It’s Not a Housing Problem

'Homelessness in America: The History and Tragedy of an Intractable Social Problem'

• Over the course of the past two years, cities across the United States have been dotted with people living on the streets.
• As urban residents retreated from public spaces during the pandemic, homeless populations took over. The effects have ranged from parks that reek of urine to people shooting up on street corners and pushing commuters in front of subway trains.

The language is eminently readable, but the actual text is not.

• Do yourself a favor and get the e-book. It deserves broad (not just academic) attention and I might have skipped the 30-page bibliography in favor of spacing out the 150 pages of miniscule font

To the substance:

• The homeless population has always been predominantly men as it is today, but other aspects of it were different
• Nationwide estimates in the early 20th century ranged from 500,000 to 5 million.
• Today's population is disproportionately black, while the homeless used to be almost entirely white
• Alcoholism and substance abuse have always been problems among the homeless
• Our focus on the connection between modern homelessness and drug addiction causes us to overlook how bad alcoholism was in former eras

 

https://freebeacon.com/policy/its-not-a-housing-problem/