Fortunate People in a Fortunate Land: At Home in Santa Monica's Rent-Controlled Housing [Hardcover]

Rent control and other tenant protections have profound and positive impacts on individuals’ and communities’ lives. Lauren Everett’sFortunate People in a Fortunate Landshows how rent control impacts the lives of the renters themselves. Everett interviews residents about their experiences in low- and middle-income households in rent-controlled private market housing in Santa Monica, CA, a city where Everett was born and raised but can no longer afford to live.

Everett seeks to understand the extent to which individuals feel at home or not at home and what factors contribute to those experiences. She also explores the nexus of Santa Monica’s tenant protection policies, infrastructure, and resources and the extent to which they inform stability—both perceived and actual—and life decisions.

The first scholarly book to take a tenant-centered approach to examining the benefits and problems of rent control,Fortunate People in a Fortunate Landexamines the residential experience in this specific local context and explains how it relates to policy and other externalities in cities where homeownership is not financially viable for most renters.

In the seriesUrban Life, Landscape, and Policy

Fortunate People in a Fortunate Landis exactly the book the housing policy debate has been missing.... By shifting the focus away from spreadsheet data and focusing on the lived experiences of the tenants themselves, Everett delivers a groundbreaking, empathetic work that redefines how we talk about housing policy in America. It shifts the concept of housing from a commodity to its intended use  shelter.... Everetts proposal presents a compelling case for rethinking how we approach renter stability.Planetizen

Rent control is a well-known tenant protection practice in the US; however, it remains controversial for a variety of economic, state, and local public policlã<