The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Guest opinion: Iowa City’s housing conditions are unjustifiable 

Ed+Bornstein%2FThe+Daily+Iowan%0AA+growing+Iowa+City+skyline+stands+against+a+muggy+afternoon+sky+on+Monday%2C+July+17%2C+2006.+A+story+released+Monday+in+Money+Magazine+ranked+the+city+No.+74+on+its+Best+Places+to+Live+list+out+of+an+original+pool+of+nearly+750.
Ed Bornstein/The Daily Iowan A growing Iowa City skyline stands against a muggy afternoon sky on Monday, July 17, 2006. A story released Monday in Money Magazine ranked the city No. 74 on its “Best Places to Live” list out of an original pool of nearly 750.

I am a victim/survivor of domestic abuse. I am also a mother and a University of Iowa student.

Domestic violence is a widely misunderstood term and phenomenon. I personally choose to use the term domestic abuse. Domestic violence has also been labeled intimate partner violence, intimate partner abuse, patriarchal terrorism, and intimate terrorism. An expert in the field since the 1970s and forensic social worker Evan Stark has relabeled the phenomenon as coercive control.

Stark, and others, assert that the current models in place for addressing domestic violence are ineffective, specifically because they are violence- based models that focus on isolated incidents of violence rather than the deeper, more complex issues of power and control. It is this failure of the violence-based model and my personal experiences that shapes my choice of the term “domestic abuse.” When Stark’s term, coercive control, becomes more widely accepted and recognized, I will switch to that term.

Victims of domestic abuse are often blamed for their circumstances in much the same way that our society has traditionally blamed victims of sexual assault. A victim of domestic abuse is seen as weak, incompetent, incapable of standing up for herself, and/or unable to take care of herself. A big question is always, “Why doesn’t she just leave?” Contained within that question is the very nature of domestic abuse/coercive control.

Domestic-abuse activists have understood for a long time what statistics now verify: On average, a victim will make seven attempts to leave before finally breaking free. This is not because of weakness on the part of the victim, but instead demonstrates the insidious power and control that the abuser has over the victim.

A form of systemic discrimination that domestic-abuse victims face is in the basic human right to housing. Researchers have found that victims are evicted because of domestic-violence crimes committed against them, they are denied housing because of their status as a victim of domestic abuse, or if offered housing, given more unfavorable lease terms and conditions than a non-victim. Experts identify domestic abuse as a leading cause of homelessness for women and children.

There is also a terrible stigma and apathy surrounding homelessness in our culture. I have been forcibly evicted by my landlord. I revealed to the property manager that I am a victim of domestic abuse when I asked him to install a simple peephole in our front door. It was after this that he stopped making promised repairs and refused to renew my lease.

Because of the student-centered/landlord-controlled rental housing market in Iowa City, there is very little affordable family housing available. I have been searching for affordable, safe housing for my family and me since the summer of 2015. One potential rental unit we visited was owned by a registered sex-offender who served time for peeping on his female tenants. It is shocking that he is allowed to continue renting to women and children. I am reduced to living in a hotel that I cannot afford with my daughter and our two cats. My daughter cannot sleep because it is not home. Our cats are scared and confused. I fix meals for us in a microwave and wash dishes in a tiny bathroom sink. The hotel is far from my daughter’s school.

I sought help from Student Legal Services at the UI, which explained that there is nothing in Iowa law that requires landlords to renew tenants’ leases, nor are they required to provide an explanation for their refusal to renew. Legal Services urged me to simply find a new home.

The owner of the duplex (where we previously lived), resides in California. Keith Barton is not a UI alumnus and never visits Iowa City. He owns several properties in Iowa City and pays a property manager to take care of his rental units. He has no personal investment in the community of Iowa City other than the lucrative prospects of owning property and renting it out under the guise of housing, a basic human right and need that has been circumvented by greed and the lust for profit.

The UI plays a role in this scenario. The shortage of student housing on campus sends students into the Iowa City rental market even sooner. Landlords make a greater profit renting to students, who will pay rent for a single bedroom in a five-bedroom house instead of renting to a family. The result is that families, and other low-income/fixed-income renters are driven out of Iowa City. My daughter attends an Iowa City school. When I have tried accessing human-service agencies for housing assistance, the suggestion is to move to North Liberty, where housing is less expensive. My daughter does not want to have to change schools and leave behind her friends. She has already done this once before, as a result of our domestic-abuse situation.

I have sought help from a variety of departments on campus. The director of the Office of Student Retention actually suggested that my daughter and I stay at the homeless shelter until we could find alternative housing. I asked her if she had ever been inside a homeless shelter. I said that anyone who had ever been inside a homeless shelter would never suggest that as a solution, especially to someone with children. How does the UI justify sending its students to a homeless shelter agency to get help accessing housing?

Within my many efforts to access help resolving our situation, I recently learned that there are 500 kids designated as homeless in the Iowa City School District.

While working on a group project about homelessness in Iowa City for one of my classes, I learned that 4 to 5 percent of the population of Johnson County identifies as black/African American. In contrast, I found that 50 percent of the homeless population of Johnson County identifies as black/African American.

The city of Iowa City promotes itself as a UNESCO City. UNESCO is a branch of the United Nations that works to help cities build inclusive societies. The UNESCO website page asserts that “lasting peace rests on a complex and fragile web of daily practices embedded in local settings and the most ephemeral encounters that individuals and communities creatively maintain out of the conviction that they constitute the sustainable conditions for living together in dignity and shared prosperity.” That same page also says that UNESCO: “works to ensure that health and education are not the privilege of those who are well-off.”

How does the city of Iowa City justify the current housing conditions and housing markets, while at the same time promoting itself as a UNESCO city?

Sheri Deal-Tyne

More to Discover