“Our current state of affairs reduces to poverty people born for better things.” — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I don't think that you can address poverty unless you address the lack of affordable housing in the cities. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I see myself working in the tradition of sociology and journalism that tries to bear witness to poverty. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Exploitation. Now, there's a word that has been scrubbed out of the poverty debate. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“Instability is not inherent to poverty. Poor families move so much because they are forced to. Along” — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I see myself writing in the tradition of urban ethnography and in the tradition of the sociology of poverty. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I left college with a deep sense that I needed to understand poverty more. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
We have failed to fully appreciate how deeply housing is implicated in the creation of poverty. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
A lot of people didn't know just what eviction does to people, how it really sets their life on a different and… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“One's sovereignty over the land is expressed most powerfully in the act of banishment. Perhaps the first eviction recorded in human history… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
The texture and hardship of poverty and eviction is something that I think left the deepest impression on me, and I hope… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
When I was confronted with just the bare facts of poverty and inequality in America, it always disturbed and confused me. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
You have to understand the role the landlords are playing in shaping neighborhoods, how they potentially expand or reduce inequality, how their… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
The poor don't want some small life. They don't want to game the system. They want to contribute, and they want to… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
This country has so much wealth and so much poverty, and that seemed wrong to me. 'Evicted' was my Ph.D. dissertation. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
If we continue to tolerate this level of poverty in our cities, and go along with eviction as commonplace in poor neighborhoods,… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“They have shown that problems endemic to poverty—residential instability, severe deprivation, concentrated neighborhood disadvantage, health disparities, even joblessness—stem from the lack of… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“Most federal housing subsidies benefit families with six-figure incomes.59 If we are going to spend the bulk of our public dollars on… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I wanted to write a book about poverty that wasn't only about the poor. I was looking for some sort of narrative… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I don't want to sound Pollyannish about this. I understand that poverty is never just poverty. It's often this collection of maladies,… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“If we are going to spend the bulk of our public dollars on the affluent — at least when it comes to… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“The pursuit of happiness undeniably includes the pursuit of material well-being: minimally, being able to secure basic necessities. It can be overwhelming… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
If we take a hard look at what poverty is, its nature, it's not pretty - it's full of trauma. And we're… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Moms that get evicted are depressed and have higher rates of depressive symptoms two years later. That has to affect their interactions… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“Screening practices that banned criminality and poverty in the same stroke drew poor families shoulder to shoulder with drug dealers, sex offenders,… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“Losing your home and possessions and often your job; being stamped with an eviction record and denied government housing assistance; relocating to… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“People like Larraine lived with so many compounded limitations that it was difficult to imagine the amount of good behavior or self-control… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“When people began to view their neighborhood as brimming with deprivation and vice, full of “all sorts of shipwrecked humanity,” they lost… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
If poverty persists in America, it is not for lack of resources. We lack something else. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
A universal voucher program would change the face of poverty in this country. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Poverty was a relationship, I thought, involving poor and rich people alike. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
If we take a hard look at what poverty is, its nature, it's not pretty - it's full of trauma. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I have always been really troubled by the amount of poverty in America. Americans are matched in their rich democracy with the… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I don't think we can fix poverty without fixing housing, and I don't think we can address housing without understanding landlords. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Even growing up the way I did, I was shocked by the level of poverty I saw as a college student. I… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Families who get evicted tend to live in worse housing than they did before, and they live in neighborhoods with higher poverty… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Poverty is not just a sad accident, but it's also a result of the fact that some people make a lot of… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“Poverty is two-faced—a matter of income and expenses, input and output—and in a world of exploitation, it will not be effectively ameliorated… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I don't think we can fix poverty without fixing housing, and I don't think we can address housing without understanding landlords. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
If we continue to tolerate this level of poverty in our cities, and go along with eviction as commonplace in poor neighborhoods, it's not… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
You see one eviction, and you're overcome, but then there's another one and another one and another one. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
When I talk to booksellers, they tell me how hard it is to hand-sell some of my books because I do keep popping around. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
Housing being a top-order issue for cities is something that's not trivial. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
I think that we value fairness in this country. We value equal opportunity. Without a stable home, those ideals really fall apart. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
Exploitation. Now, there's a word that has been scrubbed out of the poverty debate. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
I think there are ways that graduate students can fact-check their work. I think there are ways that we can do this that don't… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
Fire itself is very beautiful, and there's an attachment to fire that firefighters have. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
“Sherrena nodded reassuringly and said, almost to herself, “I guess I got to stop feeling sorry for these people because nobody is feeling sorry… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
A community that sees so clearly its own disadvantage or its own hardships also has a harder time seeing its potential: its ability to… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
“It was once said that the poor are 'constantly exposed to evidence of their own irrelevance.' Especially for poor African-American families - who live… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
A universal voucher program would change the face of poverty in this country. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
“Wildland firefighters do not enjoy the cultural prestige that structural firefighters do. They do not wax their fire engines and cruise down the local… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share
