Homeless in America (1988 eBook)
/The opening message of this book concluded by saying ‘We must not let homelessness become an American institution.’ And yet – in 2025, there are still a lot of people that are homeless and the cost of housing is rising fast enough that it is unlikely that there will ever be enough affordable housing….or effective enough attention to reduce the tragedies that unfold for people that find themselves in the situation.
The book is a pictorial work – full of photographs from cities all over America. Some of the people had died before the book was published. It is available on Internet Archive. I found myself thinking about what has changed. There are new drugs that are, at least, as addictive as the ones in 1988 and some are more likely to cause death from overdose or wounds that will never heal. The tents are similar. The cars that people try to live in are different models…probably just as uncomfortable. But in the end – the efforts that non-profits and churches and cities made really have not been very effective.
