This book extends the study of homelessness beyond the need of shelter. Philosophical exploration exposes the fragility of human fulfillment in contemporary society. The authors weave the moral fabric of what it means to be human. They show how economic and political values compromise the dignity of homeless persons. They argue for recognition of rights for the homeless, who otherwise would be voiceless and without membership in the moral community. This pioneering contribution instills our moral sensitivity to the homeless condition and justifies our moral responsibility to change that condition.

This book extends the study of homelessness beyond the need of shelter. Philosophical exploration exposes the fragility of human fulfillment in contemporary society. The authors weave the moral fabric of what it means to be human. They show how economic and political values compromise the dignity of homeless persons. They argue for recognition of rights for the homeless, who otherwise would be voiceless and without membership in the moral community. This pioneering contribution instills our moral sensitivity to the homeless condition and justifies our moral responsibility to change that condition.

Across the Western world, full membership of society is established through entitlements to space, formalized in the institutions of property and citizenship. Those without such entitlements thus become less than fully human, as they struggle to find a place where they can symbolically and physically exist. The Ethics of Space is an unprecedented account from an anthropologist who accidentally found herself homeless, studying what happens when homeless people organize to occupy abandoned properties. Set against the backdrop of economic crisis, austerity, and a disintegrating British state, Steph Grohmann describes a flourishing squatter community in the city of Bristol, and its eventual outlawing by this state. Contrary to a mainstream discourse that seeks to divide squatters into the 'deserving' homeless and 'undeserving' activists, Grohmann shows that squatters may in fact be homeless people who, choose to challenge property and the State.

Spanning five continents this collection will deepen contemporary understandings of, and approaches to, Catholic theological ethics and the global crisis of homelessness. Topics include global strategies for combating homelessness, local ethical responses, and advocacy for special populations such as women, orphans, and veterans.

Disrupting Homelessness unmasks the futile assumptions of our present approaches to homelessness and suggests ways in which Christians and Christian communities can create a prophetic social movement to end poverty and homelessness. Some Christian organizations focus on fixing the person and the behaviors that contribute toward homelessness. Others promote home ownership for low-income households. Stivers criticizes both approaches and assesses to what extent these approaches buy into our culture's dominant ideologies on housing and homelessness, and whether they promote justice and liberation for the least well off. She then outlines an advocacy approach for churches to address the multiple causes of homelessness and prophetically to aim to make a home for all in God's just and compassionate community.

This book is a brilliant use of metaphor that makes clear why the world leaves us feeling so uneasy!

An important new volume showcasing a wide range of faith-based responses to one of today’s most pressing social issues, challenging us to expand our ways of understanding. Land of Stark Contrasts brings together the work of social scientists, ethicists, and theologians exploring the profound role of religion in understanding and responding to homelessness and housing insecurity in all corners of the United States—from Seattle, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley to Dallas and San Antonio to Washington, D.C., and Boston. Together, the essays of Land of Stark Contrasts chart intriguing ways forward for future initiatives to address the root causes of homelessness. In this way they are essential reading for practical theologians, congregational leaders, and faith-based nonprofit organizers exploring how to combine spiritual and material care for homeless individuals and other vulnerable populations. Social workers, nonprofit managers, and policy specialists seeking to understand how to partner better with faith-based organizations will also find the chapters in this volume an invaluable resource. Contributors include James V. Spickard, Manuel Mejido Costoya and Margaret Breen, Michael R. Fisher Jr., Laura Stivers, Lauren Valk Lawson, Bruce Granville Miller, Nancy A. Khalil, John A. Coleman, S.J., Jeremy Phillip Brown, Paul Houston Blankenship, María Teresa Dávila, Roberto Mata, and Sathianathan Clarke. Co-published with Seattle University’s Center for Religious Wisdom and World Affairs

Stories from the Street is a theological exploration of interviews with men and women who had experienced homelessness at some stage in their lives. Framed within a theology of story and a theology of liberation, Nixon suggests that story is not only a vehicle for creating human transformation but it is one of God's chosen means of effecting change. Short biographies of twelve characters are examined under themes including: crises in health and relationships, self-harm and suicide, anger and pain, God and the Bible. Expanding the existing literature of contextual theology, this book provides an alternative focus to a church-shaped mission by advocating with, and for, a very marginal group; suggesting that their experiences have much to teach the church. Churches are perceived as being active in terms of pastoral work, but reluctant to ask more profound questions about why homelessness exists at all. A theology of homelessness suggests not just a God of the homeless, but a homeless God, who shares stories and provides hope. Engaging with contemporary political and cultural debates about poverty, housing and public spending, Nixon presents a unique theological exploration of homeless people, suffering, hope and the human condition.

This Open Access Book is the first to examine disasters from a multidisciplinary perspective. Justification of actions in the face of disasters requires recourse both to conceptual analysis and ethical traditions. Part 1 of the book contains chapters on how disasters are conceptualized in different academic disciplines relevant to disasters. Part 2 has chapters on how ethical issues that arise in relation to disasters can be addressed from a number of fundamental normative approaches in moral and political philosophy. This book sets the stage for more focused normative debates given that no one book can be completely comprehensive. Providing analysis of core concepts, and with real-world relevance, this book should be of interest to disaster scholars and researchers, those working in ethics and political philosophy, as well as policy makers, humanitarian actors and intergovernmental organizations..

The Book on Ending Homelessness provides insights for those in the industry, elected officials, policy makers, funders, public servants and the general public on the best ways to move from managing homelessness to ending homelessness. While ending homelessness may seem to be a whacky or even preposterous idea, Iain De Jong takes more than two decades of experience as an award winning industry leader to lay out how and why homelessness can be ended in very practical ways. This book will provoke and teach, serving as both inspiration and an instruction manual for those serious about combatting one of the most important social issues of our time. The book will reshape how you think about homelessness, as well as how strategies like sheltering, street outreach and day services all play a role in ending homelessness when operated with a housing-focused lens and the right service orientation. No doubt the book will reassure some that their thinking and actions regarding homelessness are bang on, while challenging others to think and respond differently in what they do and how they invest their money. Many of the ideas in the book elaborate upon ideas that Iain shares in his blog, keynote speeches and conference presentations, as well as the training series that Iain and his team have been offering for the past decade. If you are involved in homelessness issues or concerned about homelessness, this book is essential reading.