In Progress

Published fourteen years ago, Hopes, Dreams & Promises describes the state of homelessness in New York and presents a case for funding longer-term solutions through a case study of a program run by Homes for the Homeless. The RET Center’s operations and individual programs are profiled and intercut with snapshots of individuals within the system and sobering data points that weave a fuller picture of the causes and impacts of homelessness in America.

The book is written for a broad audience and assumes that readers may be skeptical about the intentions and character of the homeless population with minimal or erroneous knowledge of the demographic makeup of the population. Most crucially, the author assumes that readers believe homeless individuals are fully responsible for their homeless state and focuses on proving this assumption wrong.

The name given to the pilot program, Residential Education Training center, reflects a multi-pronged approach that attempts a comprehensive education and training program bolstered by social services including child care and family counseling. Da Costa-Nunez also introduces the needs assessment, a systematic process for identifying needs and arranging them in priority order for resolution. The identified needs are used to determine which strategies and programs will be most effective in equipping a family with the tools needed to become self-sufficient. Needs Assessments have become the starting point for any social service provider.

The account draws on a variety of public policy analytic methods to create its case for funding social services to support homeless families nationwide. Da Costa-Nunez brings together a variety of data points from reports on demographics of the homeless population in New York, funding dollars and where they have been directed, and outcomes from the RET Center that function as a case study and pilot program to be replicated across the country. He also incorporates pithy quotes from homeless individuals and families as well as service providers about the success of the program that personalize the outcomes and offer an emotional appeal, accompanied as they are by appealing studio portrait shots of the families and children in the system.

The major limitation of the work is that it is confined to New York. However, it has proved a seminal work in moving the public policy agenda on homelessness in the US in a holistic public health direction, and da Costa-Nunez proves to be a persuasive, powerful and authoritative voice on the topic.

By concretizing the causes of homelessness and demonstrating that there are practical solutions to reducing these causes, da Costa-Nunez takes the idea of homelessness out of isolated abstraction and place it within a larger context of basic needs that can be met through a sensible and cost-effective network of social services. In reviewing the literature around the topic today, it is clear that this book has had a huge impact on current framing of the issues and solutions. The book has been a seminal work in the field for providing a compelling public policy framing for the topic of homelessness that reverses the trend of demonizing the population, and makes the case for directing funding towards long-term multi-pronged strategies and programs rather than simply offering short-term shelter and meals.

Hopes, Dreams & Promises: The Future of Homeless Children in America
Ralph da Costa-Nunez
New York: Homes for the Homeless, Inc. 1994

Posted on November 8th, 2008 by DeepthiW
Filed under: Books, School, Uncategorized