join our Reading Group
Join our reading group, where we meet monthly to discuss one book that deepens our collective understanding of housing and contributes to the political education we provide our members. Gatherings take place salon-style on Sundays at a member’s private residence and are open to members only, so please be sure to sign up in advance to participate.
April
Making a Better World by Don Parson
Making a Better World traces the rise and fall of a public housing ethic in Los Angeles and its impact on the city's built environment. In the caustic political atmosphere of Joseph McCarthy's America, public housing opponents accused the city's housing authority of communist infiltration, effectively eliminating the left from debates over the city's development. In place of public housing, conservative forces promoted a pro-private growth agenda that redefined urban renewal and reshaped modern Los Angeles. No conventional public housing projects have been constructed in Los Angeles since 1955. In this era of skyrocketing housing prices, especially in urban areas, Don Parson's examination not only gives us the recent history of a city, but also opens up a new debate on a current national crisis in providing shelter for low-income Americans.
Meeting: Sunday April 12th 12pm Register to receive location.
Where to find?
LA Public Library has 2 physical copies and the E-book. You can also purchase the book from the University of Minnesota Press.
❋ Members OnlyYou must be a member to participate in the reading group. Membership status will be verified before location is shared. Become a member here.
May
Modern Housing by Catherine Bauer
Originally published in 1934, Modern Housing is widely acknowledged as one of the most important books on housing of the twentieth century, introducing the latest developments in European modernist housing to an American audience. It is also a manifesto: America needs to draw on Europe’s example to solve its housing crisis. Only when housing is transformed into a planned, public amenity will it truly be modern.
Modern Housing’s sharp message catalyzed an intense period of housing activism in the United States, resulting in the Housing Act of 1937, which Catherine Bauer coauthored. But these reforms never went far enough: so long as housing remained the subject of capitalist speculation, Bauer knew the housing problem would remain. In light of today’s affordable housing emergency, her prescriptions for how to achieve humane and dignified modern housing remain as instructive and urgent as ever.
Meeting: Sunday May 31st 12pm ❋ Members OnlyYou must be a member to participate in the reading group. Membership status will be verified before location is shared. Become a member here.