Review of “Invisible Nation: Homeless Families in America,” by Richard Schweid, 2016. Oakland: University of California Press, paper, 185 pages.
Great for the Uninitiated Helper to Read!
Richard Schweid is known for his work in documentaries in Spain and other locations, here using his talents to report on his travels to tell the world more about homelessness in America. He reports on families living in Nashville, Boston, Fairfax, Portland (OR), and Trenton. He interviews many homeless people who represent the spectrum of families who have wound up living in motels, shelters, and other locations and who desperately want to get into their own home.
Schweid shows how different cities and states respond to the needs of the homeless—and he provides a solid historical explanation of how the unhoused and poor have been helped (or not) under different administrations. Federal assistance trickles down, sometimes, and states are left to deliver the complete package to the poor—or decide if they know better than those who have sent them funds for helping those in need.
The author does a good job of showing the enormity and the ferocity of the problem—namely the huge lack of money behind all the struggles. It is not a case of a dozen homeless families needing help in each state. If it only were!
The author also shows how different solutions can work in different settings, including Housing First, rapid housing, general emergency approaches to getting people housed, and a combination of these types of approaches, plus some solutions that come out of thin air. He makes the point that some helpers have no time for reading about studies and research that reveal which interventions are the most effective.
Unfortunately, it is becoming much clearer to those who have a strong sense of social justice—and those who insist on taking the time to read about effective approaches, that Housing First is the best way to go. Counseling, funding, rides, bus cards, meals, and connections to a wide range services, etc., combine to give us the best solution—but might be a combination that costs more in the short run.
Studies show—and info here backs them up—that getting people into housing right away (and providing the essential supports in some cases but not all) provides results with people still housed later on. In other words, there is the feeling among helpers (who really know what it’s about) that once people get their hands on housing, they don’t want to lose it.
The book provides a good and candid look at how to reach and help the poor who need a place to live. The book remains a classic in the investigation of poor families in 5 different kinds of cities. It should be required reading for helpers and those who teach them and those who mentor them.
It is probably very difficult to teach people how to be altruistic and how to have a strong sense of social justice. Certainly the author learned how to do both.
Consider this passage where the author volunteered at a shelter (Portland, OR) and helped make sure families were out of the facility by 7:30 am. “Even those who had a fixed destination—school or the day shelter—would likely have to spend some time outside passing through the inclement weather. Try putting a ten-year-old boy and his mother who have spent the night on a gym floor out into the slick, freezing streets, snow coming down, and then see how you feel getting in your car and turning on the heater” (p. 148).
In abstract terms, there are still two different worlds in our country: the rich (helpful, assertive, altruistic, decent, spiritually-strong persons) and the poor (those who do not care).
In concrete terms, there are still two different worlds in our country: the rich (with bath tubs and toilets, working microwaves, refrigerators for leftovers, and lamps for reading) and the poor (motel rooms, shelters, higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and a myriad of diseases, and a gym floor to sleep on).
The richest nation on earth. And the poorest.