| From the beginning of this project in January 1990, our belief has been that, in order to confront homelessness, we needed to transcend popular culture's incessant monologue on the topic. Repeatedly, the public has been told that homelessness presents three problems, which serve as solutions as well: housing, housing, and housing. Such single-minded slogans, though having a very real basis in the lack of affordable, low-income housing in this country, have foreshortened our perception of the homeless and have stunted our conversation about their problems. This masking of homelessness shapes individual and social perceptions alike. It influences how we see the problem, how we name it, and how we respond to it. In effect, it blinds us to the relationship between homelessness and other pertinent problems of American society: the questions and issues related to social change, class divisions, racial inequities, poverty amid affluence, alienation, and personal crises in living. |
| Only by moving from a monologue to a dialogue will we be able to face some of these broader questions and issues. How effectively we deal with the problems of the homeless at this time in history will depend on just how well we recognize the frames of reference which we use to explainand, at times, to explain awayhomelessness. In the interest of going beyond such frameworks to sound out other voices, we have interviewed nine individuals who range across the humanities, social and medical sciences, and human services, all in an attempt to bring new ideas and outlooks into perspective and to challenge established misconceptions of the social problem. Such misconceptions, by the way, are apparent on both ends of the political spectrum. It is our hope that these conversations will stimulate debate on public policy and private initiative and lead to a more comprehensive sense of social reality and a reawakening of the moral imagination. |
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IOWA CITY