Brian Goldstone with Gregg Colburn — 'There Is No Place for Us'

Brian Goldstone with Gregg Colburn — 'There Is No Place for Us'

This landmark work of journalism exposes a new and troubling trend—a dramatic rise in homelessness for working people in American cities.

By Third Place Books

Date and time

Thursday, June 5 · 7 - 8:30pm PDT

Location

Third Place Books Seward Park

5041 Wilson Avenue South Seattle, WA 98118

Refund Policy

Refunds up to 7 days before event

About this event

  • Event lasts 1 hour 30 minutes

Third Place Books welcomes journalist Brian Goldstone to our Seward Park store for a conversation about his groundbreaking book, There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America. He investigates the concerning uptick in housing insecurity for working people, following five Atlanta families as they fight to make ends meet. Goldstone is joined in conversation by Gregg Colburn, associate professor of real estate at the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments and the co-author of Homelessness is a Housing Problem: How Structural Factors Explain U.S. Patterns.

This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!

When you RSVP to one of our free events during the month of June, you can add a donation to The Queer Trans Project, a Black-led, trans-led nonprofit organization dedicated to providing life-changing gender-affirming resources, uplifting trans voices, and building power for our communities. Through their Build-a-Queer Kit program, QTP has distributed over $500,000 worth of free gender-affirming items to trans people in all 50 states. Their Flight Assistance Program has covered over 125,000 miles so far, ensuring that those seeking gender-affirming care can get there safely.

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About There Is No Place For Us. . .

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • Through the “revelatory and gut-wrenching” (Associated Press) stories of five Atlanta families, this landmark work of journalism exposes a new and troubling trend—the dramatic rise of the working homeless in cities across America.

“An exceptional feat of reporting, full of an immediacy that calls to mind Adrian Nicole LeBlanc’s Random Family and Matthew Desmond’s Evicted.”—The New York Times Book Review

The working homeless. In a country where hard work and determination are supposed to lead to success, there is something scandalous about this phrase. But skyrocketing rents, low wages, and a lack of tenant rights have produced a startling phenomenon: People with full-time jobs cannot keep a roof over their head, especially in America’s booming cities, where rapid growth is leading to catastrophic displacement. These families are being forced into homelessness not by a failing economy but a thriving one.

In this gripping and deeply reported book, Brian Goldstone plunges readers into the lives of five Atlanta families struggling to remain housed in a gentrifying, increasingly unequal city. Maurice and Natalia make a fresh start in the country’s “Black Mecca” after being priced out of DC. Kara dreams of starting her own cleaning business while mopping floors at a public hospital. Britt scores a coveted housing voucher. Michelle is in school to become a social worker. Celeste toils at her warehouse job while undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer. Each of them aspires to provide a decent life for their children—and each of them, one by one, joins the ranks of the nation’s working homeless.

Through intimate, novelistic portraits, Goldstone reveals the human cost of this crisis, following parents and their kids as they go to sleep in cars, or in squalid extended-stay hotel rooms, and head out to their jobs and schools the next morning. These are the nation’s hidden homeless—omitted from official statistics, and proof that overflowing shelters and street encampments are only the most visible manifestation of a far more pervasive problem.

By turns heartbreaking and urgent, There Is No Place for Us illuminates the true magnitude, causes, and consequences of the new American homelessness—and shows that it won’t be solved until housing is treated as a fundamental human right.


Brian Goldstone is a journalist whose longform reporting and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, The New Republic, The California Sunday Magazine, and Jacobin, among other publications. He has a PhD in anthropology from Duke University and was a Mellon Research Fellow at Columbia University. In 2021, he was a National Fellow at New America. He lives in Atlanta with his family.

Gregg Colburn is an associate professor of real estate at the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments. He publishes research on topics related to housing and homelessness and is co-author of the book Homelessness is a Housing Problem: How Structural Factors Explain U.S. Patterns. Gregg holds an MSW and PhD from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Northwestern University. Prior to academia, he worked as an investment banker and private equity professional. Gregg is co-chair of the University of Washington’s Homelessness Research Initiative and is a member of the National Alliance to End Homelessness Research Council.


About Third Place Books

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events

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Third Place Books is an independent bookstore with three locations in Seattle, Washington. We offer new and used books, a community focus, and a legendary author events program! Follow us on social media @thirdplacebooks or sign up for our email newsletter for updates!

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