The Visible Poor: Homelessness in the United States

by Joel Blau and Joel M. Blau

Book Overview

Taking an in-depth look at the causes of homelessness in the United States, Joel Blau disproves the convenient myths that most homeless are crazy, drug addicts, or lazy misfits who brought their suffering upon themselves. He shows that the current crisis was an inevitable result of economic and political changes in recent decades, systematically reviewing the explanations offered by researchers, politicians and pundits, from the deinstitutionalization...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195083539
• ISBN13: 9780195083538
• Release Date: May 1993
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Your basic expanded

This is a very good source for somebody new to this interest because it offers a lot of facts in one place. It's also good for somebody more experienced in this area because it offers some interesting and unique perspectives. This is a good basic expanded book for anybody interested in the issues of homelessness.

A Fascinating Look at the Causes of Homelessness

If there are fewer and fewer cheap places to live, where should the poor go? And what about the feeling that those who are not working *should* be less well off than those who are? What does that mean when even those who DO work have trouble finding enough food and shelter? These are some of the troubling issue that Blau discusses in his thoughtful look at America's poor. The solutions he offers are public policy solutions, not charity.I found the book fascinating, but it's probably not something that would appeal to most libertarians. For the rest of us, it lends insight into a problem that persists even now, when the economy is thriving.