If you have someone who is paying 88 percent of her income on rent, and we have laws that allow a landlord to evict a tenant who falls behind under those circumstances, eviction becomes an inevitability.
Matthew DesmondRead
Home is the center of life. It's the wellspring of personhood. It's where we say we're ourselves.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Home is essential to our identity and well-being.
This quote emphasizes the profound connection between home and our sense of self. It suggests that home is not merely a physical space, but a fundamental part of our identity and personal development, where we can be our true selves and find comfort and belonging.
Themes
HomeIdentityBelongingSelfLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal growth, I might say, 'As Matthew Desmond stated, Home is the center of life, highlighting how crucial our living spaces are to our identity.'
More from Matthew Desmond
All quotes βDo we believe housing is a right and that affordable housing is part of what it should mean to be an American? I say yes.
Matthew DesmondRead
The texture and hardship of poverty and eviction is something that I think left the deepest impression on me, and I hope that I try to convey a little bit of that to the reader.
Matthew DesmondRead
When I was confronted with just the bare facts of poverty and inequality in America, it always disturbed and confused me.
Matthew DesmondRead
Arguably, the families most at need of housing assistance are systematically denied it because they're stamped with an eviction record. Moms and kids are bearing the brunt of those consequences.
Matthew DesmondRead
Moms that get evicted are depressed and have higher rates of depressive symptoms two years later. That has to affect their interactions with their kids and their sense of happiness. You add all that together, and it's just really obvious to me that eviction is a cause, not just a condition, of poverty.
Matthew DesmondRead
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