{"product_id":"when-we-walk-by-isbn-9781623178840","title":"When We Walk By","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow to end homelessness in America: a must-read guide to understanding housing instability, supporting our unhoused neighbors, and reclaiming our humanity.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eA deeply humanizing analysis that will change the way you think about poverty and homelessness—for the socially engaged reader of Isabel Wilkerson's \u003ci\u003eCaste\u003c\/i\u003e and Matthew Desmond's \u003ci\u003eEvicted\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThink 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?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhen We Walk By\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAuthors 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:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhy our brains have been trained to overlook our unhoused neighbors\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe 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”\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhat conservative economics gets wrong about housing insecurity\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhat relational poverty is, and how to shift away from “us versus them” thinking\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThat for many Americans, housing insecurity is just one missed paycheck away\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWho “the homeless” really are—and why that might surprise you\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhat you can do to help, starting today\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA necessary, deeply humanizing read that goes beyond theory and policy analysis to offer engaged solutions with compassion and heart, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhen We Walk By\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e is a must-read for anyone who cares about homelessness, housing solutions, and their own humanity.\"Adler and Burnes, with their co-authors, offer fresh and hopeful solutions that could affect long-lasting change.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist,\u003c\/i\u003e starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \"A must-read for anyone interested in solving the problem of homelessness.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003e—Publishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A persuasive book about a crucial subject\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—San Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Books, when properly executed, pry back the veil and show readers a shared humanity. \u003ci\u003eWhen We Walk By\u003c\/i\u003e is one such book.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Shelf Awareness\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Andrew Yang, entrepreneur and former 2020 presidential candidate\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A very accessible, yet powerful read. I highly recommend it. I was moved and touched while reading this book. My copy is filled with notes and dog-eared pages for future reference. This book is a lovely and much-needed contribution.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Gregg Colburn, associate professor at the University of Washington and coauthor of \u003ci\u003eHomelessness Is a Housing Problem\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Captivating...People experiencing homelessness are humans like you and me, deserving of the same respect and dignity.... A must read!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Ellen Bassuk, MD, Founder of C4 Innovations and the National Center on Family Homelessness and Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eWhen We Walk By\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us of our shared humanity, our shared needs, and how we should promote a political economy of sharing, especially with our neighbors who have little or nothing. Read this, heed the call. No more just walking by!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Dennis Culhane, Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy, School of Social Policy \u0026amp; Practice, University of Pennsylvania\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A masterclass in meeting folks where they are, listening first, and designing and delivering services informed by the experiences of our unhoused neighbors.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Dr. Michael K. Hole, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Population Health, and Public Policy at Dell Medical School and the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In a book that explores our national failures and points to common-sense fixes, the authors challenge us to see the humanity of our neighbors, and care more deeply...[it] should guide policy makers, and quickly, as they seek a cure to what ails our nation.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Tony Messenger, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author of \u003ci\u003eProfit and Punishment\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Highly moving and profoundly enlightening.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Dr. Gloria Duffy, President, The Commonwealth Club of California\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[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.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Heather Hay, Senior Consultant, Foundations for Social Change, creator of the New Leaf Project\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"Social connection is a key element of human survival that often gets overlooked day to day. This book offers a fresh, integrated perspective about the importance of a human response to a complex social problem.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Benjamin Henwood, PhD, LCSW, Associate Professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A must-read guide for navigating and fixing the broken status quo of homelessness in America...readers of this book will no longer 'walk by' feeling helpless.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Michael D. Tubbs, Mayor of Stockton, CA, and special advisor to CA Governor Gavin Newsom for Economic Mobility\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I've read many, many books about homelessness, and I think this is the best one I've ever read....\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eWell organized, well written, and easy to follow. \u003ci\u003eWhen We Walk By\u003c\/i\u003e gives concrete and specific suggestions for every person, regardless of how much or how little they know about the subject.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—David Miller, former president and CEO of the Denver Foundation\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eKEVIN 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 \u003ci\u003eNatural Disasters as a Catalyst for Social Capital\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDONALD 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 \u003ci\u003eJourneys Out of Homelessness: The Voices of Lived Experience\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eA Nation in Denial: The Truth About Homelessness\u003c\/i\u003e and co-edited \u003ci\u003eEnding Homelessness: Why We Haven’t, How We Can\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAMANDA BANH and ANDRIJANA BILBIJA contributed research throughout.\u003cb\u003eNot in My Backyard\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e When most of us think about “the  homeless,” we do not see the loneliness, the isolation, the exhaustion,  the lack of agency in deciding even the most basic choices of the  day—what to eat, when to eat, when to use the bathroom and bathe, where  to sleep, who to interact with, how to feel safe. We do not see the  stories of bravery, the fortitude it takes to live in a society where no  one seems to acknowledge your presence, let alone your inherent  dignity. We are not confronted with the mental and physical resilience  that our unhoused neighbors must exert to survive days, weeks, months,  years, or even decades of relational poverty and housing insecurity,  almost always amid chronic illness, untreated injury, and ongoing  trauma. The experience of homelessness is foreign and incomprehensible  to most of us, and frankly we prefer to keep it that way. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In our brains, news media, and daily  conversations, we form, reinforce, and validate a separate group that we  call “the homeless,” instead of getting to know the actual people who  are experiencing homelessness in our midst—for if we ventured too close,  we might recognize ourselves. So for the most part, we live in two  separate worlds. No wonder that the participants in the NYC Rescue  Mission experiment did not register their family members who were  dressed up to look homeless; their family members might as well have  been wearing invisibility cloaks or hiding behind bushes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Where our worlds do intersect, we are  left feeling frustrated, disgusted, angry, cynical, and helpless—which  often gives way to NIMBYism. NIMBYism, or the “Not in My Back Yard”  phenomenon, is typified by residents who oppose new housing developments  near their homes, especially affordable and denser housing, homeless  shelters, treatment centers, and the like.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e At its core, NIMBYism involves a  narrowly defined self-interest that excludes people and behaviors that  we perceive to be unlike ourselves, such as people experiencing  homelessness. NIMBYs who oppose new housing projects in their  neighborhoods for people emerging from homelessness cite fears of  physical safety, drug paraphernalia, broken bottles, vandalism, and  robbery to justify their exclusionary posture, on the assumption that  our unhoused neighbors are untrustworthy riff-raff, or that their  presence in a neighborhood would be at odds with the local character,  which must be defended. Anything that may pose a potential threat to  NIMBYs––namely their children, their property values, or their idealized  version of where they live–– must be stopped. Rampant levels of  NIMBYism throughout the country push people experiencing homelessness  further to the margins, concentrating them on skid rows and tent islands  rather than working to help integrate them into neighborhoods, where we  can all thrive. As Chris Herring suggests, the effect of NIMBYism is to  exclude and seclude people experiencing homelessness, forcing them away  from everyone else and into less desirable, more dangerous spaces.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e One of the perpetual fears of NIMBYs  is that by providing housing or other facilities for people experiencing  homelessness in their neighborhood, crime will increase. Two recent  studies in Denver suggest just the opposite. In an evaluation of the  tiny home village in the Mile High City, rates of crimes in four major  categories declined within a quarter mile of the village, including  substantial decreases in robbery and drugs and narcotics. An article in  the \u003ci\u003eColorado Sun \u003c\/i\u003eindicated  that, although there was a 14.3% increase in crimes between 2020 and  2021 for the city as a whole, there was actually a 2.8% decrease in  crimes in the six neighborhoods where there were sanctioned (or  supported) encampments for those experiencing homelessness, known  locally as Safe Outdoor Spaces. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But this begs the question: if the  fears associated with NIMBYism are mostly boogeymen, then what else  might be motivating the contingent of people who want to “safeguard”  their communities by closing them off? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Ultimately what underlies NIMBYism is  the presumption of intractable differences between “us” and “them,”  with the most fundamental difference being one of who belongs here and  who does not. We might describe this as \u003ci\u003eplacehood\u003c\/i\u003e, or who is perceived to have the right to be in a particular area: of course, we are welcome here, but they are not. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But this exclusionary tendency is  based on the xenophobic and wildly inaccurate belief that most people  experiencing homelessness are not from the area where they are currently  homeless. In reality, many of our unhoused neighbors were once our  housed neighbors (and family members, friends, and former classmates). A  2019 article by the journalist Inyoung Kang in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e entitled “Where Does California’s Homeless Population Come From?”  illustrates this widespread misconception in the context of Los Angeles  County, first by quoting West Coast readers’ misguided questions (we’ve  chosen to use readers’ first names only), and then by laying out the  actual data:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Christine, a reader from Stockton,  wrote: “Where are the homeless people from? If they are transplants,  when did they come to California, what brought them here, and how did  they end up in their current circumstances?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Another reader, Jim, from Santa Cruz,  wrote that he believed “many, if not most” of the homeless people he  saw were not native Californians. He asked: “Why is California bearing  the brunt of this national crisis?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Elizabeth, a reader in Seattle,  echoed his sentiments, saying: “Do many homeless or near-homeless move  to politically liberal areas, making the assumption that they will  receive more assistance?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e article looks at data from the 2019 homeless count by the Los Angeles  Homeless Services Authority, the agency that conducts the largest  homeless census count in the country. According to the agency’s report,  67.6% of the 58,936 Los Angeles County resi-dents experiencing  homelessness had lived in the county for more than 10 years, and 75.2%  had lived in the county for more than five years. And 75.5% of  respondents said they had lived in Los Angeles County or another county  in Southern California prior to becoming homeless, a figure that bumps  up to 80% when somewhere else in California is included as an option. In  other words, most of the individuals experiencing homelessness that  Californians walk by are fellow Californians. As Kang poignantly writes,  “Some may have rented an apartment or once owned a home in your  neighborhood. Now they sleep in an encampment near the freeway you take  to work each morning.” Or as Peter Lynn, the former executive director  of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority put it, “This is a local  crisis and a homegrown problem.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Considering all of this, “Not in My  Back Yard” is a misnomer; “Already in My Back Yard” (AIMBY) would be  more appropriate. Or if we also look at the data about migration to  California from other states, which shows that the largest group of  transplants are actually college-educated professionals, an even more  accurate acronym might be PHITALBTPBYWY: “Probably Here in This Area  Long Before That Particular Back Yard Was Yours.” It’s a mouthful, but  something needs to be said to counter the narrative that “the homeless”  are mostly out-of-state transplants, which is used by NIMBYs and  politicians to justify excluding them. But perhaps Christine, the reader  from Stockton and a lifelong Californian, has a healthier suggestion  than trying to popularize an unwieldy new acronym: “I hear a lot of  people complain that the homeless people are all from ‘somewhere else.’ I  think it might raise empathy and compassion if it turns out that the  majority of the people who have been displaced are from the very  communities in which they are now trying to survive on the streets.”","brand":"North Atlantic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301739352293,"sku":"NP9781623178840","price":20.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781623178840.jpg?v=1767744000","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/when-we-walk-by-isbn-9781623178840","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}