Abstract
This in-depth critical analysis on homelessness in the United States is a powerful contribution to the field of social work. Ending Homelessness: Why We Haven’t, How We Can is an edited collection of 17 chapters eloquently written by practitioners, policy experts, and academics, which includes an insightful first-person account of homelessness. The editors have carefully curated four parts of the book, which include: Part 1: Where Are We Now? Part 2: What Have We Done (Or Not Done)? Part 3: Why Aren’t We Further, and Part 4: What Do We Do? This four-part organization contributes to the book’s continuity and conceptualization of the complex systemic issues surrounding poverty and homelessness.
This volume is affordable and is distributed by a women-owned publishing firm. It would be a useful text for social work educators who could assign chapters in their seminar and policy courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. A thought-provoking chapter, Rights, Responsibilities, and Homelessness, challenges the reader with a framework asserting that current laws are meant to protect the general public rather than to address seriously the oppression and discrimination of individuals experiencing homelessness. It highlights the need to place people above property through laws that express this value.
Both the book’s segments, Three Decades of Homelessness and How We’ve Learned to Embrace Homelessness, provide astute historical and present-day context to discuss the criminalization of homelessness, the impact of the war on drugs, and the loss of affordable housing, along with the debate on housing as a universal right. As an experienced Housing First advocate, I concur that Housing First is a successful evidenced-based practice, but the philosophy and delivery of harm reductions services have become diluted as the result of large-scale implementation. The chapter, Special Need Housing, highlighted a new perspective exploring a program offering substance use free areas in conjunction with harm reduction offered in other parts of the organization. This approach exemplifies the importance of the continuum of care and treatment individualization in eradicating homelessness.
For social work practitioners, this book has the potential to transform nuanced views on homelessness among professionals at all levels. For example, Controversies in the Provision of Services, a provocative analysis addressing the inherent debate around service delivery being remedial or intended to create systemic change, can be assigned to agencies’ staff to reflect on their own services. Community Planning and the End of Homelessness, which expertly analyzes 10-year homeless planning, could be a valuable chapter for administrators in critiquing an agency’s city or regional homeless plan.
A major strength of this text incorporates person-first language with a strong personal voice, unique in a focus on the politics and economics surrounding homelessness. Additionally, there was a concerted effort to dispel stereotypes around the face of homelessness, the root causes of poverty, housing insecurity, and even the individualized experiences of homelessness. The text points to the intention among advocates to address our country’s apathy regarding social policy and examine the views of the public, the media, and the government.
Despite a brief mention of the feminization of homelessness, this volume might have been strengthened with more discussion exploring contributing factors to the increased homelessness among women and further in-depth analysis of solutions. Dialogue around the intersections between homelessness and human-trafficking and the unique needs and issues surrounding older adults, immigrants, and transgender individuals who experience homelessness could have been explored. Our country has changed immensely since this volume was written. An updated volume might include the impact of widespread unemployment and chronic health issues emerging from COVID-19. The new edition could reflect outcomes for newly implemented anti-racist policies and services developed from spending redirected from policing to housing subsidies, rapid-rehousing, crisis outreach, and prevention programs.
In conclusion, this compilation’s ambitious aim to explore our nation’s complicated relationship with homelessness, the historical context, and root causes of the rapid growth in the 1980s, while outlining evidenced-based practices and policy reforms was successful. Feminist social workers will be inspired by the final chapter, Where Do We Go From Here? which encourages social work researchers and leaders to partner with organizations to deliver cost-effective program evaluations and engage in participatory action research with individuals experiencing homelessness to ensure that their voices contribute to systemic change.
