Abstract: help to contextualize what has been learned about housing, homelessness, and mental illness in the ensuing years. Schutt notes in the preface that he offers implications for social policy but “issues no call to action or suggestions for advocacy” (xx). This stance of neutrality is belied by the book’s extensive references to extant policies and practices (if not extant research). It is also belied by a discussion that emphasizes the negatives of independent living to the point of questioning the “ideological position,” held by recovery advocates, that individuals have the “right to fail” (279), and Schutt argues against assuming that “independent living is the universal preference” (279). The origins of such an assumption (presumably supported by subsequent research) remain unclear. Clearly, returning the homeless to the streets, to hospitals, and to jails entails high costs in public dollars and in human suffering. Few would argue that a single, one-size-fits-all policy is an ideal approach to providing housing and services. Yet, the continued overwhelming dominance of the supervised congregate approach, notwithstanding research supporting HF alternatives, attests to the entrenchment of service delivery systems some 20 years after the BMP took place. Homelessness is caused by a number of factors, and personal deficits cannot be viewed in isolation without reference to such larger social forces as deinstitutionalization, lack of affordable housing, and inadequate community care. The book addresses these forces, but the BMP data, findings, and discussion center on the personal characteristics of the subjects. Perhaps because of the constraints imposed by quantification and measurement, Schutt misses the opportunity to contextualize through use of the project’s ethnographic data or by referencing subsequent findings. The author’s neutral stance will disappoint readers who do not see a conflict between research and empirically supported advocacy. Readers seeking a full portrait of homelessness, housing, and mental illness will find that this book is, alas, incomplete.
Publication Year: 2016
Publication Date: 2016-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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