The book combines a critique of more than a century of housing reform policies--including public and other subsidized housing， as well as exclusionary zoning--with the idea that small houses --a poor side of town--helps those of modest means build financial assets and join in the local democratic process。 It is more an historic narrative than a straight policy book， however--telling stories of Jacob Riis， zoning reformer Lawrence Veiller， anti-reformer Jane Jacobs; housing developer William Levitt; African- American small homes advocate Rev。 Johnnie Ray Youngblood， as welll as first person accounts of one- time residents of neighborhoods such as Detroit's Black Bottom who lose their homes and businesses to housing reform and urban renewal。 It combines reportage and policy in a way intended to engage readers。