Black moms and pregnant women forced out of their homes in metro Detroit face health and safety threats

In Michigan, landlords must follow a formal eviction process through the court system to remove a tenant, even for reasons like unpaid rent or lease violations. This process begins with a court order and includes steps such as a 30-day notice for lease non-renewal. Landlords cannot legally retaliate against tenants who request repairs by ending their lease. Despite these protections, Detroit had 20,370 eviction cases filed in 2025, but research shows the actual number of evictions is likely twice as high because many landlords bypass the court system and carry out illegal evictions without a judge’s order.

A tenured social epidemiology professor and Detroit native led the first comprehensive U.S. study on court-ordered and illegal evictions among Black women, surveying nearly 1,500 Black women aged 18 to 46 in metro Detroit. Of these, nearly 800 had experienced an eviction in their lifetime. The study highlights how structural racism and sexism intersect, making Black women and children particularly vulnerable to evictions. The research is part of the SECURE Study, conducted with a community advisory board of Black women leaders in human rights, social justice, and healthcare, some of whom had personal experiences with eviction.

Reproductive justice refers to the human rights to bodily autonomy, the choice to have children, and the ability to raise children in safe communities. The study found that illegal evictions significantly undermine these rights for Black women. More than one-third of pregnant or postpartum participants who experienced an illegal eviction had nowhere to live afterward. Additionally, 26% of pregnant or postpartum women who were illegally evicted lacked a formal lease, and 21% had a month-to-month tenancy, which offers weaker renter protections. These findings underscore the urgent need for policies that address the unique vulnerabilities of mothers and babies.

Evictions, whether court-ordered or illegal, have severe health consequences, particularly for pregnant women and children. A study in Georgia linked birth records from 2000 to 2016 with court eviction records, finding that mothers evicted during their second or third trimesters were more likely to have adverse birth outcomes, such as low birth weight or premature babies. Another study across four U.S. cities from 2011 to 2019 showed that children who experienced eviction faced higher risks of developmental delays, behavioral issues, hospitalizations, and overall poorer health compared to those who were not evicted.

The study included in-depth interviews with 55 women who reported being illegally evicted, with nearly a third also experiencing eviction as children. Illegal evictions often involved threats of violence and led to food insecurity, housing instability, and intergenerational trauma. One mother described being forced out of her home with threats after the landlord failed to make promised repairs. She and her pregnant 17-year-old daughter ended up in a hotel for two months, where her daughter gave birth. Another participant, illegally evicted while pregnant, lost significant weight due to stress and food insecurity, weighing just 116 pounds at one point.

Illegal evictions can lead to the loss of child custody, as unstable housing makes it difficult to provide a safe environment for children. One participant explained that she lost custody of her children after being illegally evicted because she no longer had a stable home. At the time of the interview, she had not regained custody. These findings highlight how evictions contribute to family separations and long-term social and economic instability for affected households.