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'They Just Need to Get a Job': 15 Myths on Homelessness Audiobook
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“Readers will come away infuriated, with a greater understanding of the systemic causes of homelessness, and with more compassion for their homeless neighbors. Essential reading for any community affected by homelessness (which is all of them).”
—Booklist, Starred Review
For readers of Andrea Elliott and Matthew Desmond, the former CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless breaks through the highly destructive misinformation surrounding our homeless neighbors
As the COVID-19 crisis put millions of Americans in danger of eviction, the nation’s affordable housing crisis has reached new heights. Yet Conservative think tanks like the Manhattan Institute continue to disseminate anti-homeless myths in the media, legislatures, and the larger culture:
- “These people just need to learn to save money.”
- “Most homeless people are mentally ill and dangerous.”
- “Runaways aren't really homeless.”
Drawing on her deep legal knowledge, policy expertise, and decades of frontline service, Mary Brosnahan cuts through the misinformation to deliver two important messages: that homelessness ultimately stems from a lack of investment in affordable housing; and that the greatest myth of all is that we should have no hope. In fact, the proven solutions are well documented, and the ability to enact them depends on us all.
Brosnahan takes a nationwide look from New York to Detroit to rural areas such as Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, to debunk 15 widespread misconceptions, including:
- that the problem is inevitable (in fact, Housing First approaches have shown great success)
- that “handouts” cause homelessness (in fact, the primary causes are flat wages and high rent)
- that homeless people need to prove that they’re “ready” to receive aid (in fact, enforcing hurdles is far more expensive and less effective than Housing First).
With brilliant insight, Brosnahan showcases how by dispelling these pervasive myths rooted in fear, we can embrace the affordable, housing-based solutions that will bring our impoverished neighbors home.
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"Mary Brosnahan’s book, ‘They Just Need to Get a Job’: 15 Myths on Homelessness, arrives like water on parched soil. To give succor to those who are without homes, we must understand that to be homeless is not a sin or a failing but is to find yourself buffeted by an unequal and harsh economy. Few have battled more heroically that Brosnahan to dispel the myths that cripple our ability to see clearly and help them. Now she has written a vital book that can perhaps be distilled to this message: dream bigger."
— Michael Powell, author of Canyon Dreams
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With insight and compassion, Mary Brosnahan debunks the myths that help dehumanize and render invisible our fellow houseless citizens—increasingly families, children, and veterans. As homelessness is at the breaking point in America, Brosnahan offers a way out.
— Heidi Boghosian, author of “I Have Nothing to Hide” -
Deeply experienced and widely knowledgeable, Brosnahan has provided a useful perspective . . . An impassioned advocate reveals her truth about and solution for the crisis of homelessness in the US.
— Kirkus Reviews -
Readers will come away infuriated, with a greater understanding of the systemic causes of homelessness, and with more compassion for their homeless neighbors. Essential reading for any community affected by homelessness (which is all of them).
— Booklist, Starred Review
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