The last thirty years have witnessed an urban renaissance in America. Major cities have managed to drive down the murder rate, improve the schools, restore the built environment, and revitalize their economies. Middle class families are putting down roots in neighborhoods once given up for dead. But solutions to homelessness have eluded even the most successful cities. While the South Bronx was once synonymous across the globe for "slum," now, San Francisco and Los Angeles are just as internationally notorious for their homelessness crises. Indeed, the same cities with the worst homelessness crises rank among America's most successful. One of the crisis' more perplexing features is how cities that have met with so much success with respect to economic development, crime and public education have failed to even ease their homelessness crisis, much less end it. In Homelessness in America, Stephen Eides examines the history, governmental and private responses, and future prospects of this intractable challenge. The "chronic" nature of the challenge should be understood, he argues, by reference to American history and American ideals. The history of homelessness is bound up with industrialization and urbanization, the closing of the West, the Great Depression, and the post WWII decline and subsequent revival of great American cities. Though we've used different terms ("tramp" "hobo" "bum") at other times, something like homelessness has always been with us and the debate over causes and solutions has always involved conflicts over fundamental values. After explaining why homelessness persists in America and correcting popular misconceptions about the issue, Eides offers concrete recommendations for how we can do better for the homeless population. Homelessness in America engages readers by answering the most common questions their audience brings to the topic and exploring other questions that are no less important for being not as commonly asked. Homelessness intersects with multiple other policy areas: education, urban development, criminal justice reform, mental health. By exploring the intersection of homelessness with so many other policy areas, this book aspires to provide a comprehensive account of the challenge.
Stephen Eides is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He has written widely on the homelessness and related issues such as mental illness, including articles in National Affairs, the New York Daily News, The Hill, and the Los Angeles Times.
List of Figures Preface Acknowledgements Chapter 1 "Homelessness": An Elusive Concept Chapter 2 The Romantic Era (Post-Civil War to the 1920s) Chapter 3 The Skid Row Era (Great Depression to 1970s) Chapter 4 The Modern Era (1980 to present) Chapter 5 Harm Reduction and Ending Homelessness Chapter 6 Compassion, Con and Pro Chapter 7 Homelessness and Social Integration Chapter 9 You Can't Catch Schizophrenia from the Streets Chapter 10 Police Work and Social Work Chapter 11 Housing, Housing, Housing Chapter 12 Conclusion Bibliography
