Description: Just Shelter is a work of political philosophy that examines the core injustices of the contemporary U.S. housing crisis and its relation to enduring racial injustices. It investigates gentrification, segregation, desegregation, integration, and homelessness. Taking current conditions and the historical practices that led to them into account, Ronald Sundstrom argues that to achieve justice in social-spatial arrangements we must prioritize the crafting and enforcement of housing policy that corrects the injustices of the past. If we do not address the history of racism in housing policy, we will never solve today's housing crisis.
Review Quotes: "Just Shelter is a provocative work of applied philosophy that succeeds on two levels simultaneously. First, it offers a timely and compelling intervention into important contemporary debates around justice in social-spatial arrangements. Second, it vindicates the reconstructive and transformative potential of liberal egalitarian theory to redress historically entrenched patterns of racial injustice. It deserves a wide readership inside and outside of the academy." -- Sharon Stanley, author of An Impossible Dream?: Racial Integration in the United States
"This is an important book on the moral imperative to address homelessness, inequality, and racial segregation. Deftly drawing on historical and empirical research, Ronald R. Sundstrom offers a vision of a society that provides real equality of opportunity to all its members. Just Shelter will be essential reading for anyone concerned about the myriad problems surrounding housing in the United States." -- Andrew Valls, author of Rethinking Racial Justice"Equally conversant in the relevant historical and social science research, as well as liberal egalitarian philosophy and urban political theory, Ronald R. Sundstrom is both well positioned and uniquely qualified to speak to some of the most incendiary debates of our time, subjects that range from neighborhood segregation and the homelessness crisis to gentrification and reparations. He persuasively unsettles many of our assumptions about these and related phenomena while reminding the reader of the importance of crafting policies that are pragmatic and feasible." -- Michael S. Merry, author of Educational Justice: Liberal Ideals, Persistent Inequality and the Constructive Uses of Critique"Just Shelter is a must read for housing and poverty researchers and social justice advocates. Higly recommended." -- Choice"These questions suggest the richness of the topic and of Sundstrom's treatment of it. Just Shelter is an essential contribution to the literature on housing and spatial justice, as well as to broader methodological debates in liberal politicalphilosophy." -- Jake Monaghan, ETHICS