The Book on Ending Homelessness provides insights for those in the industry, elected officials, policy makers, funders, public servants and the general public on the best ways to move from managing homelessness to ending homelessness. While ending homelessness may seem to be a whacky or even preposterous idea, Iain De Jong takes more than two decades of experience as an award winning industry leader to lay out how and why homelessness can be ended in very practical ways. This book will provoke and teach, serving as both inspiration and an instruction manual for those serious about combatting one of the most important social issues of our time. The book will reshape how you think about homelessness, as well as how strategies like sheltering, street outreach and day services all play a role in ending homelessness when operated with a housing-focused lens and the right service orientation. No doubt the book will reassure some that their thinking and actions regarding homelessness are bang on, while challenging others to think and respond differently in what they do and how they invest their money. Many of the ideas in the book elaborate upon ideas that Iain shares in his blog, keynote speeches and conference presentations, as well as the training series that Iain and his team have been offering for the past decade. If you are involved in homelessness issues or concerned about homelessness, this book is essential reading.

This book highlights the political nature of homelessness in particular, the political nature of ending the problem and suggests that a movement of homeless and poor people is the best, and perhaps the only, hope for significantly alleviating the homelessness problem. There are signs that the potential for such a movement is growing. Unions of the Homeless and other national protest organizations comprised of homeless and low-income people have arisen in the past decade. These groups constitute the beginnings of what could become a widespread Homeless and Poor People's Movement. Contents: Preface; INTRODUCTION; UNDERSTANDING HOMELESSNESS; Prevalence of Homelessness; Characteristics of the Population; Structural Causes of Homelessness; Governments Response to Homelessness; THE HOMELESS AND POOR PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT; The Potential for an Emerging Movement; Potential Forms of the Movement; Potential Successes of the Movement; Limitations of the Movement's Successes; Notes; PROTEST AS THE MEANS TO END HOMELESSNESS; The Role of Outsiders in the Movement; Conclusion; Appendix; Biography; Index.

This book provides a unique portrayal of Housing First as a 'paradigm shift' in homeless services. Since 1992, this approach has spread nationally and internationally, changing systems and reversing the usual continuum of care. The success of Housing First has few parallels in social and human services.

Portrays the everyday life of homeless men and women in the United States

Foreword by Nan Roman, President and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness This book explains how to end the U.S. homelessness crisis by bringing together the best scholarship on the subject and sharing solutions that both local communities and national policy-makers can apply now In the Midst of Plenty shifts our understanding of the phenomenon of homelessness away from issues of individual disability and embeds it in larger contexts of poverty, income inequality, housing affordability, and social exclusion. Homelessness experts Shinn and Khadduri provide guidance on how to end homelessness for people who experience it and how to prevent so many people from reaching the point where they have no alternative to sleeping on the street or in emergency shelters. The book is organized around four questions: Who becomes homeless? Why do people become homeless? How do we end homelessness? How do we prevent it? Based on a comprehensive look at relevant research, the authors show that we know how to end homelessness—if we devote the necessary resources to doing so. In the Midst of Plenty: Homelessness and What to Do About It is an excellent resource for professionals and decision-makers in the homeless services system, as well as for anyone who is interested in helping to end homelessness. It also can be used as a text in undergraduate or masters courses in public policy, sociology, psychology, social work, urban studies, or housing policy. “The knowledgeable and thoughtful authors of this book—two brilliant women who know as much as anyone in the country about the nature of homelessness and its solutions—have done a great service by taking us on a journey through the history of homelessness, how our responses have changed, and how we can end it.” Nan Roman, President and CEO National Alliance to End Homelessness. “Shinn and Khadduri’s new book is a thorough yet concise examination of what we know about the nature and causes of homelessness, and the crucial lessons learned. This critically important work provides a roadmap to restoring basic housing and income security as viable policy options, in the face of our daunting inequality divide that otherwise threatens millions with destitution and homelessness.” Dennis Culhane, Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy, University of Pennsylvania “Marybeth Shinn and Jill Khadduri have combined their significant expertise to create an essential guide about the history of modern homelessness and to offer a clear path forward to end this American tragedy. Their policy recommendations on ending homelessness are culled from the best about what we know works.” Barbara Poppe, Executive Director US Interagency Council on Homeless, 2009-2014.

Despite billions of government dollars spent in the attempt, we are no closer than we were three decades ago to solving the problem of homelessness. Why? And what can we do about it?Tackling these questions, the authors of Ending Homelessness explore the complicated and often dysfunctional relationship between efforts to address homelessness and the realities on the street.