“It was once said that the poor are 'constantly exposed to evidence of their own irrelevance.' Especially for poor African-American families -… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Eviction riots erupted during the Depression, though the number of poor families who faced eviction each year was a fraction of what… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“It was an old tradition: landlords barring children from their properties. In the competitive postwar housing market of the late 1940s, landlords… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
The high cost of housing is crushing poor families and sending them to a state of desperation. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Evictions used to be rare in this country. They used to draw crowds. There are scenes in literature where you can come… — 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
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
“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
“Eviction's fallout is severe. Losing a home sends families to shelters, abandoned houses, and the street. It invites depression and illness, compels… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
If we care about family stability, if we care about community stability, then we need fewer evictions. — 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
Poor families are living above their means, in apartments they cannot afford. The thing is, those apartments are already at the bottom… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“A single eviction could destabilize multiple city blocks, not only the block from which a family was evicted but also the block… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Losing a home sends families to shelters, abandoned houses, and the street. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“Today, the majority of poor renting families in America spend over half of their income on housing, and at least one in… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
There is a deep connection, when we're talking about certain market forces and a legal structure that inhibits low or moderate income… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Since evictions go through court, it has a record that comes with it, and many landlords that I spend time with use… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“Families who spend more on housing spend less on their children.” — Matthew Desmond 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 Copy Share Image
“Often, evicted families also lose the opportunity to benefit from public housing because Housing Authorities count evictions and unpaid debt as strikes… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Most Americans think that the typical low - income family lives in public housing or gets housing assistance. The opposite is true. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Children didn't shield families from eviction: They exposed them to it. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Home is the wellspring of personhood, where our identity takes root; where civic life begins. America is supposed to be a place… — 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 Copy Share Image
Between 2007 and 2010, the average white family experienced an 11% reduction in wealth, but the average black family lost 31% of… — 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
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 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
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 Image
Housing being a top-order issue for cities is something that's not trivial. — 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 Copy Share Image
Exploitation. Now, there's a word that has been scrubbed out of the poverty debate. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
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 Image
Fire itself is very beautiful, and there's an attachment to fire that firefighters have. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“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 Image
Everywhere else, we are someone else, but at home, we remove our masks. — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
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 Image
