I have been a huge fan of Brian Goldstone’s book “There Is No Place For Us” since it was released last year. It’s been universally praised (rightfully so) and made it on numerous Top 10 lists for 2025. Then there is the back-handed compliment the City Journal gave it in a review last week.
Goldstone’s much-lauded book chronicles the travails of five such African American families in Atlanta between 2019 and 2022. While readers will likely sympathize with the protagonists, the book lacks analytical balance. Its historical context is thin, and its policy prescriptions—only briefly sketched in an epilogue—are familiar left-wing shibboleths.
What the actual fuck?! Why bring race into the conversation? Homelessness doesn’t discriminate. “Analytical balance”, really? The author (a hack for the Manhattan Institute) uses a term that involves chemical analysis to try to make himself appear smarter than he actually is. This was a hit piece by the same people who said that a higher minimum wage can harm low-skill workers.
Then he takes a shot at Brian for not including the history of public housing in the 60s and 70s, when there are multiple passages in the book detailing that very thing. It was clear he didn’t read the book or just lied.
But where the hack went completely off the rails is victim shaming, which is the “go-to” mantra for conservatives. It’s a person’s fault that they are poor. It’s the individual’s fault for losing their job or having their rent increased 50%. People CHOOSE to live on the street!
Stop with the bullshit narrative of “people choose to be homeless.” JFC that sets me off! Do people decide not to go into a shelter because the shelter doesn’t take pets? Yes. Do people choose to not enter a shelter because they are a couple and could be separated due to a shelter being gender specific? Yep.
Just say you don’t want to help. That is the only reason people victim shame people on the street. It’s easier to not feel bad for refusing to help when you convince yourself that “those people” deserve to be there or made the decision to live under a bridge.
Just fuck off