Matthew Desmond Quotes
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We can start with housing, the sturdiest of footholds for economic mobility. A national affordable housing program would be an anti-poverty effort, human capital investment, community improvement plan, and public health initiative all rolled into one.
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The face of the eviction epidemic is moms and kids, especially poor moms from predominantly Latino and African American neighborhoods.
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If eviction has these massive consequences that we all pay for, a very smart use of public funds would be to invest in legal services for folks facing eviction.
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Trying to learn from communities and engage with policy makers and community organizers all across the country is really important to me.
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A lot of us who grew up in the country, hunting and fishing, being very familiar with the woods and dirt roads, have the skill set you need to fight fire.
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Poverty is not just a sad accident, but it's also a result of the fact that some people make a lot of money off low-income families and directly contribute to their poverty.
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Poverty is a relationship that involves a lot of folks, rich and poor alike. I was looking for something that brought a lot of different people in a room. Eviction does that, embroils landlords and tenants, lawyers and social workers.
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Home is where children find safety and security, where we find our identities, where citizenship starts. It usually starts with believing you're part of a community, and that is essential to having a stable home.
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A lot flows from the question: Is having decent, stable housing part of what it means to live in this country? And I think we should answer 'yes.'
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If we take a hard look at what poverty is, its nature, it's not pretty - it's full of trauma. And we're able to accept trauma with certain groups, like with soldiers, for instance - we understand that they face trauma and that trauma can be connected to things like depression or acts of violence later on in life.
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The high cost of housing is crushing poor families and sending them to a state of desperation.
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The church should lead on issues of housing and affordability.
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If we are going to spend the bulk of our public dollars on the affluent - at least when it comes to housing - we should own up to that decision and stop repeating the canard about this rich country being unable to afford more.
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I started a student organization that was basically designed to connect students with homeless folks. We visited them and sometimes brought food, but mostly we were there for swapping stories.
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Healthcare providers have helped me see that decent, safe housing can promote physical and mental wellness; and engaged citizens have shown me the civic potential of stable, vibrant blocks where neighbours know one another by name.
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When I was confronted with just the bare facts of poverty and inequality in America, it always disturbed and confused me.
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Evictions used to be rare in this country. They used to draw crowds. There are scenes in literature where you can come upon an eviction - like, in 'Invisible Man' there's the famous eviction scene in Harlem, and people are gathered around, and they move the family back in.
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Home is the center of life. It's the wellspring of personhood. It's where we say we're ourselves.
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Exploitation. Now, there's a word that has been scrubbed out of the poverty debate.
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You meet folks who are funny and really smart and persistent and loving that are confronting this thing we call poverty, which is just a shorthand for this way of life that holds you underwater. And you just wonder what our country would be if we allowed these people to flourish and reach their full potential.
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I left college with a deep sense that I needed to understand poverty more.
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There is a reason so many Americans choose to develop their net worth through homeownership: It is a proven wealth builder and savings compeller.
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The home is the center of life - a refuge from the grind of work, pressure of school, menace of the streets, a place to be ourselves.
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Home is the wellspring of personhood, where our identity takes root; where civic life begins. America is supposed to be a place where you can better yourself, your family, and your community.