When I left Milwaukee, and I had all these stories. I felt so responsible for people. It's a heck of a thing… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Just strictly from a business standpoint, kids are a liability to landlords, and they actually provoke evictions. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Young mothers who apply for housing assistance in our nation's capital literally could be grandmothers by the time their application is reviewed. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
When you fight fires for a few seasons, you know what to expect. Your heart doesn't race as much as it did. — Matthew Desmond Fight Copy Share Image
“the presence of children in the household almost tripled a tenant’s odds of receiving an eviction judgment.” — Matthew Desmond Children Copy Share Image
If poverty persists in America, it is not for lack of resources. We lack something else. — Matthew Desmond America Copy Share Image
Differences in homeownership rates remain the prime driver of the nation's racial wealth gap. — Matthew Desmond Differences Copy Share Image
If you just catalog the effects eviction has on people's live and neighborhoods, it's pretty troubling. — Matthew Desmond Catalog Copy Share Image
“For poor people, this required identifying with the oppressed, and counting yourself among them—which was something most trailer park residents were absolutely… — Matthew Desmond Housing 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 Books Copy Share Image
I met a landlord who will pay you to move at the end of the week and let you use his van.… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Arguably, the families most at need of housing assistance are systematically denied it because they're stamped with an eviction record. Moms and… — Matthew Desmond Consequences Copy Share Image
Why young men from the country become firefighters is hard to explain to people who are not from the country. For most… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Tenants don't have any right to court-appointed attorneys in civil court, so they're either facing their landlord - or his or her… — Matthew Desmond Alone Copy Share Image
I started a student organization that was basically designed to connect students with homeless folks. We visited them and sometimes brought food,… — Matthew Desmond Food 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 Housing Copy Share Image
“The year the police called Sherrena, Wisconsin saw more than one victim per week murdered by a current or former romantic partner… — Matthew Desmond Police Copy Share Image
“Some landlords neglected to screen tenants for the same reason payday lenders offered unsecured, high-interest loans to families with unpaid debt or… — Matthew Desmond Air conditioner Copy Share Image
“Tenants able to pay their rent in full each month could take advantage of legal protections designed to keep their housing safe… — Matthew Desmond Housing 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 Eviction Copy Share Image
“Families have watched their incomes stagnate, or even fall, while their housing costs have soared. Today, the majority of poor renting families… — Matthew Desmond Family Copy Share Image
“As President Clinton was fine-tuning his plan to “end welfare as we know it,” a conservative reformer by the name of Jason… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“It was once said that the poor are 'constantly exposed to evidence of their own irrelevance.' Especially for poor African-American families -… — Matthew Desmond Community 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 Good behavior Copy Share Image
Libraries are not just places where people go read a book, but places where an immigrant goes to take English lessons and… — Matthew Desmond Books Copy Share Image
Eviction causes loss. You lose not only your home but also your possessions, which are thrown onto the curb or taken by… — Matthew Desmond Eviction Copy Share Image
“The effect of living with children on receiving an eviction judgment was equivalent to falling four months behind in rent.12” — Matthew Desmond Children Copy Share Image
“Affordable housing is a human-capital investment, just like job programs or education, one that would strengthen and steady the American workforce.” — Matthew Desmond Affordable housing 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
If I wrote in Michael Harrington's time, roughly 50 years later when he published 'The Other America', I'd still be writing about… — Matthew Desmond America Copy Share Image
When I talk to booksellers, they tell me how hard it is to hand-sell some of my books because I do keep… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I think that we value fairness in this country. We value equal opportunity. Without a stable home, those ideals really fall apart. — Matthew Desmond Country Copy Share Image
You see one eviction, and you're overcome, but then there's another one and another one and another one. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
I fought fires in the summer, and then I went back and did it again when I went to graduate school. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Fire itself is very beautiful, and there's an attachment to fire that firefighters have. — Matthew Desmond Attachment 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 Accident Copy Share Image
I came to the realization of how essential a role housing plays in the lives of the poor. — Matthew Desmond Housing Copy Share Image
“There are two ways to dehumanize; the first is to strip people of all virtue; the second is to cleanse them of… — Matthew Desmond Dehumanize Copy Share Image
I felt that writing about peoples' lives was a heck of a responsibility, and I wanted to know them in a deep… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“It was once said that the poor are “constantly exposed to evidence of their own irrelevance.” — Matthew Desmond Irrelevance Copy Share Image
