kermitcaroline's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This should be required reading. This book was fantastically written and provides a critical insight to the ironies and challenges of housing for those caught in the cycle of poverty.
klevtown's review against another edition
4.0
Impressively ambitious and beautifully written. Especially enjoyed the epilogue and methods sections.
nicomarlyse's review against another edition
5.0
Rachel added this as Want to Read and I was subsequently reminded that I read it for my public health and human rights class and that I thought it was really good in that it made me very sad and angry
laynescherer's review against another edition
5.0
Desmond’s ethnographic work blends the fabric of human lives and motivations with the history of policies, communities, and systemic injustice embedded in Milwaukee’s affordable housing crisis. I’d encourage people to read the About This Project section first and again at the end. The methods are incredibly vital to understanding the work.
It is the kind of work that makes me wonder how there can be more investment for this kind of research and depth of data infrastructure when it’s not linked to a MacArthur Genius. When it’s conducted by someone who isn’t a white man.
There’s also a mention of a house that had 72 cats, and I would like to know how that was fact-checked. That seems like an untold, unverifiable number of cats.
It is the kind of work that makes me wonder how there can be more investment for this kind of research and depth of data infrastructure when it’s not linked to a MacArthur Genius. When it’s conducted by someone who isn’t a white man.
There’s also a mention of a house that had 72 cats, and I would like to know how that was fact-checked. That seems like an untold, unverifiable number of cats.
bfordham's review against another edition
5.0
Eye-opening. The book follows several families, using their lives to show the realities of poverty.
mom2tcks's review against another edition
5.0
This along with Helping Without Hurting are must reads for people who want to provide assistance to those who need it.
aninoag's review against another edition
5.0
Thought-provoking and real accounts on the state of housing and poverty in the US. This book came out before the more recent upheavals brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, but many causal determinants hold true now, possibly more than ever.