Many Americans see the poor as being lazy or not doing what it takes to climb out of poverty. In Milwaukee, the rent for a two bedroom apartment in the city's poorest neighborhoods is only $50 per month cheaper than the citywide median. A lot of families are shut out of homeownership because banks just aren't interested in lending to them. Only about one in four low-income families receive any kind of housing assistance from the government.
RUFUS GRISCOM: Could you share with us your broader mission and how your new book, “Poverty, by America,” supports that mission?
MATTHEW DESMOND: I want to end poverty. I want to be part of the movement that’s growing around the country not to treat it but to cure it, not to reduce it but to abolish it. And I say that because we can. We can, as a country, put an end to all this scarcity and deprivation in our midst.