The Visible Poor: Homelessness in the United States / Edition 1

by Joel Blau

Overview

Taking an in-depth look at the causes of homelessness in the United States, Joel Blau disproves the convenient myths that most homeless are crazy, drug addicts, or lazy misfits who brought their suffering upon themselves. He shows that the current crisis was an inevitable result of economic and political changes in recent decades, systematically reviewing the explanations offered by researchers, politicians and pundits, from the deinstitutionalization of mental patients in the 1960s to the gentrification of urban neighborhoods in the 1970s to the evisceration of federal spending on social welfare in the 1980s. Blau argues that current government policies at every level are mired in pointless headcounting and quick-fix solutions that only push the homeless out of sight without touching the underlying causes. He advocates social reforms ranging form a national standard for welfare benefits, a higher minimum wage, and establishment of a social sector for non-profit, affordable housing. A powerful contribution to public debate on homelessness, The Visible Poor must be read by concerned citizens as well as by policy-makers and advocates.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195083538
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/13/1993
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.56(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Joel Blau is Assistant Professor, School of Social Welfare, State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	ix
Part I	Without A Home
1.	The Visible Poor	3
2.	Who Are the Homeless?	15
Part II	Couses
3.	The Economic Causes of Homelessness	33
4.	The Contraction of Social Welfare	48
5.	Housing	60
6.	The Homeless Mentally Ill	77
Part III	The Response
7.	Social Movements, Advocates, and the Law	93
8.	Municipal Responses	109
9.	New York City: Wealth, Poverty, and Homeless Individuals	133
10.	New York City: Wealth, Poverty, and Homeless Families	155
Part IV	Social Policy, Social Needs
11.	Homelessness and Social Policy	173
12.	Homelessness and Common Human Needs	180
	Notes	189
	Index	229