There Is No Place for Us was another recommendation from President Barack Obama’s reading list. I can see why it was on his list, as it’s important to understand what’s happening to hard-working people in this country who can’t get ahead no matter how hard they try. At the same time, though, the book is very depressing. My natural inclination is to want to help and try to “fix” everything, and it leaves me feeling guilty for being one of the fortunate ones. A book like this is hard on my mental health, but I persevered and finished it.

What There Is No Place for Us does is pull back the curtain on homelessness in the United States. Rather than being reduced to gimmicky sound-bites on Fox News, it shows the real people behind the problem as well as their struggles. Many people become homeless through no fault of their own, and sometimes people just break from all the stress put on them. Focusing on the City of Atlanta, it is a scathing indictment of the government getting out of the housing business and turning it over to private firms and non-profits.

Brian Goldstone follows five families through a few years of their journey as they are homeless. One family is actually renting a nice home when the landlord decides it’s time to sell. They don’t realize how hard it is to find a new place until they start looking. This puts stress on the family mentally and physically as well. Some are already homeless, either doubling up with relatives or living in extended-stay hotels. Often, the rent at these hotels is higher than what it would cost to rent an apartment or buy a house. The problem is they might have an eviction on their record, or their credit rating is shot. That’s even when they can find a place that is within their budget.

There Is No Place for Us shows how the system was designed to fail those it claims it’s serving. The different families go through the various motions of getting help from local social services, as well as private non-profits designed to help them. One woman has a housing voucher from one of those private non-profits, but the hoops she has to jump through with them and the City of Atlanta cause her to lose decent apartments twice. Landlords aren’t just going to “wait and see what happens” when someone is interested. The second time, she takes a chance and decides to rent the place without using the voucher. As time goes on, though, despite working several jobs, she cannot keep up with the rent.

This happens time and again, and it eventually takes a toll mentally. It sounds good to say “I’ll work as much as I have to in order to afford this,” but that takes a toll on the body and mind. It also causes more stress on the family. The real victims here are the children who grow up moving from school to school as their parents try to find a way to survive, moving from place to place. Oftentimes, an eviction means losing everything you’ve owned as well, so there’s an insecurity to their lives instilled on them at a young age.

The audiobook is narrated by Dion Graham. His voice adds to the depressing tone of the book, in my opinion. He’s a fine reader; it’s just that the tone of his voice seems to add extra gravity to the situation, which is already quite depressing. It felt every bit as long as its 13+ hours in length.

Homelessness is everywhere. I see it where I live. Goldstone touches on how short-term rentals have taken rental units off the market, which is one of the biggest problems in rural areas like where I live. That could be a subject unto itself. Even here, there are people who live in hotels that once housed tourists, but as the chains took over, they fell out of favor and ended up with long-term guests. One place I know of has a big issue with crime, and the town would love to shut it down; the problem is what to do with the people who live there. There are no easy answers, and this book doesn’t really provide any except to raise awareness. Our current situation is not working.

There Is No Place for Us won a Pulitzer Prize, and it deserved it. It’s an excellent book that humanizes the problem of homelessness. It shows how government programs are generally designed to fail. If we really want to be “pro-life,” isn’t that also for the people who are here already?