Brian Goldstone
Author of There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America • essays and reporting in The New York Times, Harper's, The New Republic, Jacobin & elsewhere
bit.ly/thereisnoplaceforus
- "American-style capitalism depends on this insecurity. It actively produces it. What we call a 'strong economy' has this kind of extreme precarity baked into it." I talked to @adamconover.net about There Is No Place for Us—and why, in America today, even a full-time job doesn't guarantee shelter.
- A new report finds the bottom 60% of U.S. households—or *two-thirds* of the population—can't afford a “minimal quality of life": housing, health care, and other necessities. "Indicators like GDP and unemployment tell us the economy is thriving. But they don’t reflect the reality of most Americans."
- The bottom 60% of U.S. households earn $38K/year on average. To afford a "minimal standard of living," they'd need $67K. "Americans are working harder than ever, but the benefits of that hard work are not being distributed in a way that supports upward mobility.”
- When I say the rise of the "working homeless" isn't some marginal phenomenon, this is what I mean. Millions of Americans are working—and working, and working some more—and *still* can't afford even the bare minimum.
- You can be evicted for: calling 911 too many times; being wrongly accused of shoplifting; having a son with a disability who needs help; being a victim of domestic violence. This is "crime-free housing" in America. A searing, crucial investigation by Sidnee King Pineda:
- "So what do you think Democrats can learn from somebody who, like you, targets the most vulnerable among us? People have been very hard on you, but I think at the end of the day, we all really just want the same thing."
- An unspeakable horror.
- Demonizing homeless people isn't some sort of heroic truth-telling. It's a political tactic meant to divert attention from the poverty wages, unaffordable housing, and engineered neglect that created America's homelessness crisis.
- I've been meaning to say something about the audiobook of THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US, narrated by the incredible, award-winning Dion Graham. His voice brings a whole new depth to the book—steady, intimate, emotionally attuned. If you prefer listening to reading, I hope you'll check it out.
- I have this one queued up, but did not realize it was Dion Graham, one of my all-time favorite narrators.
- He's amazing
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- 🙏🏼❤️
