Poverty and Profit in the American City
Our current selection is an in depth look at the housing and eviction crisis in America. Matthew Desmond, a MacArthur Fellow and Harvard sociologist, asks us to look more closely at eviction, not simply as a symptom of poverty, but as a cause.
We meet both families and landlords in EVICTED. The book tells the stories of 8 different families who face eviction whom Matthew came to know over the close to one year he spent living in the poor communities of Milwaukee. In addition to his exhaustive field work, Matthew also examined housing court records, 911 calls and developed the Milwaukee Area Renters Survey that collected in person questionnaires from over 1000 families.
Here is a compelling video Matthew created about the book, in which he says,
If we want to erase poverty in America, we must do something about the stark lack of affordable housing in our cities, because without stable shelter, everything else falls apart.”
(If you cannot see the video, you can view it here.)
Matthew was a MacArthur Fellow in 2015. In this video, produced by the MacArthur Foundation he talks about his research and reporting process. Matthew hopes to help the country think bigger about solutions to the crisis of poverty.
(If you cannot see the video, you can view it here.)
Eviction, instead of being rare has become ordinary. The prevalence of eviction, how common it is in low income neighborhoods is leaving a deep and jagged scar on the next generation.” –Matthew Desmond
EVICTED: Poverty and Profit in the American City is available through Amazon, your local bookseller and in most libraries. It is a compelling, important and heartbreaking book. I look forward to hearing from you as you dive in.
I thought I knew the plight of poor people living in poverty. Reading this book tells me I only knew the half of it. My heart is heavy and I am in tears as I read what it is really like.