Podcast Summary: Fresh Air – "Homelessness In The New Gilded Age"

Date: December 8, 2025
Host: Tonya Mosley (for NPR's Fresh Air)
Guest: Patrick Marquis, homelessness advocate and author of "Homelessness in the New Gilded Age"

Episode Overview

This episode features a wide-ranging and compassionate conversation between host Tonya Mosley and Patrick Marquis, a veteran advocate for the homeless, about his new book, "Homelessness in the New Gilded Age." Marquis shares insights from decades of grassroots activism and research in New York City. The discussion traces the historical roots, policy failures, and the deeply systemic nature of homelessness, especially as it reflects inequality and displacement in contemporary American society. Marquis also explains the persistence of misconceptions around homelessness, the racial disparities involved, and the demonstrable success of "housing first" approaches.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Meaning of "Placelessness" and the Framing of Homelessness [03:46–06:42]

• Marquis introduces the term "placeless" to capture the crisis of displacement that defines modern homelessness, arguing it's not merely urban poverty or personal failure, but a reflection of deeper economic and social dislocation.
• Marquis discusses the evolution of terminology—why he continues to use "homeless" and the importance of language that reflects the true scale and nature of the issue, including hidden homelessness (overcrowding, doubled-up families).

Notable Quote:
"So many of us have come to think of homelessness as kind of a special form of urban poverty... when in fact it has systemic causes... Homelessness is really only the tip of the iceberg of a larger wave of displacement." — Patrick Marquis [04:03]

2. Parallels Between the Gilded Age and Today [06:42–09:44]

• Marquis draws historical parallels between the original Gilded Age (late 1800s) and the present, focusing on radical inequality, economic transition (industrialization then, deindustrialization and precarious service economy now), and increased waves of migration.
• He explores how policy choices and the rise of neoliberal/right-wing economics have shaped current homelessness, emphasizing it's a systemic issue, not just individual failings.

Notable Quote:
"The reaction to that in terms of systemic racism and xenophobia... are kind of a recipe for this age that we're seeing now..." — Patrick Marquis [08:07]

3. The Mid-20th-Century Decline in Homelessness and What Changed [09:44–14:10]

• Marquis sketches the history of American housing reform:
  • Early 20th-century tenement reforms and public health activism led to improved living conditions.
  • Rent control and federal housing programs buffered many Americans against housing insecurity.
• The 1970s brought economic crisis, job loss (notably 600,000 jobs in NYC lost), and fiscal collapse that led to deep cuts in public services and affordable housing, setting the stage for modern mass homelessness.

Notable Quote:
"Through public housing and other federal housing programs, we had a system... where the poorest Americans could actually have decent, safe housing..." — Patrick Marquis [11:42]

4. The Criminalization of Homelessness and Policy Shifts [14:10–17:27]

• Marquis details the shift toward criminalizing homelessness, especially from the late 1970s through the Giuliani era and beyond in New York.
• He notes the Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing cities to criminalize outdoor sleeping and traces how punitive responses have intensified, often with devastating results for the unhoused.

Notable Quote:
"Among the kind of things he [Giuliani] thought needed to be cleaned up were homeless people... There were just mass arrests... police would just come in and just take people's belongings, throw them into dump trucks..." — Patrick Marquis [16:06]

5. From "Treatment First" to "Housing First"—Debating Approaches [17:27–22:37]

• Marquis criticizes the treatment-first model (espoused by politicians like Andrew Cuomo), which makes housing for the unhoused contingent on treatment or rehabilitation, as outdated and ineffective.
• He points out that "housing first" programs, which provide housing with optional support services, have a far better track record—a view supported by research and lived experience.

Notable Quotes:
"This treatment first approach was really developed in the 1990s and... proved to be absolutely counterproductive..." — Patrick Marquis [18:10]
"If your end goal is to help somebody get stability... you need that person to be in a home." — Patrick Marquis [21:07]

6. Racial Inequity & Systemic Disproportion [24:17–25:45]

• Marquis highlights startling racial disparities: almost 90% of New York's homeless population is Black or Latino.
• He references his analysis showing 1 in 17 Black children in NYC spend time in a shelter each year.
• The discussion unmasks how racial stereotypes reinforce punitive policy and blunt honest dialogue on systemic roots.

Notable Quote:
"One out of every seventeen black children in New York City had spent some time in a homeless shelter over the course of a year." — Patrick Marquis [25:45]

7. The Child Homelessness Crisis [27:45–28:42]

• Marquis and Moseley drill down on the shocking scale of child homelessness: 35,000 children sleep in NYC shelters nightly, with 150,000 public school students considered homeless.
• Marquis emphasizes the long-term harm: health problems, educational disruption, and family stress.

Notable Quote:
"It's stunning to think that we've got 35,000 kids sleeping in shelters each night... one of every eight kids in the New York City public school system is homeless." — Patrick Marquis [28:42]

8. A Real Story: Housing First in Action (Riverside Park Tunnel) [32:54–39:58]

• The book profiles a community of people who lived for years in a train tunnel under Manhattan’s Riverside Park.
• Marquis helped some residents move directly from the tunnel into permanent apartments with no interim shelter or mandatory rehabilitation, demonstrating the efficacy of housing first.
• The transition was life-changing: almost none experienced homelessness again.

Notable Quotes:
"We were able to move some of these folks directly into apartments... almost none of them ever experienced homelessness again." — Patrick Marquis [33:14]
"It's actually cheaper... one of the remarkable things that we learned about supportive housing... cheaper to provide supportive housing than leave a person homeless." — Patrick Marquis [34:50]

9. Humanizing the Unhoused: Personal Advice on Compassion [39:58–41:44]

• Marquis urges listeners to see the unhoused as people deserving of compassion and dignity.
• Simple acts of acknowledgment and kindness, rather than judgment, are crucial.

Notable Quote:
"Try and do it in a way that's, you know, just almost... be a human being about it... they're just people like the rest of us." — Patrick Marquis [40:11]

Memorable Moments & Quotes by Timestamp

• On the scale of displacement:
  • "Homelessness... is really only the tip of the iceberg of a larger wave of displacement that we've seen in American society..." — Patrick Marquis [04:03]
• On the era of fiscal crisis in NYC:
  • "New York City came close to going bankrupt... enormous cutbacks in government programs..." — Patrick Marquis [12:24]
• On criminalization policy:
  • "Giuliani... It became very clear early on that among the kind of things that he thought needed to be cleaned up were homeless people." — Patrick Marquis [16:06]
• On housing first success:
  • "It's worked in Salt Lake City, it's worked in Houston, Texas... this approach gets them out of street homelessness into housing and keeps them in housing." — Patrick Marquis [34:50]
• Personal story—compassion for the unhoused:
  • "What I try and do... is just try and see that person for who they are at that moment... just be a human being about it." — Patrick Marquis [40:11]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening & Episode Theme: [02:16–03:44]
• Language & Nature of Homelessness: [03:46–06:42]
• Gilded Age Parallels & Policy: [06:42–09:44]
• Decline & Rise of Homelessness mid-20th century to 1970s: [09:44–14:10]
• Criminalization and Policy Shifts 1970s–now: [14:10–17:27]
• Treatment First vs. Housing First: [17:27–22:37], [24:17–28:42]
• Racial Inequity and Child Homelessness: [24:17–28:42]
• Riverside Tunnel "Housing First" Case Study: [32:54–39:58]
• Personal Compassion Advice: [39:58–41:44]
• Closing: [41:44–41:53]

Overall Tone

The conversation is empathetic, deeply researched, and earnest—both Marquis and Moseley communicate concern, urgency, and moral clarity about addressing homelessness as a systemic crisis rooted in policy, history, and inequality—not individual failure. Marquis's tone is warm and factual, often weaving statistics into memorable personal stories.

Summary for Listeners

This episode provides a comprehensive, nuanced look at how homelessness in America—particularly New York City—is the predictable result of decades of policy and economic choices, starkly paralleling the original Gilded Age's radical inequality. Marquis combines expert analysis with compassionate storytelling, debunking the myths that persist about unhoused people and offering hope in the form of proven, scalable solutions like "housing first." Listeners will come away understanding that solving homelessness requires confronting systemic injustice—and recognizing the humanity of those most affected.