Sandra Gathron sat on a bench near the elevators leading to eviction court at the Oklahoma County District Courthouse on August 22, chatting on the phone and snuggling her one-year-old granddaughter, Alaysha. Two other women joined Gathron; one played peek-a-boo to entertain Alaysha.
In the main hall outside the eviction courtrooms, Adonika Fuller waited quietly with her neighbor Jerry Jones for updates. Fuller was there for her eviction hearing, while Jones offered moral support for Fuller and their neighbor, Jennifer Esquivel, who was discussing her eviction case with a Legal Aid attorney.
Nearby, three other women waited for legal assistance. Across from them, a senior man sat at the end of a bench next to five more women.
“Look around,” Fuller said. “What do you see? What do you see? How many women are here?”
According to Shelterwell, a housing stability organization based in Oklahoma City, women account for about six in 10 eviction filings in Oklahoma County. Nationally, Black women tenants with children make up 28% of eviction filings.
Attorneys from Legal Aid Services Oklahoma noted that the national trend of Black mothers facing the most evictions is apparent in Oklahoma as well.
It’s usually clear who the tenants are compared to landlords, mediators, and attorneys at eviction court. On this day, like most, women of color were the predominant tenant demographic.
It wasn’t a coincidence that the day’s docket was filled with cases against women of color.
While male tenants were present and many others had already come and gone, most defendants in the courtroom were women, primarily Black, several accompanied by their children.
Shelterwell’s data showed that among tenants facing eviction in Oklahoma County, 63% were women, 70% were non-white, 61% had children, and 92% reported being behind on rent.
“Statistically, when outcomes aren’t good for a white man, they’re going to be slightly worse for a white woman, worse for a Black man, and worse than ever for a Black woman,” said State Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City.
Racial and gender disparities in eviction court often stem from low-wage jobs, childcare costs, single parenthood, and wage gaps. But centuries of generational poverty, discriminatory housing, and credit practices like redlining and exclusionary zoning still impact Black mothers in the 21st century at alarming rates.
The Oklahoma County eviction docket on August 22 included 186 cases.
Trees and Sidewalks Hint at Historical Racism
A lack of generational wealth leaves many Black families financially strained, working low-wage jobs, paying more than they can afford for rent, and facing evictions due to these financial challenges.
While white families were buying homes and building generational wealth in the 20th century, Black families often lived in redlined neighborhoods—areas marked in red on maps by bankers who deemed these populations as poor credit risks and ineligible for mortgage loans. The Home Owners Loan Corporation labeled these areas as fourth-grade or hazardous.
Desirable neighborhoods were shaded green and blue on those maps.
Redlining was banned in 1968 with the Fair Housing Act, which outlaws racial discrimination in housing.
However, racial discrimination still occurs. In 2023, the U.S. Justice Department announced a settlement addressing allegations that American Bank of Oklahoma engaged in ongoing lending discrimination by redlining Tulsa’s historically Black neighborhoods, which were the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
As part of the settlement, American Bank was required to invest nearly $1 million in a loan subsidy fund, allocate hundreds of thousands to enhance credit access in majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, and open a loan production office for Black and Hispanic residents.
Bennett’s House District 92 includes parts of downtown Oklahoma City, southeast Oklahoma City, and northwest Oklahoma City. Bennett is involved in a project that tracks the impact of redlining practices on Oklahoma City neighborhoods since they were supposed to be outlawed.
Driving through Oklahoma City, Bennett observed areas that were once redlined. Midtown was one such district, where modern development has obscured its history and boosted its value, Bennett noted.
Historic homes with mature trees and streets with sidewalks were typically built in blue or green areas and were owned by white Oklahomans. Urban core neighborhoods lacking sidewalks and landscaping are likely to have been redlined.
“A Black couple and a white couple making the same amount of money faced different opportunities,” Bennett said. “A white couple’s ability to buy a nice single-family home allowed them to build generational wealth. Meanwhile, a Black couple, often restricted from buying a home, continued renting without building equity or having property as leverage when needed.”
Past racist housing policies that haven’t been fully addressed contribute directly to today’s eviction crisis among minorities, said Sabine Brown, a housing senior policy analyst at the Oklahoma Policy Institute.
“Black families were largely prevented from buying single-family homes, which left them in the urban core in multifamily housing,” Brown explained.
Currently, 96% of Oklahoma City’s residential areas and 81% of Tulsa’s are zoned exclusively for single-family dwellings. Multifamily housing is limited to specific areas, and many of the zip codes with the highest eviction rates are former redlined areas on city maps.
Ongoing Racism, Gender Discrepancies Affect Eviction Rates
This Article Includes
Nationally, Black Americans represent just 18.6% of all renters, yet they account for half of all eviction filings. In Oklahoma, Black tenants make up nearly 60% of eviction defendants.
Black women with children are the most affected group, comprising 28.3% of all eviction filings.
In Oklahoma, 61% of households facing eviction include children, reflecting national trends showing that when age groups are combined, children under 19 make up more than 40% of those directly impacted by evictions. Moving, changing schools, missing school days, making new friends, and other sudden life changes can deeply affect children of all ages.
Women constitute two-thirds of the state’s lowest-wage workers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Black workers are 50% more likely, and Hispanic workers 40% more likely, than white workers to earn minimum wage or less.
A wage of $19.91 per hour is necessary to afford a moderate two-bedroom home in Oklahoma.
Fuller, one of these low-wage workers at 47, had an appointment for a drug screening to start a new second job after her court hearing. Though her four children are grown and independent, Fuller said she will work about 100 hours per week to make ends meet.
Eviction Looms Large Among Undervalued Gender
Eviction Lab founder Matthew Desmond said evictions are to Black women what incarceration is to Black men.
In his 2016 book, “Evicted,” Desmond wrote, “Poor Black men may be locked up, but poor Black women are locked out.” This statement remains true, said Jacob Haas, a research specialist at Eviction Lab at Princeton University, which Desmond helped establish.
“Black men continue to be locked up and Black women continue to be locked out,” Haas stated.
Brown noted that when men are incarcerated, women are left behind to support themselves and their children.
Trying to Keep What They Have
In 2022, full-time salaried women in Oklahoma had a median weekly pay of $769, or 80.8% of the $952 median weekly pay of their male counterparts, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Oklahoma hasn’t raised its $7.25 minimum wage since 2009.
“Nowadays, it’s just trying to keep what we have,” Fuller remarked.
Fuller and Esquivel’s residence, Brickell Apartments, owned by Sand Hills to Brickell Apts LLC, demanded immediate rent payment, or the women would be out. Neither had the money to pay in full.