First-Person Look At Homelessness
January 26, 2010
Why do many homeless individuals prefer living on the street to living in shelters? So the two ventured into the streets of Birmingham to interview homeless people, learning in the process that many programs and policies designed to help the homeless succeed only in alienating them.
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"The shelters often were dirty and unsafe," says Wasserman, who teaches at Texas Tech University. "We experienced cramped quarters and some violence. We spent only one night in a shelter, but we ate at the shelters many times and participated in activities offered there."