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Homes for Living

The Fight for Social Housing and a New American Commons

Author Jonathan Tarleton
Narrator Max Newland
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Beacon Press | Beacon Press Audio
On sale Feb 11, 2025 | 9 Hours and 56 Minutes | 9780807018156
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A tale of 2 NYC affordable housing co-ops’ struggle over privatization, public goods, and the future of American housing

The American Dream of homeownership is becoming an American Delusion. As renters seek an escape from record-breaking rent hikes, first-time buyers find that skyrocketing interest rates and historically low inventory leave them with scant options for an affordable place to live. With home valued more than ever as a commodity, even social housing programs meant to insulate families from cut-throat markets are under threat—sometimes by residents themselves.

In Homes for Living, urban planner and oral historian Jonathan Tarleton introduces readers to 2 social housing co-ops in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Longtime residents of St. James Towers and Southbridge Towers lock horns over whether to maintain the rules that have kept their homes affordable for decades or to cash out at great personal profit, thereby denying future generations the same opportunity to build thriving communities rooted in mutual care.

With a deft hand for mapping personal histories atop the greater housing crisis, Tarleton explores housing as a public good, movements for tenant rights and Indigenous sovereignty, and questions of race and class to lay bare competing visions of what ownership means, what homes are for, and what neighbors owe each other.
“[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.
Jonathan Tarleton View titles by Jonathan Tarleton
A NOTE ON PROCESS
THE NARRATORS

PART I: THE PUBLIC, THE GOODS

INTRODUCTION
A House Divided

CHAPTER 1
Social Homes

CHAPTER 2
Living Cooperation

PART II: SOUTHBRIDGE TOWERS

CHAPTER 3
Let’s Explore Our Options

CHAPTER 4
An Offering

CHAPTER 5
A Right to Profit

PART III: ST. JAMES TOWERS

CHAPTER 6
A Piece of the Rock

CHAPTER 7
Keeping the Faith

CHAPTER 8
A Responsibility to Steward

PART IV: COMMONWEALTH

CHAPTER 9
Land and Trust

CHAPTER 10
Abundance and Return

CHAPTER 11
Power and Politics

EPILOGUE
After Cooperation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOTES

About

A tale of 2 NYC affordable housing co-ops’ struggle over privatization, public goods, and the future of American housing

The American Dream of homeownership is becoming an American Delusion. As renters seek an escape from record-breaking rent hikes, first-time buyers find that skyrocketing interest rates and historically low inventory leave them with scant options for an affordable place to live. With home valued more than ever as a commodity, even social housing programs meant to insulate families from cut-throat markets are under threat—sometimes by residents themselves.

In Homes for Living, urban planner and oral historian Jonathan Tarleton introduces readers to 2 social housing co-ops in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Longtime residents of St. James Towers and Southbridge Towers lock horns over whether to maintain the rules that have kept their homes affordable for decades or to cash out at great personal profit, thereby denying future generations the same opportunity to build thriving communities rooted in mutual care.

With a deft hand for mapping personal histories atop the greater housing crisis, Tarleton explores housing as a public good, movements for tenant rights and Indigenous sovereignty, and questions of race and class to lay bare competing visions of what ownership means, what homes are for, and what neighbors owe each other.

Reviews

“[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

Author

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.
Jonathan Tarleton View titles by Jonathan Tarleton

Table of Contents

A NOTE ON PROCESS
THE NARRATORS

PART I: THE PUBLIC, THE GOODS

INTRODUCTION
A House Divided

CHAPTER 1
Social Homes

CHAPTER 2
Living Cooperation

PART II: SOUTHBRIDGE TOWERS

CHAPTER 3
Let’s Explore Our Options

CHAPTER 4
An Offering

CHAPTER 5
A Right to Profit

PART III: ST. JAMES TOWERS

CHAPTER 6
A Piece of the Rock

CHAPTER 7
Keeping the Faith

CHAPTER 8
A Responsibility to Steward

PART IV: COMMONWEALTH

CHAPTER 9
Land and Trust

CHAPTER 10
Abundance and Return

CHAPTER 11
Power and Politics

EPILOGUE
After Cooperation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOTES

Additional formats

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