Hey listeners, I'm here to tell you about an exciting event that's happening on Sunday, May 4th.

It is called Stack the Shelves, and it is a special pop-up bookshop that the Stacks is hosting,

dedicated to supporting individuals and families impacted by the recent Los Angeles wildfires.

We're going to have books, author signings, a kid's corner, food, music, lawn games, special guests,

and more. And so now here's the part where I turn to you, the amazing stacks community,

and ask you for help. In order to make this day a smashing success, we need volunteers,

local to Los Angeles. We need your donations, which will be tax deductible

thanks to our partners at L.A. Room and Board, a fantastic nonprofit. 100% of your donations

will go directly to families, including gift cards to Octavia's bookshelf so they can continue

to build their libraries. And we need your help spreading the word. Head to the stackspodcast.com slash

shelves to get all the details. Again, that is the stackspodcast.com slash shelves.

The chasm between what people are earning and what it costs to have a place to live is by no means unique to New York and L.A. and

San Francisco. There is no city or county in the entire United States of America where someone

earning the local minimum wage can afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. And I argue that the sprawling

tent encampments that we see driving around L.A. or San Francisco are only the tip of the

iceberg of this far deeper catastrophe.

Welcome to the Stacks, a podcast about books and the people who read them.

I'm your host, Tracy Thomas, and today I am thrilled to welcome to the podcast, Brian Goldstone.

Brian is a journalist and the author of a brand new book that came out last month called There Is No Place for Us, Working and Homeless in America.

The book explores the world of the working homeless, people who are employed full-time but

still unable to afford permanent housing, by following five families in Atlanta.

Today, Brian and I talk about how he found and approached the families to cover in this book,

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