Book Review:
When We Walk By

Our team at Heading Home recently finished reading When We Walk By, the most recent focus for our informal book club.

Much like Poverty by America, one of our previous reads, When We Walk By combines a compelling narrative backed up with research and data. Authors Kevin Adler and Donald Burnes describe how institutional failings — in health care, housing, criminal justice, foster care and other sectors — contribute to our nation’s unhoused crisis.

The book also provides suggestions for how to address these challenges, including systemic changes as well as actions that individuals can take.

Here’s an excerpt: “From sky-high health care costs to housing unaffordability, from severe income inequality to our mental health crisis, from how we neglect youth to how we lock up adults, from the consequences of racism and discrimination to the brokenness of our immigration system, homelessness intersects with seemingly all structural problems in the U.S. At some level, all roads lead to homelessness.”

Learn more about When We Walk By here.