A Right to Housing? - by Samuel Stein (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A radical blueprint for universal housing meets an unflinching assessment of why we haven't won--from the best-selling author of Capital City

In the fight for housing, we are caught between the world we know and the world we want. A Right to Housing? offers both a roadmap and a reckoning. Drawing from his own experiences of on-the-ground organizing, Stein lays out practical policies for enacting a right to shelter, a right to a home, and a right to the city itself.

With unflinching honesty, he then explores why these visions continuously crash against the rocks of political reality. From the power of real estate capital to the inadequacy of our institutions, he reveals the forces blocking our path--and summons the complex feelings of a Left that has lost faith in the future.

Through these two contrasting perspectives, Stein creates space for action in the absence of hope. An essential book for activists, planners, and anyone who refuses to accept the housing crisis as inevitable or immutable.

About the Author

Samuel Stein is the author of the book Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State. He works as a housing policy researcher and advocate in New York City, and holds a Master's in Urban Planning from Hunter College (CUNY) and a PhD in geography from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His writing on urban politics and planning has appeared in The New York Review of Books, N+1, The Guardian, and many other publications.