"The rent is too, too damn high" state Abolish Rent coauthors Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis, and it's the truth. In the U.S., "it would take four full-time minimum-wage jobs to afford to rent a typical two-bedroom apartment." Millions of Americans are renters, and 22 million households spend more than a third of their income on rent. The cost of rent is a barrier to saving for a home, saving for retirement, and even paying for other necessities such as food and health care. Abolish Rent looks at this crisis and details how tenants can take back their rights. Rosenthal and Vilchis are cofounders of the LA Tenants Union and have decades of experience in tenants' rights.
An excellent companion read to Evicted by Matthew Desmond, Abolish Rent focuses on the Los Angeles, Calif., area and the rental practices in place there, which can be found all over the U.S. These include exponential increases in rent, lack of upkeep, and dangerous conditions, as well as outright threats from landlords and management companies.
Full of validating quotations such as "The 'passive' income of rent is active income stolen from those of us who work," the book also offers abundant citations for readers to send to that one uncle who refuses to believe the extent of the problem. Brief and to the point, Abolish Rent provides an important perspective and a terrific starting point for anyone who is interested in the idea that there could be a world without rent. --Alyssa Parssinen, freelance reviewer and former bookseller