Paths To Homelessness : Extreme Poverty And The Urban Housing Crisis

This book is the first to combine a cogent explanation of the economic and historical causes of homelessness with accounts of individuals and families on the streets, in soup lines, and in shelters. The human side of the story, told from ethnographies conducted in three diverse cities—Chicago, Denver, and Tampa—shows that there is no "culture of poverty” that makes people poor, just as there is no "culture of homelessness” that leaves people without shelter. Instead, the authors show that large numbers of people became homeless through the processes of urban and industrial decline.Homelessness is largely an urban phenomenon. It increased dramatically when cities witnessed the simultaneous loss of low-income housing and good-paying industrial jobs. However, the increase in the number of homeless people does not suggest a special social problem—arising from the character of individuals—but is the result of social and economic transformations in American cities since the late 1970s.In this book the words of the homeless tell the stories of people who were "making it” before but eventually fell into circumstances of extreme poverty. The many paths taken to homelessness, revealed in their stories, speak to the changing conditions of inequality in the United States today and the need for new public policies. An exploration of the economic and historical causes of homelessness is combined with accounts of individuals and families who are on the streets or in shelters and how they came to that point. Following an overview of the problem of homelessness and its causes, nine chapters present stories of homeless individuals, friends, and families. These stories demonstrate that there is no culture of poverty that makes people poor and no culture of homelessness that leaves them without shelter. These stories show that large numbers of people become homeless through the processes of urban and industrial decline. The increase in the numbers of homeless people is a result of the social and economic transformations of American cities since the late 1970s. The last two chapters review the complex and simple realities of homelessness and offer some suggestions for resolving it. Shelters and shelter services are not the answer to homelessness; the only real answer lies in the provision of sufficient low-income and affordable housing. (Contains 203 references.) (SLD) The major theme in this book is that people are homeless because of structural arrangements and trends that result in extreme impoverishment and a shortage of affordable housing in U.S. cities. It explains the economic and historical causes of homelessness with accounts of individuals and families. Combining an explanation of the structural and historical causes of homelessness with accounts of individuals and families on the streets, in soup lines and in shelters, this book is based on ethnographies conducted in the cities of Chicago, Denver and Tampa. Based on interviews with 40 homeless persons conducted in Chicago, Denver and Tampa in 1986-1988; presents their life stories, including their accounts of the circumstances that led to their homelessness