homelessness

Rat_Pit_image_Wikimedia_Commons
Image by Edward H. Savage, no known copyright restrictions exist, accessed at Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Police_records_and_recollections,_or,_Boston_by_daylight_and_gaslight_-_for_two_hundred_and_forty_years_(1873)_(14780252001).jpg

Jerry McAuley’s Nineteenth Century Homelessness Ministry

In 1872, McAuley rented a small Water Street room with funds provided by church leaders who admitted the failure of their plan to import middle-class ecclesiastical style into the Rat Pit. McAuley's services were different than anything Water Street, or other mean streets, had seen. He invited in homeless men and others for cheap but hot food, and lots of hot stories. Read More ›
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a teenage boy who ran away from home, scared, stands alone on the platform,
Image Credit: Наталья Лазарева - Adobe Stock

The Winding Path of Homeless Youth

In the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Tyler quoted homeless individuals about family influences: "My dad and my mom both drank really hard. . . . My grandfather died from alcohol abuse. . . . My dad's three brothers are all alcoholics and do drugs. . . . my cousins, they're all drug dealers. . . . Dad gets abusive . . ." Read More ›
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Magic lamp glowing in the dark with mysterious aura, magic, lamp, dark, glowing, mysterious, aura, genie, wish, mystery
Image Credit: Udomner - Adobe Stock

The Aladdin Factor: Why Troubled Kids Fare Better Than Foster Kids

Aladdin, you may remember from the Disney movie, calls himself a "street rat" and knows how to survive amid homelessness. He is competent. He has "agency," the belief that he can act to improve his circumstances. That mindset is different from what former foster child Rob Henderson describes in his good memoir, Troubled. Read More ›
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Male isolated homeless wearing a brown hat sitting on the pedestrian.
Image Credit: Олександр Цимбалюк - Adobe Stock

“Homelessness in America”: Stephen Eide’s Eye on Reality

My third and last book to recommend this month is Stephen Eide’s Homelessness in America: The History and Tragedy of an Intractable Social Problem (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022). Read More ›
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Typical buildings in Soho in New York
Image Credit: jjfarq - Adobe Stock

Inequity and Iniquity in Manhattan Housing

In 2015, the May 15 cover of New York Magazine ran this headline: “New York Real Estate Is the New Swiss Bank Account: Foreigners are flooding the market to stash, hide, and sometimes launder their money.” That intrigued me, because I had done some research into Manhattan condos selling for $20 million and up. Read More ›
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Young depressed homeless girl or woman standing alone under the bridge on the street on the cold weather feeling anxious abandoned and freezing selective focus
Image Credit: Srdjan - Adobe Stock

The Homeless Mascots of “the Anointed”

Sowell wrote that homeless individuals often became "mascots of the anointed." Sleeping-on-the-streets miseries "enable the anointed to score points against a benighted society." Sowell wrote about requests that homeless advocates receive: "We need a witness for a hearing. Can you get us a homeless family: mother, father — father out of work in the past four months from an industrial plant — white?" Read More ›
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“Fentanyl Death Incorporated” Private Screening

Discovery Insitute is pleased to invite our supporters and friends to a private screening of a significant new documentary, Fentanyl Death Incorporated. The event will feature Discovery Institute Senior Fellow, fentanyl expert, and former White House Policy Advisor, Dr. Robert Marbut, who served as Senior Producer. Read More ›