Both Tobin and Sherrena are presented as occasionally lenient toward their tenants in cases of missed rent payments. Why were they willing to do this? What incentives did they have to not immediately evict tenants in these situations?

This encourages the student to understand why both economic incentives and personal reasons motivate landlords to occasionally allow tenants flexibility in paying rent.

Desmond notes that many tenants of both Sherrena and Tobin lived in substandard apartments. Why were many of these tenants reluctant to contact city authorities? In what ways do legal protections fail tenants in their situation?

This encourages the student to consider why certain tenant protection regulations may be ineffective in practice. This is one of the author’s major arguments.

Both Sherrena and the author claim that renting property to low-income tenants can, paradoxically, be extremely lucrative. Why is this the case? What did she do to ensure that her activity was profitable?