Homes for Living

The Fight for Social Housing and a New American Commons

Jonathan Tarleton

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Hardback

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English

Beacon Press
11 March 2025

Society & culture: general

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

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.

By: Jonathan Tarleton
Imprint: Beacon Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 567g
ISBN: 9780807017807
ISBN 10: 0807017809
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 11 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

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

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.

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

“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’s account of the battle for Southbridge Towers is an engrossing feat of reporting and a New York City tragedy. 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