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When We Walk By

Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America

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How to end homelessness in America: a must-read guide to understanding housing instability, supporting our unhoused neighbors, and reclaiming our humanity.

A deeply humanizing analysis that will change the way you think about poverty and homelessness—for the socially engaged reader of Isabel Wilkerson's Caste and Matthew Desmond's Evicted.

Think about the last time that you saw or interacted with an unhoused person. What did you do? What did you say? Did you offer money or a smile, or did you avert your gaze?
When We Walk By takes an urgent look at homelessness in America, showing us what we lose—in ourselves and as a society—when we choose to walk past and ignore our neighbors in shelters, insecure housing, or on the streets. And it brilliantly shows what we stand to gain when we embrace our humanity and move toward evidence-based people-first, community-driven solutions, offering social analysis, economic and political histories, and the real stories of unhoused people.
Authors Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes, with Amanda Banh and Andrijana Bilbija, recast chronic homelessness in the U.S. as a byproduct of twin crises: our social services systems are failing, and so is our humanity. Readers will learn:
  • Why our brains have been trained to overlook our unhoused neighbors
  • The social, economic, and political forces that shape myths like “all homeless people are addicts” and “they’d have a house if they got a job”
  • What conservative economics gets wrong about housing insecurity
  • What relational poverty is, and how to shift away from “us versus them” thinking
  • That for many Americans, housing insecurity is just one missed paycheck away
  • Who “the homeless” really are—and why that might surprise you
  • What you can do to help, starting today

  • A necessary, deeply humanizing read that goes beyond theory and policy analysis to offer engaged solutions with compassion and heart, When We Walk By is a must-read for anyone who cares about homelessness, housing solutions, and their own humanity.
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      • Publisher's Weekly

        November 27, 2023
        Adler (Natural Disasters as a Catalyst for Social Capital), whose nonprofit Miracle Messages helps unhoused people “rebuild their social support systems,” and philanthropist Burnes (Journeys Out of Homelessness) examine in this impassioned treatise the “ongoing national tragedy” of homelessness in America. Describing how people who experience homelessness are “marked by extreme stigma and shame” and a “profound lack of nurturing relationships... that makes fostering social ties incredibly difficult,” the authors explain that the resultant “loneliness and social isolation” make regaining one’s footing nearly impossible. Even when new social connections are made, “emotional barriers” persist—such as “fear of rejection not wanting to be a burden.” Adler and Burnes contend that homelessness in the U.S. is a systemic problem, stemming from issues that can ensnare anyone—including inadequate wages, high rents, and expensive healthcare—which are compounded by laws that penalize the unhoused, such as bans on panhandling. But they point to a more foundational problem as well; critiquing America’s “pernicious hyper-individualism,” which enables people to “walk by” the homeless in tacit acceptance of the status quo, the authors exhort readers to enact change in their own lives. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in solving the problem of homelessness.

      • Booklist

        Starred review from November 1, 2023
        This comprehensive overview of homelessness offers updates on current research, analysis, and solution-oriented practices, all presented through an especially empathetic lens. Nonprofit founder Adler (Natural Disasters as a Catalyst for Social Capital, 2015) dedicates this book to his Uncle Mark, an important figure in the author's childhood, who lived with schizophrenia and spent three decades on and off the streets. In an effort to understand his uncle's daily experiences, Adler launched a research project in which he invited unhoused individuals to wear body cameras and record what they wished people understood about their circumstances. These sessions led Adler to realize that social isolation is a key factor in underlying and chronic homelessness. Many individuals who find themselves in situational poverty purposely cut ties with family and friends due to shame, thus losing their safety nets. In 2014, Adler started Miracle Message, a nonprofit that seeks to reunite individuals experiencing homelessness with their families (often after decades) through sympathetic phone buddies and modest financial support. This program has been uniquely successful in reducing instances of homelessness, and the text outlines steps for initiating similar services, along with practical and realistic advice. Adler and Donald W. Burnes, with their co-authors, offer fresh and hopeful solutions that could effect long-lasting change.

        COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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    • English

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