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"They Just Need to Get a Job" by Mary Brosnahan
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"They Just Need to Get a Job"

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"They Just Need to Get a Job" by Mary Brosnahan
Paperback $18.95
Nov 12, 2024 | ISBN 9780807006979

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Praise

“Deeply experienced and widely knowledgeable, Brosnahan has provided a useful perspective . . . An impassioned advocate reveals her truth about and solution for the crisis of homelessness in the US.”
Kirkus Reviews

“With insight and compassion, Mary Brosnahan debunks the myths that help dehumanize and render invisible our fellow houseless citizens—increasingly families, children, and veterans. As homelessness is at the breaking point in America, Brosnahan offers a way out.”
—Heidi Boghosian, author of “I Have Nothing to Hide”

“Mary Brosnahan’s book, ‘They Just Need to Get a Job’: 15 Myths on Homelessness, arrives like water on parched soil. To give succor to those who are without homes, we must understand that to be homeless is not a sin or a failing but is to find yourself buffeted by an unequal and harsh economy. Few have battled more heroically that Brosnahan to dispel the myths that cripple our ability to see clearly and help them. Now she has written a vital book that can perhaps be distilled to this message: dream bigger.”
—Michael Powell, author of Canyon Dreams

Table Of Contents

Preface: The Function of Myth
Introduction: Anita


CHAPTER 1: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HOMELESSNESS

MYTH 1:
“Homelessness Is Inevitable and Intrinsically Unsolvable”

CHAPTER 2: THE ROOTS OF AMERICAN HOMELESSNESS

MYTH 2:
“Homelessness in America Is a Relatively New Phenomenon”

MYTH 3:
“Helping the ‘Worthy’ Poor Is the Best Way to End Poverty and Homelessness”

CHAPTER 3: HOMELESSNESS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

MYTH 4:
“Ronald Reagan Created Modern Homelessness”

MYTH 5:
“Most Homeless People Are Mentally Ill and Dangerous”

CHAPTER 4: OFFERING AID CREATES MORE NEED

MYTH 6:
“If You Build It, They Will Come”

MYTH 7:
“There Is No Shortage of Help Available for the Homeless—They Just Need to Access It”

MYTH 8:
“Handouts Create Homelessness”

MYTH 9:
“Homeless People Just Need to ‘Get a Job’ to Lift Themselves Out of Homelessness”

MYTH 10:
“Homeless People Just Need to Learn to Save”

CHAPTER 5: WHO WE THINK OF WHEN WE THINK OF THE HOMELESS

MYTH 11:
“Runaways Really Aren’t Homeless”

MYTH 12:
“Homeless People Are Single Adults Living on City Streets”

CHAPTER 6: BARRIERS AND SOLUTIONS

MYTH 13:
“People Need to Prove That They’re Worthy of and Ready for Assistance”

MYTH 14:
“Investments in Social Housing Have Proven to Be Failures”

CHAPTER 7: RESISTANCE VS. REVOLUTION

MYTH 15:
“There’s Really Nothing I Can Do to Make a Meaningful Difference”

Acknowledgments
Notes

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