Brian Goldstone
@brian-goldstone.bsky.social
Author of There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America • essays and reporting in The New York Times, Harper's, The New Republic & elsewhere briangoldstone.net
Our grotesque split-screen:
starving the poor / gorging the ultrarich
"With little public scrutiny, the Trump administration is handing out hundreds of billions of dollars to giant private-equity firms, crypto companies, foreign real-estate investors, and a variety of multinational corporations."
starving the poor / gorging the ultrarich
"With little public scrutiny, the Trump administration is handing out hundreds of billions of dollars to giant private-equity firms, crypto companies, foreign real-estate investors, and a variety of multinational corporations."
November 8, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Our grotesque split-screen:
starving the poor / gorging the ultrarich
"With little public scrutiny, the Trump administration is handing out hundreds of billions of dollars to giant private-equity firms, crypto companies, foreign real-estate investors, and a variety of multinational corporations."
starving the poor / gorging the ultrarich
"With little public scrutiny, the Trump administration is handing out hundreds of billions of dollars to giant private-equity firms, crypto companies, foreign real-estate investors, and a variety of multinational corporations."
The Trump administration is now literally *fighting* to deny food to 42 million people, more than a third of them children.
Read that again.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...
Read that again.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 2:21 AM
The Trump administration is now literally *fighting* to deny food to 42 million people, more than a third of them children.
Read that again.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...
Read that again.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...
I wasn't expecting to come across these generous words about There Is No Place for Us in @maris.bsky.social's Maris Review today. So moved by her description of it as "an impeccably reported book" that "shows how the real tragedy of our time is that hard work doesn't even guarantee a place to live."
November 4, 2025 at 11:50 PM
I wasn't expecting to come across these generous words about There Is No Place for Us in @maris.bsky.social's Maris Review today. So moved by her description of it as "an impeccably reported book" that "shows how the real tragedy of our time is that hard work doesn't even guarantee a place to live."
Here in Atlanta yesterday, more than 2,000 people waited in their cars—one woman for 14 hours—for a box of food. The giveaway ended early; there wasn't enough to go around.
Multiply this scene by countless others across the country, and you get a sense of how crushing the desperation is right now.
Multiply this scene by countless others across the country, and you get a sense of how crushing the desperation is right now.
November 2, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Here in Atlanta yesterday, more than 2,000 people waited in their cars—one woman for 14 hours—for a box of food. The giveaway ended early; there wasn't enough to go around.
Multiply this scene by countless others across the country, and you get a sense of how crushing the desperation is right now.
Multiply this scene by countless others across the country, and you get a sense of how crushing the desperation is right now.
Hard to overstate the lifeline this ruling offers in the face of Trump's calculated cruelty.
It will not only keep tens of millions—half of them kids—fed this month, but will also prevent the evictions and shutoffs that would have resulted from families being forced to pay for food out of pocket.
It will not only keep tens of millions—half of them kids—fed this month, but will also prevent the evictions and shutoffs that would have resulted from families being forced to pay for food out of pocket.
October 31, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Hard to overstate the lifeline this ruling offers in the face of Trump's calculated cruelty.
It will not only keep tens of millions—half of them kids—fed this month, but will also prevent the evictions and shutoffs that would have resulted from families being forced to pay for food out of pocket.
It will not only keep tens of millions—half of them kids—fed this month, but will also prevent the evictions and shutoffs that would have resulted from families being forced to pay for food out of pocket.
This suffering-by-design has long been wrapped in racism: from Obama derided as the "food stamp president" to a former Gorsuch clerk telling SNAP recipients to "get off your fat, ghetto asses" (never mind that over a third of recipients are white).
Immiseration is the result. Racism is the vehicle.
Immiseration is the result. Racism is the vehicle.
October 31, 2025 at 2:06 PM
This suffering-by-design has long been wrapped in racism: from Obama derided as the "food stamp president" to a former Gorsuch clerk telling SNAP recipients to "get off your fat, ghetto asses" (never mind that over a third of recipients are white).
Immiseration is the result. Racism is the vehicle.
Immiseration is the result. Racism is the vehicle.
I especially appreciate the inclusion of this part, which I feel really deeply right now: "It's not about realism versus imagination. It's about competing versions of an imagined future, an imagined present."
![Quote from Chicago Reader piece: "We can’t allow our imaginations, our moral and political orientations, to be dictated by [the police and the state],” Goldstone said at night’s close. “Because it took imagination to build Alligator Alcatraz in five days, and it took imagination to terrorize communities in the way that they are now being terrorized. It’s not about realism versus imagination. It’s about competing versions of an imagined future, an imagined present,” he said, as the audience began to applaud. “We have to acknowledge the brutal realities on the ground, and have a North Star where all of these systems—education, housing, health care—all of it comes together, in a different way of being together.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:x7xmggpwlgtotuxi5as5igwy/bafkreifrososqjbwlkqfxbj5rz5fr5ea4zpamykeomd2tv7hknts7qvzt4@jpeg)
October 30, 2025 at 3:27 PM
I especially appreciate the inclusion of this part, which I feel really deeply right now: "It's not about realism versus imagination. It's about competing versions of an imagined future, an imagined present."
SNAP isn't about "people who don't work." It's about people who don't get paid enough to live.
Of the 40 or so million people who rely on food stamps:
* Two-thirds are children, seniors, or disabled
* Most working-age adults who receive SNAP are employed—but in jobs that pay poverty wages
Of the 40 or so million people who rely on food stamps:
* Two-thirds are children, seniors, or disabled
* Most working-age adults who receive SNAP are employed—but in jobs that pay poverty wages
October 27, 2025 at 12:48 AM
SNAP isn't about "people who don't work." It's about people who don't get paid enough to live.
Of the 40 or so million people who rely on food stamps:
* Two-thirds are children, seniors, or disabled
* Most working-age adults who receive SNAP are employed—but in jobs that pay poverty wages
Of the 40 or so million people who rely on food stamps:
* Two-thirds are children, seniors, or disabled
* Most working-age adults who receive SNAP are employed—but in jobs that pay poverty wages
I've talked with so many families over the last two weeks who are terrified about what will happen if they lose their SNAP benefits on November 1. Food bank workers say they're already stretched to the limit.
This is the reality right now.
www.npr.org/2025/10/24/n...
This is the reality right now.
www.npr.org/2025/10/24/n...
October 24, 2025 at 12:53 PM
I've talked with so many families over the last two weeks who are terrified about what will happen if they lose their SNAP benefits on November 1. Food bank workers say they're already stretched to the limit.
This is the reality right now.
www.npr.org/2025/10/24/n...
This is the reality right now.
www.npr.org/2025/10/24/n...
Incredibly grateful to see THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US on the longlist for the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction! Honored to be in such extraordinary company.
October 23, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Incredibly grateful to see THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US on the longlist for the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction! Honored to be in such extraordinary company.
Add Cincinnati to the rapidly expanding list of cities where homeless students sleep in parking lots because their families can't afford a place to live.
www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2...
www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2...
October 22, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Add Cincinnati to the rapidly expanding list of cities where homeless students sleep in parking lots because their families can't afford a place to live.
www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2...
www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2...
Origin Stories is an amazing new podcast (recent guests include @praddenkeefe.bsky.social, Yousef Srouji, and @conniewalker.bsky.social).
Honored to be on this week talking about There Is No Place for Us: outlining, writing the book by hand (it's true), the gift of a phenomenal editor, and more.
Honored to be on this week talking about There Is No Place for Us: outlining, writing the book by hand (it's true), the gift of a phenomenal editor, and more.
October 16, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Origin Stories is an amazing new podcast (recent guests include @praddenkeefe.bsky.social, Yousef Srouji, and @conniewalker.bsky.social).
Honored to be on this week talking about There Is No Place for Us: outlining, writing the book by hand (it's true), the gift of a phenomenal editor, and more.
Honored to be on this week talking about There Is No Place for Us: outlining, writing the book by hand (it's true), the gift of a phenomenal editor, and more.
So grateful for last night's event at the National Public Housing Museum. It meant so much to be in conversation with @eveewing.bsky.social, tracing the connections between housing precarity, racial capitalism, displacement, and dispossession—from Gaza and ICE to homeless sweeps and beyond.
October 15, 2025 at 5:34 PM
So grateful for last night's event at the National Public Housing Museum. It meant so much to be in conversation with @eveewing.bsky.social, tracing the connections between housing precarity, racial capitalism, displacement, and dispossession—from Gaza and ICE to homeless sweeps and beyond.
Trump to the Israeli parliament today, gloating about U.S. weapons supplied to Israel over the past two years:
"You obviously used them very well."
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
"You obviously used them very well."
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
October 13, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Trump to the Israeli parliament today, gloating about U.S. weapons supplied to Israel over the past two years:
"You obviously used them very well."
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
"You obviously used them very well."
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Excited to be heading to New Jersey tomorrow for the Morristown Festival of Books. I'll be speaking at St. Peter's Episcopal Church at 3:40pm.
The event is free and open to the public. Details here: morristownbooks.org
The event is free and open to the public. Details here: morristownbooks.org
October 10, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Excited to be heading to New Jersey tomorrow for the Morristown Festival of Books. I'll be speaking at St. Peter's Episcopal Church at 3:40pm.
The event is free and open to the public. Details here: morristownbooks.org
The event is free and open to the public. Details here: morristownbooks.org
Found this note while cleaning my desk earlier. Apparently my six-year-old son wrote it for me back in March, the morning my book came out, but somehow I didn't spot it until today.
In case it's not clear, it says: "Everybody will buy the book."
In case it's not clear, it says: "Everybody will buy the book."
October 8, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Found this note while cleaning my desk earlier. Apparently my six-year-old son wrote it for me back in March, the morning my book came out, but somehow I didn't spot it until today.
In case it's not clear, it says: "Everybody will buy the book."
In case it's not clear, it says: "Everybody will buy the book."
As a subscriber to @nybooks.com for more than a decade, it was pretty surreal to open the mail this morning and see this review of There Is No Place for Us in print.
October 8, 2025 at 1:03 PM
As a subscriber to @nybooks.com for more than a decade, it was pretty surreal to open the mail this morning and see this review of There Is No Place for Us in print.
Thrilled to see that Omar El Akkad's unflinching and utterly essential book has been named a finalist for the National Book Awards.
lithub.com/here-are-the...
lithub.com/here-are-the...
October 7, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Thrilled to see that Omar El Akkad's unflinching and utterly essential book has been named a finalist for the National Book Awards.
lithub.com/here-are-the...
lithub.com/here-are-the...
As HUD's leadership pursues a plan that could push millions of families into homelessness, here's what the agency's website is serving up this morning:
September 30, 2025 at 2:27 PM
As HUD's leadership pursues a plan that could push millions of families into homelessness, here's what the agency's website is serving up this morning:
Truly outrageous. Erasing the evidence of mounting suffering won't make it go away.
It's just a matter of time before he cancels the annual homeless count.
It's just a matter of time before he cancels the annual homeless count.
September 21, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Truly outrageous. Erasing the evidence of mounting suffering won't make it go away.
It's just a matter of time before he cancels the annual homeless count.
It's just a matter of time before he cancels the annual homeless count.
I've got some extra copies of There Is No Place for Us, and I'd love to give away 5 signed books.
Just repost, like, or comment to signal your interest. I'll pick names at random on Friday.
Totally optional: feel free to share how the struggle for stable housing shows up in your life or community.
Just repost, like, or comment to signal your interest. I'll pick names at random on Friday.
Totally optional: feel free to share how the struggle for stable housing shows up in your life or community.
September 17, 2025 at 7:03 PM
I've got some extra copies of There Is No Place for Us, and I'd love to give away 5 signed books.
Just repost, like, or comment to signal your interest. I'll pick names at random on Friday.
Totally optional: feel free to share how the struggle for stable housing shows up in your life or community.
Just repost, like, or comment to signal your interest. I'll pick names at random on Friday.
Totally optional: feel free to share how the struggle for stable housing shows up in your life or community.
"This is a child born 'with the deck stacked against him,' she said." 💔
September 16, 2025 at 8:59 PM
"This is a child born 'with the deck stacked against him,' she said." 💔
And if you haven't yet read Eve's essential new book, Original Sins, I can't recommend it highly enough.
September 10, 2025 at 2:10 AM
And if you haven't yet read Eve's essential new book, Original Sins, I can't recommend it highly enough.
What a tremendous gift to talk about THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US alongside Gianna Toboni's amazing THE VOLUNTEER at the National Book Festival today, moderated by Steven Portnoy of ABC News Radio.
September 6, 2025 at 9:37 PM
What a tremendous gift to talk about THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US alongside Gianna Toboni's amazing THE VOLUNTEER at the National Book Festival today, moderated by Steven Portnoy of ABC News Radio.
September 4, 2025 at 5:59 PM