Journalist Brian Goldstone recently offered insight into how homelessness has, in some cases, become big business for private equity firms — and a downward spiral for working families and individuals living in extended stay hotels, in their cars, or on the street.
Goldstone, author of the acclaimed book “There’s No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America,” was in conversation with State Sen. Kim Jackson during a public event at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on April 11.
The New York Times named “There’s No Place for Us” one of its 10 Best Books of 2025. The book follows five Atlanta working families over about six years as they struggle to secure safe, affordable housing.
During the conversation Goldstone highlighted how low credit scores can lock people out of housing even when they are employed, pushing them into costly extended stay hotels.
He shared the story of Celeste, a mother who slept in her car in a Walmart parking lot with her children, fearing that police might discover them and contact the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.
“In order to not be in that situation any longer, they go to an extended-stay hotel, where rents are double what you would pay for an apartment,” Goldstone said. “Now you’re forced to pay more for substandard conditions.”
Some extended-stay properties have been plagued by rodents, exposed wiring, rusted elevators and stairwells, and even human trafficking.
Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice reports that approximately 60,000 children in Georgia are homeless or living in unstable housing, including about 14,000 infants and toddlers.
Goldstone said that today’s homeless crisis extends beyond housing supply and demand, and shared how private equity and corporate investment are shaping the landscape.
Maurice and Natalia, a couple featured in his book, spent $17,000 over eight months at an Extended Stay America hotel in Sandy Springs, the author said. During that same period, Blackstone Group and Starwood Capital Group purchased Extended Stay America for $6 billion.
“There is a lot of money that can be made off of homelessness,” Goldstone said. “They’re buying up the places people are forced into once they become homeless … Homelessness has become big business.”
Goldstone bonded with the families he journeyed with for six years beginning in 2018. He shared with the audience how our public perception of the unhoused can sometimes misguide us. He recalled the resilience of Michelle, a mother trying to create normalcy for her children on Christmas Eve by preparing dinner and building a gingerbread house with them.
By the end of the book, however, Michelle was estranged from her children, struggling with alcoholism and living on the street, Goldstone said.
A passerby might create their own story about how she got there. “They’re not seeing that she has a family or the circumstances that pushed her to where she is now,” he said.
Jackson asked Goldstone what individual or public action should come from a deeper understanding of homelessness. While he did not offer a direct answer, he emphasized the need for greater awareness — and anger.
Eviction filings in metro Atlanta have outpaced those in New York City over the past year, with more than 143,000 filings in Atlanta compared to about 111,000 in New York, according to the Princeton University Eviction Lab.
That data is despite Atlanta having only a quarter of the renter population, Goldstone said.
For Goldstone, the numbers underscore how dire housing can become for many working families, and how quickly stability can unravel.
“Solving homelessness is not complicated,” he said, noting news reports on how the Pentagon is trying to figure out how to spend an extra $500 billion.
“That’s the America we are living in,” Goldstone said, describing the imbalance — and the trauma families endure when they lose stable housing — as a “scandal” the country must confront.
