I firmly believe that safe, affordable housing is a fundamental human right. And until reading this book, I had thought that most people renting homes or apartments in America had those rights met. 

This book was so incredibly fucking depressing. Like, so depressing. And what makes it so much worse is that it’s true. The book follows several families and people in Milwaukee living at or around the poverty line, and their experiences renting / getting evicted. 

I thought that if someone was renting an apartment or home from a landlord, the landlord was required to make it habitable (meaning, running water, no bug infestations, no collapsing ceilings, heating in the winter, etc). That is not true, at least not for the poor! Hearing about the conditions that they have to live in, while STILL paying like $500 a month (??) is just unreal. That is a ton of money to be spending for absolutely horrendous living conditions, and it all seemed to be found acceptable by those in charge. 

We need serious reform in our housing system. Everything from the way housing vouchers are distributed, the effects that “nuisance” calls to the police have on neighborhoods, the rules surrounding what can be rented, tenant protections for those that can’t afford court, etc.: all that needs to be looked at! It’s easy to read the book and hate landlords (which I still do), but the main failing comes from the laws surrounding this issue. We need serious change. 

All that being said, this was a deeply moving and depressing book, and I think everyone needs to read it.