American Poverty Is Our Problem To Fix
September 21, 2023
鈥淭he United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why?鈥 That鈥檚 the question that underscores Pulitzer Prize-winning sociologist Matthew Desmond鈥檚 new book, 鈥淧overty, by America.鈥 America is a country that purports equality as one of its highest values. Economic opportunity and the long touted American dream have driven millions to emigrate and settle here for centuries. In reality, however, gross economic inequality undergirds every facet of American life: education, the criminal legal system, health care, and housing.
Affordable housing is foundational to American life. Because America is rife with poverty, it鈥檚 also rife with housing inequality. This is Desmond鈥檚 focus of study. Desmond鈥檚 work at Princeton University鈥檚 鈥淓viction Lab鈥 and his 2016 book, 鈥淓victed: Poverty and Profit in the American City,鈥 continue to shape the conversation about housing and poverty today. His new book takes his exploration one step further, seeking to examine and address the roots and responses to housing insecurity and its threat to American life.
Today, we are running a conversation between Desmond and the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Sandra Park, senior staff attorney for the Women鈥檚 Rights Project, who also works on these issues. Together, they鈥檒l break down the complexities of American poverty and how poverty as a societal force threatens the accessibility of our civil rights and civil liberties.