The New Scarlet Letter, E: NPR's 'On The Media' Investigates America's Eviction Crisis

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Personal belongings and furniture piled up outside Limes' apartment complex during one of two evictions that took place on March 3, 2016 / NPR

Construction cranes poke through the skyline across metro Atlanta. It's a testament to growth and efforts to draw new companies and residents to call the region home. Not so visible are the millions of Americans being thrown out of their homes. It's a problem throughout the country.

The Eviction Lab at Princeton University found nearly 2.3 million evictions were filed in the U.S. in 2016. NPR's On The Media partnered with The Eviction Lab for a four-part series called The Scarlet E: Unmasking America's Eviction Crisis.

On Second Thought host Virginia Prescott speaks with Brooke Gladstone.

On The Media co-host Brooke Gladstone joined On Second Thought to break down eviction rate statistics in Atlanta and other cities she report on for the series.

"We call it 'the scarlet E' because one thing we found over and over again is that if you have an eviction on your record for whatever reason, the possibility of finding another landlord grows vanishly small," Gladstone said. "And there have been people who have gone to 80, 90 — until the point where they are so worn down with rejections, they'll take whatever they get."

On The Media airs on GPB Sundays at noon and at 10:00 am in Athens.

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