Review of “Homelessness is a Housing Problem: How Structural Factors Explain U.S. Patterns,” by Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern, 2022. Oakland: University of California Press, paper, 268 pages
Hey advocates! This is the book we have been waiting for!
This book explains all of the reasons and angles it is the housing “system” that is at fault in the cities where a high percentage of the population finds themselves is a homeless condition.
In their home region, namely the Puget Sound area, the authors were dealing with the public focus on mental health and drugs as being the main causes of homelessness. This focus, according to the authors, was in fact narrowing the conversation and limiting the possibilities for intervention, change, and solutions. According to Colburn and Aldern, “In discussions with stakeholders throughout the region, it became apparent that an intense focus on behavioral health might be masking a more important root cause of this crisis: housing market conditions” (p. xi).
The authors became increasingly interested in the topic of homeless through huge political conversasations happening in their part of the world, Colburn an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington studying housing policy, housing affordability, and homelessness, with Aldern, a data scientist and policy analyst based in Seattle. They were attempting to answer the question: what is causing so much homelessness?
Colburn and Aldern tell us, “In 2020, a poll in Washington State revealed that voters ranked homelessness as the top priority for the state legislature—far above other common public concerns like transportation, the economy, the environment, and health care” (p. 3).
The authors found out some amazing facts once they had done their homework—looking at the data and facts nationwide on homelessness—and some are very revealing indeed. Homelessness is not a result of too many Democrats serving as mayor in the big cities (this being the big reason touted by then-President Trump and others of his ilk). Homelessness is not caused mainly by drugs or booze or poverty. Homelessness is not highest in cities where mostly poor people live. Homelessness is not closely linked to persons suffering from the challenges of mental illness.
In fact, the authors found out, it is the housing situation in the city in question. Very simply, it is the lack of affordable housing—and the huge lack of interest in creating any—that is driving high numbers of persons living in the unhoused condition.
We advocates for the homeless know that this is the situation in Chicago. A studio in a safe neighborhood costs $900 a month? $1000? A decent one–bedroom (with no AC of course) is how much? $1,000? $1,100? $1,200? God forbid someone has a child and therefore needs a two-bedroom! Three kids meaning a two-bedroom apartment? Or for the rich-only few, a mortgage for a two-bedroom condominium is how much?
Chicago does not have one of the highest percentage of residents living outdoors or in shelters. Think what it must be like in those other cities with even more homeless dwellers than in the city with too much wind!
Chicago has 10,000 homeless families (https://chicago.suntimes.com/2018/6/15/18394654/study-finds-10-000-families-experienced-homelessness-in-chicago-last-year#:~:text=An%20estimated%2010%2C000%20families%20experienced,identify%20them%20and%20intervene%20sooner.).
Over 16,000 students in the Chicago Public Schools are homeless (https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-homeless-students-20190905-u2g6xlxksvetzbyiex3gma5wxy-story.html).
These Chicago numbers are dramatic enough!
In each of the cities where many people are living outdoors or in shelters or doubling up with family or friends or strangers, there is a clear lack of places that are affordable enough for them to live in. Many of us have been saying this for some time…
The authors used seven chapters to present their case: (regarding the crisis) Baseline; Evidence; (regarding the causes) Individual; Landscape; Market; (and their conclusion) Typology; Response. They used 26 figures and 2 tables to present their data and other information.
While I understand the authors feel they presented information in such a way it should be easy to understand and the data should be accessible for interpretation, I feel the average reader may not find all the figures all that easy. While an overall understanding of the arguments made here may be comprehensible to many persons, some facility with statistics would be a great help to readers.
I would suggest ALL advocates for the persons living in the condition of unroofed persons read this book immediately. There are in fact clear numbers that can be used in trying to convince stakeholders and leaders of the needs out there. This is an important book for advocates to have a working knowledge of.
I think of some other uses, such as required reading: in advanced undergrad and graduate courses on homelessness and social justice, for board members foundations, and for staff members of community organizations; plus recommended reading for urban stakeholders, graduate students of social work, sociology, and law, and voters!
Another important use for the book could be the “book of the year” all people in Chicago or another city or organization will read and discuss… or a good choice for a similar program in a college or university. Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, has a special program called “One Book,” with Nancy Cunniff serving as director (https://www.northwestern.edu/onebook/).
The book is excellent (ignoring my other comments for the moment).
I recommend the book, obviously, and I am honored I got to review it for the publisher. I am not entirely happy with some of the data presentation, but that may simply be my problem. The reader can decide what they think of the information, the level of difficulty of the data presentation, and the arguments made here.