SOCIAL SCIENCES

Homes for Living: The Fight for Social Housing and a New American Commons

by Jonathan Tarleton
Beacon. Feb. 2025. 280p. ISBN 9780807017807. $31.95. SOC SCI
COPY ISBN
Urban planner and oral historian Tarleton introduces the concept of affordable housing as embodied in New York City’s Mitchell-Lama program, implemented in 1955 to provide affordable housing to middle- and moderate-income people. He takes readers on a tour of the history of Mitchell-Lama housing co-ops and how they have developed and changed since their initial implementation. This book specifically examines two such co-ops in Brooklyn and Manhattan as their residents debate the risks and benefits of privatization, both for themselves and their communities. It’s a tumultuous journey, and in the end, each community makes their own decision for their own reasons. Tarleton’s epilogue revisits, a few years later, the residents on both sides of the argument to see how things played out.
VERDICT This book might seem relevant only to residents of places with legislation similar to Mitchell-Lama, but it expertly offers deeper insights into what drives the concept of community and how people view their personal interests in relation to the interests of their neighborhood.
Reviewed by Jennifer Moore , Dec 20, 2024
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