For our book presentation, my group read “At Home on the Street: People, Poverty, and a Hidden Culture of Homelessness” by Wasserman and Clair. This book is the result of four years of ethnographic research about homelessness in Alabama. The purpose of their studies was to understand what life is like for homeless individuals and why it is that they choose to not live in shelters. By doing so, they endeavored to determine whether or not policies and programs targeted towards this issue are effective or not. In order to gather this information, the two men stayed in shelters, slept on the street, and did all that they could to get to know the homeless communities in Birmingham on a personal level. That is because Clair and Wasserman wanted to collect data in a way that avoided the typical “insufficient and elitist” approach that most researchers have. They believe that power does not belong solely to the person conducting the research. That is why they decided to live amongst their subjects instead of just interviewing them.

Near the end of the book the two are describing what they believe are solutions for the issue of homelessness. They elucidate that “we cannot ‘fix’ homelessness if we do not know those who are homelessness.” (p.217). This was one of the wisest suggestions for rectifying homelessness that I have heard thus far. I agree with Wasserman and Clair in that homelessness in not a “what” issue, it is a “who” issue. It is impossible to determine what is best for someone if you do not know that person. Homelessness is not a generalized or linear subject. It is one that is conditional and impacts each individual very differently. Therefore, there is no simple answer for how to fix this problem. I definitely think that their research was a step in the right direction for determining more effective strategies for aiding those who are homeless in America.