The Homeless: Opposing Viewpoints

by Jennifer A. Hurley (Editor)

Visible on the streets of every American city, the homeless continue to elicit emotional debate. This anthology contains the following chapters: Is Homelessness a Serious Problem? What Are the Causes of Homelessness? What Housing Options Would Benefit the Homeless?

Genres: Politics

186 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2001

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing Viewpoints

This was another great book I picked up on homelessness.

Even better than the last few, this book did a great job at detailing many common misconceptions and viewpoints about homelessness and described the why's and the how's.

I thought it was a great book - albeit a bit outdated.

Would recommend.

4.0/5

[Rashel · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit out of date as i'm reading it. The homeless situation has exploded in the past year particularly west coast and the southern states. This book helped me see that there is a huge contingency of homeless population that has chosen this as a way of life because they refuse to be responsible for working and living together in a way that they can afford housing. if you can't afford housing in a city or state then you move somewhere you can. you work multiple jobs and you live with others who work and you chose to have a home of some sort. or you just suck off the government, society and do little to help yourself. There are others who get in a bad place, or substance abusers or mentally ill. each homeless statistic is actually a person with varying reasons for ending up there. the answer is not giving them all free housing.

[Angela]

My father worked as a psychiatric nurse in the 1980s and worried that the "solution" to close mental health institutions might not serve the population as well as politicians thought without also creating alternative care solutions Unfortunately the solutions started coming over a decade later. He was right. This book is still a valuable sounding board to help people see more deeply into the issues.