverished individuals. This article examines the framework and realities of a policy designed to support tenants facing eviction. The city of Indianapolis established the Tenant Advocacy Program in 2020, utilizing funds from the American Rescue Plan, to address eviction rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework and format of the policy were developed through engagement with community representatives and leaders, who provided critical insights into community needs. Findings show how the tenant Navigators, primarily Black women with personal experiences about housing precarity, perform underpaid care work, creating a community safety net of support for tenants. Tenant Navigators illuminate the historical housing precarities faced by Black and Brown individuals and challenge enduring stigmas. Despite the policy’s limitations, their work constitutes a critical infrastructure of care, transcending the dehumanizing space of the court and weaving an embodied, relational, communal infrastructure of care for tenants. Infrastructures of care seek to sustain life and expose the structural violence of racial capitalism that make such care necessary while also presenting its own contradictions. This study offers insights into eviction prevention and developing policies that reflect community perspectives and experiences.