There Is No Place for UsThere Is No Place for Us

"The working homeless. In a country where hard work and determination are supposed to lead to success, there is something scandalous about this phrase. But skyrocketing rents, low wages, and a lack of tenant rights have produced a startling phenomenon: People with full-time jobs cannot keep a roof over their head, especially in America's booming cities, where rapid growth is leading to catastrophic displacement. These families are being forced into homelessness not by a failing economy but a thriving one. In this gripping and deeply reported book, Brian Goldstone plunges readers into the lives of five Atlanta families struggling to remain housed in a gentrifying, increasingly unequal city. Maurice and Natalia make a fresh start in the country's "Black Mecca" after being priced out of DC. Kara dreams of starting her own cleaning business while mopping floors at a public hospital. Britt scores a coveted housing voucher. Michelle is in school to become a social worker. Celeste toils at her warehouse job while undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer. Each of them aspires to provide a decent life for their children--and each of them, one by one, joins the ranks of the nation's working homeless. Through intimate, novelistic portraits, Goldstone reveals the human cost of this crisis, following parents and their kids as they go to sleep in cars, or in squalid extended-stay hotel rooms, and head out to their jobs and schools the next morning. These are the nation's hidden homeless--omitted from official statistics, and proof that overflowing shelters and street encampments are only the most visible manifestation of a far more pervasive problem."--
There is No Place for Us discusses the issue of the "working homeless" in America, where individuals with full-time jobs cannot afford housing due to rising rents, low wages, and inadequate tenant protections. This problem is especially evident in rapidly growing cities, where gentrification leads to displacement. In his book, Brian Goldstone explores the lives of five families in Atlanta who, despite working hard, struggle to maintain stable housing. Through personal stories, Goldstone highlights the human cost of this crisis, showing how these families, though employed, are forced to live in cars or temporary housing while continuing to work and pursue their aspirations. This situation reveals a broader, hidden aspect of homelessness, where many working individuals and families are excluded from official statistics and face severe housing instability, which will not be solved until housing is treated as a fundamental human right.