In an America generations removed from the greatest civil rights struggles of the 1960s, the young mayor of a mid-sized American city is faced with a federal court order that says he must build a small number of low-income housing units in the white neighborhoods of his town. His attempt to do so tears the entire city apart, paralyzes the municipal government and, ultimately, destroys the mayor and his political future.

"On Bronson Street, in the projects of Toledo, Ohio, in a small house occupied by a family of fourteen, Tom Seeman starts a very important list--"Animals I Want To See One Day"--and what begins as a dream of travel to far-flung places becomes a roadmap out of Tom's poverty-stricken neighborhood to Yale, Harvard, and beyond. But despite Bronson Street's hardships and crime, it's also something of a mythical street, populated by unforgettable people...

Inspiring portraits of grassroots activists in communities of color who are using a community land trust to preserve affordable housing and promote development without the displacement of longtime residents. By combining community ownership of land with individual ownership of homes, the CLT gives communities a powerful way to shape and secure their future, while opening the door to affordable homeownership for low-income residents.

"Today, a minimum-wage earner can afford a one-bedroom apartment in only 28 out of 3,140 counties in America. The single worst place in the United States to look for affordable housing is Osceola County, Florida. Once the main approach to Disney World, where vacationers found lodging on their way to the Magic Kingdom, the fifteen-mile Route 192 corridor in Osceola has become a site of shocking contrasts. At one end, absentee investors snatch up foreclosed...

An investigation into the billions spent on housing the poor, and why so few get the help they need.

"The book combines a critique of more than a century of housing reform policies--including public and other subsidized housing, as well as exclusionary zoning--with the idea that small houses --a poor side of town--helps those of modest means build financial assets and join in the local democratic process. It is more an historic narrative than a straight policy book, however--telling stories of Jacob Riis, zoning reformer Lawrence Veiller, anti-reformer...