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 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
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
Fire itself is very beautiful, and there's an attachment to fire that firefighters have. — Matthew Desmond Attachment 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
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
“It is only after we begin to see a street as our street, a public park as our park, a school as… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“If tenants resisted excessive rent hikes or unwarranted evictions, it was because they invested in their homes and neighborhoods. They felt they… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“Along with instability, eviction also causes loss. Families lose not only their home, school, and neighborhood but also their possessions: furniture, clothes,… — Matthew Desmond Books 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 Book 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 Acting 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
“For example, a program that ran from 2005 to 2008 in the South Bronx provided more than 1,300 families with legal assistance… — Matthew Desmond Family Copy Share Image
In February 1932, the 'Times' published an account of community resistance to the eviction of three families in the Bronx, observing, 'Probably… — Matthew Desmond Cold 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
“Hispanic and African American neighborhoods had been targeted by the subprime lending industry: renters were lured into buying bad mortgages, and homeowners… — Matthew Desmond African american Copy Share Image
“A problem as big as the affordable-housing crisis calls for a big solution. It should be at the top of America's domestic-policy… — Matthew Desmond Affordable housing Copy Share Image
“Legal aid to the poor has been steadily diminishing since the Reagan years and was decimated during the Great Recession. The result… — Matthew Desmond Fair trial Copy Share Image
“When there wasn’t a speaker, he often organized round robins. One such evening, a woman from Lead and Asbestos Information Center, Inc.,… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
“For the first time in the history of America, New Deal policies made homeownership a real possibility for white families, but black… — Matthew Desmond Federal government 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
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
Differences in homeownership rates remain the prime driver of the nation's racial wealth gap. — Matthew Desmond Differences 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
If you just catalog the effects eviction has on people's live and neighborhoods, it's pretty troubling. — Matthew Desmond Catalog 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
“In the vast majority of cases (83 percent), landlords who received a nuisance citation for domestic violence responded by either evicting the… — Matthew Desmond Domestic violence Copy Share Image
“For many landlords, it was cheaper to deal with the expense of eviction than to maintain their properties; it was possible to… — Matthew Desmond Housing Copy Share Image
Substandard housing was a blow to your psychological health, not only because things like dampness, mold, and overcrowding could bring about depression… — Matthew Desmond Depression Copy Share Image
You meet folks who are funny and really smart and persistent and loving that are confronting this thing we call poverty, which… — Matthew Desmond Country Copy Share Image
Poverty is a relationship that involves a lot of folks, rich and poor alike. I was looking for something that brought a… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
When you're following people after their eviction, they often start out kind of optimistic, in a way - it's a really tough… — 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 Family Copy Share Image
Families, when they get a housing voucher, they move a lot less. They move into better neighborhoods. Their kids go to the… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
Since the publication of 'Evicted', I have had countless conversations with concerned families across America. Teachers in under-served communities have told me… — Matthew Desmond Ability 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 America 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 Exploitation Copy Share Image
Child Protection Services can get all up in your business if you have kids. Just strictly from a business standpoint, kids are… — Matthew Desmond Copy Share Image
