A bit like A Behind the Beautiful Forevers for Milwaukee, this is an outstanding work of journalism and utterly compelling. With honesty and leveled reasoning, Desmond shows the mundane horrors of poverty in America, and his writing so strong I could smell the shit, mold and stagnant water, feel the cold, grey slush in winter and process more sordid scenes than I wanted to see.
There are many characters who are banging their head against a wall: drugs, too many children and it seems, ridiculous financial choices. But the argument that people make poor decisions because they are poor and not that they are poor because they deserve it resonated. I was also horrified to learn about the disturbance orders, and that women are evicted because they are beaten (the cops are called, disturbance recorded, tenants asked to leave). The police are definitely in full swing as compliant apologists for inequities, as is their way.
Yet the pivotal question he raises,” Does everyone have a right to shelter?” is so obvious that no absurdity committed by the characters can argue against it. And the logic is there too-no matter how foolish some of the decisions of the poor might seem, punishing them for their lack of foresight just perpetuates and exacerbates poverty, and costs the taxpayer.
Of course, professional landlords have more than tidy profits, though their jobs, at least for the hands-on landlords, are challenging. The gap between tenants and landlord, however, is unjustifiable, especially considering that many of their tenants do not live in safe conditions with heat and running water.
Community ownership is doubtlessly affected by repeated evictions, which is a strong point in the book. Though I wonder what other factors figure into this, like centralized and underfunded schools, technology. His paean to the home as the center of all stability and growth was deeply moving. I will be ruminating on this book for a while, as it is packed with insight and I appreciate the complexity it adds to my fledgling understanding of poverty in the U.S.