Blighted: A Story of People, Politics, and an American Housing Miracle

by Margaret Stagmeier

Blighted is a powerful narrative about the decades-long decay and remarkable two-year reinvention of Summerdale, an aging apartment community located in one of Atlanta’s grittiest corridors. From burnt-out, mold-infested buildings to traumatized classrooms, Blighted unfolds in the voices of ruthless drug dealers, phantom tenants, fearless landlords, the working poor, educators, and visionary local leaders. 

After purchasing the property from an absentee overseas owner, Marjy Stagmeier and her partners methodically tackled the crisis festering inside the gated 244-unit apartment property. Two years of relentless work later, Stagmeier reveals how the team that she led built community from chaos. Through on-the-ground, in-the-moment interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, Stagmeier demonstrates how marginalized housing perpetuates intergenerational poverty and the collapse of nearby public schools while showing the multifaceted challenges of improving dire living conditions. 


Blighted offers a unique insider perspective of the political, human, and economic challenges of delivering equitable housing in a market fueled by inflationary prices, insatiable demand, and competing and often dubious agendas. Summerdale’s success is a bright model of how affordable housing, education, healthcare, and social capital can interconnect to build vibrant, sustainable communities―affordable housing communities, nearby schools, and the community at large. From there, kids, families, working people, and neighborhoods can thrive.

392 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 2022

Reviews

[Matthew Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tbh very mixed feelings. I believe the author’s heart is in the right place and has done great work in providing affordable housing, but some problems jump out at me. Mostly her problematic portrayal of minority tenants and workers. I mean when writing the lines of an Asian maintenance person she writes, “ Ewe wanna see bothie sides, yeh” and “gu mernen.” And there are countless examples of this with Black tenants’ speech and critiques of their behavior. This portrayal is made worse when you compare them to her portrayal of police officers and Atl Police Foundation. She doesn’t have enough nice words for police and very much is okay with locking people up as much as possible. Police are just quoted as having fun arresting people. She loves the word ‘thug’ for sure and seems to miss how much growing up in poverty affects how people interact with the world and carry themselves. The work she has done to change an apartment community is admirable though and lessons can be gleaned from the book, specifically for mission driven developers. A focus on improving schools through better affordable housing communities is important. Just wish the book didn’t lean into being such a pat on the back brag session for the author. Feels very much like white savior complex written into a book about mission driven development.