Invisible Nation: Homeless Families in America

by Richard Schweid

"By the second or third day that you’re homeless, in the car with all your clothes, your pots and pans, everything, having to wash yourself in a public rest room, you logically start to feel dirty. You prefer to use the drive-through [at fast-food restaurants] where no one will see you. You begin to hide your family."— Invisible Nation      
More than 2.5 million children are homeless in the United States every year. In every state, children are living packed in with relatives, or in cars, or motel rooms, or emergency shelters, the only constant being too many people in too little space. In a vividly-written narrative, experienced journalist Richard Schweid takes us on a spirited journey through this "invisible nation," giving us front-row dispatches. Based on in-depth reporting from five major cities,  Invisible Nation  looks backward at the historical context of family homelessness, as well as forward at what needs to be done to alleviate this widespread, although often hidden, poverty.  Invisible Nation  is a riveting must-read for anyone who wants to know what is happening to the millions of families living at the bottom of the economy. 

Genres: Nonfiction

234 pages, Paperback

Published October 25, 2016

Reviews

[Kate Leupin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a real eye-opener. Not only are we exposed to the sorry plight of children in homeless families, but also to the increasingly thin margin between homelessness and lodging possibility in financially fragile populations. The long-term implications of homelessness are dire, and Richard Schweid has done copious research that substantiates that fact. An informed, compassionate, important book.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Schweid provides a narrative about homeless families living in five different cities in the United States. He uses these narratives as context for an even more elaborate historical look at homelessness in our country stemming all the way back to the Plymouth colonies. He also looks forward to the future into some of the things that some cities are trying to help end homelessness. The integration of the history and stories of current homeless families makes this a an interesting read that branches out from your more typical sociological look at homelessness in America.

[Kathleen (itpdx) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Schweid was staying at a motel working on a different project when he found that a homeless family including four children was also staying in the motel because there was no shelter space in the area and the county couldn't get them housed any other way. This book is the result of his exploration of family homelessness in this country. It includes a chapter on my hometown, Portland OR. He traces how homeless families have been helped (or not) and viewed from Plymouth to the present. He details how a number of jurisdictions in the US are currently trying to cope with the increase in homeless families. He tells the stories of families who have become homeless from job loss, illness, escape from abuse, and just not being able to earn enough to pay rapidly accelerating rents.
He also goes into the studies that show the adverse effects on children of deep poverty and the additional burden on health, learning and coping skills that being homeless piles on them the young. Schweid doesn't necessarily come with an answer but a call to action.
"Millions of children in our country are unnecessarily suffering hardships, difficulties, and levels of toxic stress that should not be borne by kids. They are going through this on a daily basis not far from where you and I live relatively comfortable lives. Children in the United States should not have to grow up this way. We must do everything possible to make the invisible nation visible so that we can deal with it and put it right for the sake of our children, and our nation."