Marvin Olasky

Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture

Archives

Where Are They Now? 

Marvin Olasky
May 19, 2023
My answer to the headline question: I don’t know. But Memorial Day is only ten days away, so it seems an appropriate time to ask about those who may have been victors in their own war on homelessness — or maybe not. First, some backstory. One reason journalists get a reputation for caring more about publishing than people: We write lots of one-and-done articles. We search for human interest and specific detail. We start stories with a “face,” someone whose personal situation brings to ground-level observation what could otherwise be an abstract story. But then we forget about the person we asked readers to care about. I’ve been guilty of that, but sometimes I check back after a few years, and am often thankful to learn that God’s grace really does make a permanent …

Five books on homelessness

Marvin Olasky
May 12, 2023
My monthly OlaskyBooks newsletter comes out tomorrow, but I didn’t have room in it to write about books on homelessness, and it’s not a topic everyone cares about anyway. So here are mini-reviews of five books: two useful, two mildly interesting, one eminently skippable. Let’s go from best to worst. Cathy Small’s Man in the Dog Park: Coming Up Close to Homelessness (Cornell U. Press, 2020) has truth in titling, because it is a street-level view. Her description of homelessness onset doesn’t take into account the severe mental illness of some, but it’s a useful generalization: “a series of falls from successive slopes, set up by larger conditions, abetted by some personal decision or circumstance; each slip in a lower slope leads the person closer and closer to the edge …

The View From Chattanooga

Marvin Olasky
May 5, 2023
By Marvin Olasky and Covenant College students Emma Fallmezger, Jacob Sonke, Elysse Carrillo, Anna McDonald, Charity Chaney, and Lydia Dorman. Los Angeles has been the poster child of homelessness. The first official act of new mayor Karen Bass was to place the city in a “state of emergency.” The Los Angeles Business Council scrutinized LA public opinion on homelessness and found almost unanimous agreement that the problem is serious, with 73 percent saying “very serious.” Most saw a lack of inexpensive housing as the prime reason for homelessness. National attitudes are different. Yes, a recent Rasmussen poll showed 92 percent of American adults saying homelessness is a serious national problem in America — and 65 percent said “very serious.” That second number is up …

Problems of Government-Owned or Government-Subsidized Housing

Marvin Olasky
April 28, 2023
Last October Howard Husock, a Manhattan Institute scholar, explained at the Center for Urban Renewal and Education why both government-owned housing and Section 8 government-subsidized private housing leave many poor people behind the 8-ball. He said both kinds have been “especially harmful to the interests of African Americans. They have lured Black households into dependency and long-term poverty, rewarded single-parenthood and led to the gnawing gap in home ownership and wealth between White and Black households.” He showed how federal and local governments in the 20th century destroyed in city after city black neighborhoods filled with black-owned businesses and homeowners but labeled as slums. Governments replaced them with public housing projects, set housing rules …

Easter Homeless Pedology

Marvin Olasky
April 7, 2023
Today is Good Friday, and some people ask what’s good about a bad news day that commemorates crucifixion. Sunday is Easter, a good news day that everyone could share, but let’s face it: Most humans around the world don’t, and the number of Americans who do is declining. That’s sad but not surprising, and to explain why I’ll introduce what may be for you a new word and some new thoughts concerning homelessness. The new word is pedologist, a scientist who studies the origins, composition and distribution of soils. The root of the word is the Greek pe´don, soil. If you are a seed sower, a pedologist might be able to tell you where your labors are likely to be fruitful and where you are wasting seed and time. Jesus was a super pedologist. Those He called came to Him, often …

Humans Behind the 8 Ball

Marvin Olasky
February 17, 2023
Section 8 “ruins neighborhoods and perpetuates poverty.” Every year we put hope in them is a year the low-cost housing problem festers.

Broken and Trying

Marvin Olasky
February 10, 2023
“Broken people helping broken people,” Kent said: “It’s hard to constantly rebuild, and a lot of people lose a lot of faith, [but] trying to make a difference gives me hope.”

How Much Do You Know About Homelessness?

Marvin Olasky
February 3, 2023
Six in ten, defined as “sheltered homeless,” sleep in emergency shelters, safe havens, or transitional housing programs. These sites are often unpleasant but usually not dangerous. Four in ten are unsheltered, some in tents or cars not for recreational reasons but because they have no alternative.

Examining the Scholarly Record

Marvin Olasky
January 20, 2023
The academic journal literature on homelessness is vast, but during the past decade oversimplification has ruled. The Obama administration made “Housing First!” the official U.S. policy, with homeless people to be given their own apartments. Programs that emphasized “Clean and Sober first” became ineligible for federal aid, and mental health issues became secondary. Typical academic analyses of homelessness found — surprise! — that “Housing First!” is great. A lot of scholarly research up to 2009, though, revealed homelessness complexities. Here are four examples:  Michael Sosin and Maria Bruni, “Homelessness and Vulnerability among Adults With and Without Alcohol Problems,” Substance Use and Misuse (1997). Key insights:Homeless adults who are …