Homes for Living

“[A] captivating debut study … [A] colorful, drama-filled narrative.”
—Publishers Weekly

“There can be no racial justice without housing justice… . Homes for Living prompts us to learn from a fast-fading history of New Yorkers who once redefined property ownership to foster greater social solidarity.”
—Heather McGhee, author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

“A wild roller-coaster ride through two New York City co-ops deciding something all of us are deciding all the time: how to weigh individual versus collective benefit, the private versus the public good. Jonathan Tarleton unpacks this drama with both vivid detail and brilliant context.”
—Rebecca Solnit, author of Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities

“An engrossing feat of reporting … The protagonists of Homes for Living are engaged in nothing less than a contest of two opposing visions of the American Dream, and everyone who wants to understand the challenges of creating affordable housing in this country needs to read their story.”
—Henry Grabar, author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World

“A masterwork of urban analysis and storytelling … A must-read for every citizen and policymaker who understands, as we all must, that what befalls our cities befalls us all.”
—Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, author of Names of New York: Discovering the City’s Past, Present, and Future Through Its Place-Names

“Around the country, residents are rising up and fighting for social housing. With Homes for Living, Jonathan Tarleton deepens our understanding of what that struggle entails: what it takes to win, and how to defend against the pull of privatization.”
—Samuel Stein, author of Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State

Jonathan Tarleton is a writer, an urban planner, and an oral historian. He previously served as the chief researcher on Nonstop Metropolis- A New York City Atlas and as the editor in chief of the online magazine Urban Omnibus. His essays have appeared in Orion, Jacobin, Hell Gate, Dirt, and beyond.

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