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This story was co-published and supported by the journalism nonprofit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

When Kenni Cummings faced an eviction in 2021, they knew that finding another home in South Carolina would not be easy. After separating from their spouse, Cummings’ household income as a single parent was not enough to continue comfortably paying their monthly living expenses. 

With assistance from local organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of South Carolina, the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, and independent legal teams dedicated to helping tenants navigate housing insecurity, Cummings got the help they needed to find housing. 

But as part of the stressful process, they had a series of realizations. South Carolina had confusing, conflicting eviction data, and there was a need in the state for more accessible tenant support—especially for residents unfamiliar with the critical lifelines that Cummings accessed, or who can’t afford to take time off from work to access them. How quickly a person is evicted also seemed to depend on whether they could obtain adequate legal support for the day of their eviction proceedings, according to Cummings. 

To address some of these issues, in 2022, Cummings and their business partner, Kanani Burns, founded the South Carolina Tenant Union. The union is an organizing hub designed to encourage tenants to challenge the systems that often take advantage of renters and profit off their need for housing. 

“Our role is to gather tenants and turn them into leaders in their own communities,” Cummings said. “It is a place where they can learn, grow, and be challenged. We want them to think their housing realities are crystal clear: affordable, sustainable, safe. Every person deserves to live like this.” 

According to Cummings, more than 3,000 local residents attended their organization’s “Know Your Rights” summit in April, leading them to believe that South Carolina residents were ready to advocate for their rights. 

On a hyperlocal level, much of Cummings’ time is spent helping residents of apartment complexes to organize tenant unions and connecting locals to legal aid if they have to go to eviction court. Cummings has also partnered with national movements, such as the Tenant Union Federation, which has enabled them to learn from grassroots organizers across the country to better understand how broader fights for housing justice impact advocacy at the state level.

The South Carolina Tenant Union needs all of the support it can get, given the brutal housing landscape facing Black families in the state. 

Examining the data

South Carolina has one of the highest eviction rates in the U.S., with two of its major cities—Greenville and Charleston—ranking second and third in the nation. Like other states, eviction rates are tied to high rental prices that far exceed local wages. But the state also has no rental cap, meaning that landlords can increase rents at will. Compounding the problems further, more than 99% of South Carolinians facing eviction have no legal representation, which exacerbates home loss, according to the ACLU of South Carolina. 

These are the conditions Cummings and other locals are fighting to change. 

While it’s clear that South Carolina is one of the states leading the country in evictions, exact numbers weren’t always easy to come by. The data was difficult to access, in part, because the state banned what’s known as “scraping,” or automated data collection, that would allow local chapters of the ACLU and NAACP to identify tenants who were in eviction proceedings and provide them services. The organizations sued the South Carolina Court Administration in 2022, eventually settling the case the following year and gaining access to historical eviction records. The groups were also promised timely access to all new eviction filings.

Among other troubling trends, the data showed that while the national average of evictions decreased post-pandemic, South Carolina’s rates have only increased over the last five years. 

Cummings and other local organizers say that unemployment fuels South Carolina’s eviction crisis—especially for Black women, who disproportionately experience eviction in South Carolina and nationwide. The ACLU of South Carolina found that Black renters represent nearly 33% of all eviction filings, despite only making up about 20% of all adult renters. Of 1.44 million eviction cases in the state, Black women and their families were twice as likely as white households to face eviction. 

Unemployment and underemployment create a direct pipeline to housing insecurity. According to the Homelessness Policy Research Institute, unemployment is the leading cause of housing insecurity for families. Nationally, since February, nearly 600,000 Black women have forcibly exited the labor force and a report released this year from the Economic Policy Institute found that unemployment rates among Black women in South Carolina this year increased to 7.5%—the highest unemployment rate since 2021. 

Cummings told Prism that they regularly see these cascading consequences play out in the lives of Black women who turn to the South Carolina Tenant Union for help. This includes one woman who approached Cummings last year in dire need of help finding housing in South Carolina.  

The pregnant mom of three had recently lost her job and had an eviction on her record in Florida, so she was relocating to South Carolina to be closer to her family support system. But she found that housing was very hard to come by. 

“It breaks my heart that we are not a safety net state, but with limited resources, we did the best we could to support this mother,” Cummings said, noting that the woman was ultimately waitlisted at shelters. However, she said the conditions at local shelters made her feel unsafe. 

It took a village to help the woman access safer housing. Thanks to mutual aid, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which helps find housing for children experiencing homelessness, and assistance from the Charleston-based reproductive justice organization Beloved Early Education and Care (BEE) Collective, two months of housing support were provided to the family. 

“The process was taxing on everyone due to the amount of paperwork needed on this mother’s behalf,” Cummings said. “We had to track down her past eviction record. We had to write a letter of support … just so that she could actually get access to services. And then the access to services were actually quite limited. And this is not a failure of the staffers … It’s a failure on our larger system.”

Ultimately, the woman stayed in a series of hotels before she was placed in a one-month transitional apartment. The BEE Collective also provided mental health support and additional mutual aid to the family. 

Still, Cummings said the stress caused the woman to go into labor early.

More evictions, more problems

It’s not unusual for eviction to lead to a host of broader problems, including mental and physical health challenges, less access to education and employment opportunities, and a higher probability of remaining in cycles of poverty. 

According to experts who work with families facing eviction, many issues associated with housing instability—especially those related to health—are overlooked. 

For example, when families are seeking more permanent housing, they are often placed in temporary housing or otherwise turn to under-resourced apartments. It’s not unusual for this housing to be equipped with an old HVAC system or to have mold, lead paint, or other serious issues, such as caved-in ceilings and roach infestations, as reported by WCSC. 

In South Carolina, mold is fairly common due to the state’s humid climate. This often results in increased risk of asthma—especially in Black residents, who are 1.5 times more likely than any other demographic in the U.S. to be diagnosed with asthma in their lifetime, “in part because of social determinants and structural inequities stemming from discrimination,” the American Lung Association reported. 

Cummings told Prism that the lack of regulations for mold in the state robs families “of the air that they breathe.” They also noted that it costs parents a lot of time, energy, and money to address health care and housing issues. Those who try to address unsafe conditions sometimes experience repercussions—or worse, they aren’t protected by the state at all. The South Carolina Residential Landlord and Tenant Act does not contain exact language setting limits for mold or outline specific procedures that landlords must follow for inspection or improvement.

But it can be difficult for South Carolinians to prioritize battling their landlords over mold when they are too busy struggling to survive—and this includes experiencing food insecurity. 

Alicia Miller, a maternal health professional and registered dietician and learning disability nurse in Washington, D.C., told Prism that she regularly works with patients who are experiencing unstable housing, and food insecurity almost always follows. 

“Housing and food access are two of the most overlooked threats to maternal and child health outcomes, particularly for Black families,” Miller said. “Both pregnancy and childhood are already a time of increased nutritional need, so when a parent is worried about where they’ll sleep, whether their environment is safe for their children, or where their next meal is coming from, it becomes nearly impossible to prioritize nutrition, emotional well-being, or appropriate medical care.” 

Housing insecurities create reciprocal challenges, impacting factors such as employment and even criminalization. 

Georgia-based career strategist Patrice Williams-Lindo echoed Miller, telling Prism that “when eviction is looming for Black mothers, health doesn’t just suffer—it gets weaponized.” 

“We get labeled unreliable, unwell, or too stressed to lead, when in truth, the system is unstable, not us,” Williams-Lindo said. “Housing insecurity hits differently for Black mothers. It doesn’t just displace us—it puts everything at risk.”

Unstable systems that disproportionately impact Black women—and mothers in particular—have lasting impacts.

Therapist Cecily Batiste Dawson told Prism that when Black mothers experience housing insecurity, their mental health inevitably takes a hit because the “constant stress of being in survival mode” makes it difficult to feel safe. 

“That emotional strain doesn’t stop with them because it spills into their parenting, shaping how their children experience safety, connection, and stress—and that’s how generational trauma takes root,” Dawson said.

Cummings told Prism that unfortunately this dynamic was evident in the story of the mother from Florida, whom their organization helped. Because she was housing insecure, the state eventually took custody of her children. Today, she is still without housing and in search of employment. 

Demanding justice 

Instead of waiting for conditions to change in their state, fed-up South Carolinians are banding together to demand justice and implement their own solutions. 

One resident of a North Charleston subsidized apartment, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of further repercussions, told Prism that it’s critical for residents to begin lifting their voices and demanding fair treatment. 

“I have been very vocal with the apartment complex, taking pictures of mold and broken toilets,” they explained. “I’m using my voice, along with legal help, to speak up for our rights. My neighbors have thanked me for it because many of them have been afraid to speak up, afraid that they would lose the only housing they have for demanding justice.” The resident told Prism that calling attention to their building’s poor living conditions led their rent to skyrocket from $264 to $700 per month without the standard 30-day notice. 

Across the state, residents and local organizations have shown up in unique ways for South Carolinians facing economic hardship.

Fresh Future Farm, for example, offers take-and-make meals and local, organically grown produce on a sliding scale. 

“We are not in the business of criminalizing families for housing insecurity,” said Tamazha North, store manager at Fresh Future Farm. “One of the best ways that we can help is by growing food and offering it to our communities for free or for low cost. Evictions are causing folks to also become food insecure, and we are using our resources to ensure that our community members, especially families, are fed.”   

Cummings told Prism that the housing crisis in South Carolina, coupled with the larger political climate fueled by the Trump administration, is pushing people to be “really clear” about the work they are called to do. 

And for the South Carolina organizer, the answer is abundantly clear. 

“We don’t want South Carolina to be known as the eviction capital,” Cummings said. “The South Carolina Tenant Union is prioritizing protections, deepening relationships with communities, and navigating this housing crisis together. We’re all we’ve got.”

Editorial Team:

Tina Vasquez, Lead Editor
Carolyn Copeland, Top Editor
Stephanie Harris, Copy Editor