Book excerpt: "There Is No Place For Us" by Brian Goldstone

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Journalist Brian Goldstone, who has written for The New York Times, Harper's Magazine, The New Republic and others, spent astir six years examining wherefore truthful galore radical who enactment full-time jobs with debased wages are homeless. His caller book, "There is No Place for Us" (Crown), explores the challenges faced by millions of the moving poor.

In the excerpt below, Celeste (a pseudonym fixed by Goldstone) describes the bureaucracy she indispensable endure erstwhile trying to get lodging successful Atlanta.

Don't miss Ted Koppel's interviews with Brian Goldstone and Celeste connected "CBS Sunday Morning" November 16!

"There Is No Place For Us" by Brian Goldstone

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When Celeste parked her conveyance down the thoroughfare from Gateway astatine 6:00 a.m., a agelong enactment was snaking down the sidewalk extracurricular of the building. She'd been told that since stateless assessments were conducted connected a first-come, first-served basis, radical often began lining up successful the mediate of the night. Still, she was amazed to find specified a ample assemblage already gathered. The doors wouldn't beryllium opening for different 2 hours. Celeste joined the queue, stepping gingerly astir handcarts and babe strollers and tiny clusters of men and women wrapped successful blankets, their belongings stacked beside them connected the concrete. Having forced herself to devour a lukewarm Cup Noodles for breakfast, she felt woozy — and a small frightened too. A noticeably unwell antheral was cursing loudly and harassing different idiosyncratic nearby. She considered leaving but decided to instrumentality it out, clutching a manila folder filled with documents portion trying to debar making oculus interaction with those astir her. Six weeks earlier, erstwhile Celeste started her crab treatment, immoderate conception of securing semipermanent lodging connected her ain had rapidly vanished — and with it her absorption to seeking extracurricular assistance. A fearfulness of getting trapped indefinitely astatine Efficiency present outweighed the embarrassment of pleading for help; pridefulness and dignity were luxuries she could nary longer afford. And so, 1 greeting during a enactment break, she'd gone retired to her Durango and fished retired the Homeless Resource List fixed to her by the societal idiosyncratic astatine Micah's school. Some telephone numbers connected the database were disconnected; others prompted her to permission a voicemail. But she was capable to get done to a fewer work providers, and each of them, aft Celeste described what she was looking for — assistance uncovering a landlord who would rent to her contempt the eviction, and possibly immoderate fiscal enactment to screen a information deposit — told her the aforesaid thing: To person specified aid, she'd archetypal request to acquisition an appraisal done Gateway's "coordinated entry" system. And it had to beryllium done successful person.

Celeste told Mason's mom, Christina, her neighbour a mates of doors down, that she was readying connected going to Gateway soon. "Good luck with that," the parent of six scoffed. Her ain trek retired to Gateway had been fruitless. Celeste thought: Yeah, well, you're not me. If anyone could navigate this system, it was her. She wasn't going to beryllium undone by a small paperwork.

It was astir nine-thirty erstwhile she yet entered the building. The interior was spacious and clean, if not rather welcoming. An airport-style metallic detector opened onto an intake counter, a information defender station, and a fewer twelve chairs, occupied by radical dozing oregon staring up oregon attempting to console their crying babe portion waiting for their sanction to beryllium called. In a country of the lobby, alongside a session operated by Mercy Care, a assemblage wellness center, a hallway led to nationalist showers and a covering bank; successful the other corner, determination was a ample country that, connected the coldest nights of winter, was utilized arsenic a warming halfway for kids and their mothers. (Since 2013, Gateway's overnight facilities had been designated exclusively for men, but women with children were permitted to slumber successful this glass-enclosed abstraction — with nary furnishings, nary privateness — whenever extracurricular temperatures fell beneath freezing.) Celeste checked successful astatine the counter, located an unoccupied chair, and waited different hr and a fractional to beryllium seen.

A petite caseworker conducted Celeste's appraisal successful a bare, windowless office. As the pistillate settled successful down a computer, Celeste placed a stack of documents connected her table — edifice receipts, a constabulary study from the arson, paystubs — and past launched into the communicative of however she and her kids had ended up without a home, which she'd been rehearsing successful her caput each morning. Adept astatine code-switching, she spoke successful a clipped, nonrecreational mode — what she thought of arsenic her "talking to achromatic radical voice." The caseworker politely stopped her. In bid to find however champion to assistance her, she said, it was important that she archetypal inquire Celeste a bid of questions. "Oh, of course. No problem," Celeste replied.

After a scripted preamble successful which the pistillate explained that lone "yes," "no," oregon one-word answers were acceptable and that immoderate question could beryllium skipped oregon refused, the appraisal began. How galore months had it been since Celeste had lived successful imperishable unchangeable housing? Had she ever been diagnosed with a behavioral wellness disorder? What astir HIV oregon AIDS? Since becoming homeless, had she been arrested? Or tried to harm herself successful immoderate way? Or been beaten up? How often did she portion oregon usage drugs? Did she ever speech enactment for money? Or stock needles with others?

Celeste was perplexed. She wondered however each this was applicable to her situation. At 1 point, she gravely mentioned the crab diagnosis; astatine another, she interjected to importune that she wasn't lazy, that she had been moving nonstop since she was a teenager. The caseworker tapped distant astatine her keyboard. And wherever was she surviving now? the pistillate asked. Celeste told her astir the extended-stay.

The appraisal was implicit successful a substance of minutes. The caseworker looked up and sighed. The intent of these questions, she said, was to fig retired who astir urgently needed help. Based connected the answers Celeste provided, it was wide that her vulnerability score, arsenic the pistillate called it, would beryllium precise debased — excessively debased to suffice for lodging assistance. The people had been calculated utilizing the Vulnerability Index — Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool, oregon the VI-SPDAT. Created successful 2013 by OrgCode Consulting, the VI-SPDAT was rapidly adopted nationwide, arsenic section communities sought to conscionable a caller national regularisation that made backing for stateless services contingent connected the implementation of a standardized intake and appraisal process. The stated nonsubjective of the VI-SPDAT was to place stateless individuals who were astir astatine hazard of dying oregon being sent to a jailhouse oregon hospital, and to parcel retired constricted resources accordingly. In cities and counties crossed the United States, this technical-sounding survey had go a cardinal instrumentality successful efforts to code homelessness: a mechanics for determining who would — and would not — beryllium eligible for support.

"But what astir the cancer?" Celeste asked, her code changing. It felt demeaning to person to inquire specified a question. She had begun to recognize that each the things she had been truthful arrogant of, specified arsenic her enactment ethic, were making it more, not less, apt that she would permission Gateway empty-handed. "Doesn't that number for anything?"

"Yes," the caseworker said, seeming to take her words carefully. The unwellness did marque Celeste much astatine risk. The existent obstacle, however, was that she and her children did not acceptable the criteria for "literal homelessness" arsenic acceptable retired by HUD. "In bid to get lodging aid," she continued, "you person to beryllium considered virtually homeless, which means you're successful a structure oregon connected the street. Unfortunately, different circumstances don't qualify."

Celeste's predicament was progressively common. The existing enactment strategy ignored scores of stateless families who did not acceptable the government's explanation of "homeless." Advocacy groups had been warring to grow the definition, refuting the story that families with children surviving successful extended-stays and doubled-up arrangements were someway little susceptible than different stateless populations; they argued that these conditions could beryllium conscionable arsenic detrimental to a child's education, intelligence and carnal health, and semipermanent development. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Education counted arsenic stateless anyone who lacked "a fixed, regular, and capable nighttime residence" — which explicitly included those successful hotels, motels, and surviving temporarily with others. That year, 2019, the Department of Education reported 35,538 stateless children and younker enrolled successful Georgia nationalist schools, an summation of 34 percent from a decennary earlier. But the state's HUD-administered full — not lone for children and younker but Georgia's full stateless colonisation — was 10,433. Politicians cited the smaller fig erstwhile discussing homelessness successful the state, claiming it was connected the decline. This fig besides helped find the magnitude of wealth allocated to stateless services the pursuing year. Meanwhile, the parents of those 35,538 students were caught betwixt 2 parallel definitions. At their child's school, they were considered homeless. At places similar Gateway, they were not.

"So fto maine get this straight," Celeste said. "If I privation y'all's assistance getting a location for maine and my kids, I request to beryllium considered — what did you telephone it — virtually homeless?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"And to beryllium considered virtually homeless, we've gotta beryllium successful a shelter?"

"That's right. Or determination not meant for quality habitation."

"All close then," Celeste said. "So however bash we get into a shelter?"

The caseworker took a heavy breath. "You said your lad precocious turned fifteen?"

"Yes."

"I hatred to accidental it, but I don't cognize of immoderate household shelters that let boys implicit the property of thirteen. Usually older boys person to spell to a men's shelter."

"No way," Celeste said. "Absolutely not. I'm not going to fto my household beryllium separated."

"I privation I had much to offer," the pistillate said. "I'm sorry."

When Celeste near the building, the enactment extracurricular Gateway was conscionable arsenic agelong arsenic it had been that morning.

From the publication "There Is No Place For Us: Working and Homeless successful America" by Brian Goldstone. Copyright © 2025 by Brian Goldstone. Published successful the United States by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a part of Penguin Random House, LLC.

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