When We Walk By
Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America
by Kevin F. Adler, Donald W. Burnes, Amanda Banh, Andrijana Bilbija
Description
Think about the last time that you saw or interacted with an unhoused person. What did you do? What did you say? Did you offer money or a smile, or did you avert your gaze?
When We Walk By takes an urgent look at homelessness in America, showing us what we lose—in ourselves and as a society—when we choose to walk past and ignore our neighbors in shelters, insecure housing, or on the streets. And it brilliantly shows what we stand to gain when we embrace our humanity and move toward evidence-based people-first, community-driven solutions, offering social analysis, economic and political histories, and the real stories of unhoused people.
Authors Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes, with Amanda Banh and Andrijana Bilbija, recast chronic homelessness in the U.S. as a byproduct of twin crises: our social services systems are failing, and so is our humanity. Readers will learn:
-Why our brains have been trained to overlook our unhoused neighbors
-The social, economic, and political forces that shape myths like “all homeless people are addicts” and “they’d have a house if they got a job”
-What conservative economics gets wrong about housing insecurity
-What relational poverty is, and how to shift away from “us versus them” thinking
-That for many Americans, housing insecurity is just one missed paycheck away
-Who “the homeless” really are—and why that might surprise you
-What you can do to help, starting today
A necessary, deeply humanizing read that goes beyond theory and policy analysis to offer engaged solutions with compassion and heart, When We Walk By is a must-read for anyone who cares about homelessness, housing solutions, and their own humanity.
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Reviews
“A compelling story of rediscovering our own humanity—and a roadmap on how we can make large-scale changes that improve everyone's way of life. Read this book to understand how being connected can save us all.”
—Andrew Yang, entrepreneur and former 2020 presidential candidate
“[Adler and Burnes] illuminate a system broken beyond repair and provide the hope that is required for all of us to shift gears, from the ground up, to solve one of the most distressing problems of our times.…if only we cared. A remarkable read.”
—Heather Hay, Senior Consultant, Foundations for Social Change, creator of the New Leaf Project
Author Biography
KEVIN F. ADLER is the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Miracle Messages. He holds a Masters in Sociology from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelors in Politics from Occidental College. In his work on homelessness, he has pioneered the concept of “relational poverty” as an overlooked form of poverty severely affecting unhoused individuals. He previously authored Natural Disasters as a Catalyst for Social Capital.
DONALD W. BURNES funds The Burnes Institute for Poverty Research at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy and teaches at Denver’s Academy for Lifelong Learning. He was an adjunct professor and scholar-in-residence at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work. He co-authored Journeys Out of Homelessness: The Voices of Lived Experience and A Nation in Denial: The Truth About Homelessness and co-edited Ending Homelessness: Why We Haven’t, How We Can.
AMANDA BANH and ANDRIJANA BILBIJA contributed research throughout.
North Atlantic Books
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publisher North Atlantic Books
- Publication Date November 2023
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9781623178840
- Publication Country or regionUnited States
- FormatPaperback
- Pages348
- ReadershipGeneral
- Publish StatusPublished
- Copyright Year2023
- Dimensions6x9 inches
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