It is unlikely that the authors of these collected essays would agree on much in terms of a diagnosis. They write from diverse perspectives that are influenced by specific analytical models and by the national experience in which they participate. It would seem that we are far from a unifying perspective on this enigmatic problem.Perhaps the one idea that all authors would agree on is that home-lessness should be understood as the manifestation of various social factors and should not be viewed in isolation. The most important step we might take in the analysis of homelessness is to recognize that we do not understand it. Thus far, most analysis has been predicated on the assumption that we can decipher the meaning of homelessness by examining the lives of the people who appear homeless. But if the causal agents that precipitate homelessness are invisible, we should reorient our study to an examination of those agents. Governments and nonprofits are still needed to care for those who are currently caught in the vice of this social pathology. However, finding a long-term solution demands that we look outside the characteristics of homeless individuals and towards the social conditions that leave some people out in the cold.
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