Shelter: Homelessness in Our Community

Peterson wrote about difficult situations in her eight works of juvenile fiction. Now, in her first work of nonfiction, she tackles one of the most pressing issues of our society: homelessness. Her work with a homeless shelter for three years in Nanaimo, British Columbia, gives her invaluable insight into the topic. Additionally, as a public library worker for forty years, she met and assisted many homeless people. In writing this book, she seeks to educate readers about the problem “and encourages a kinder way to think about those who experience homelessness.”

People of all ages can be homeless, including youth, the working poor, elderly especially women with inadequate pension income, people with mental illness including addictions, and even families. Groups who experience discrimination in employment, housing, and opportunities include indigenous people who may be intergenerational trauma survivors, LGBTQ+ youth, refugees and military personnel who may be suffering from PTSD. Without a safe place to call home, it is hard to be healthy, eat well and strive to and attain happiness, self-esteem and good relations with others that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs situate above the foundations of physiological and safety needs.

Peterson takes a closer look at causes of homelessness: poverty, drug and alcohol dependency, mental illness, brain injury and traumatic events. Next, she examines the daily lives of people experiencing homelessness including the struggle to stay warm and dry (or cool in hot places), finding ways to clean and maintain hygiene, a challenge even before COVID closed public libraries and other accessible services, panhandling, bottle picking and dumpster diving, the role of pets and the challenge of keeping your possessions intact.

Shelter is sprinkled with statistics and examples of how individuals, groups and communities small and large throughout the USA and Canada are acting to find solutions or at least assist those who find themselves with no place to call home. Sidebars include “snapshot[s]” that introduce an individual’s story, “mythbuster[s]” that challenge false notions such as ‘Most people who live on the streets are there by choice,’ “helping out” that briefly highlight ways that individuals and groups have addressed the needs of the unhoused, and “think about this” that introduce varied topics such as diverse ways that libraries are helping the homeless or ways to support the pets that some homeless people have with them.

Almost every page includes full colour photographs, mostly from stock photo agencies, a few supplied by the author, but all relevant and timely, with many showing people today living in the COVID-19 pandemic wearing masks and trying to maintain some social distancing. These are complemented by the warm illustrations of Taryn Gee who depicts people of diverse ages and skin tones.

Peterson introduces the role of food banks, soup kitchens, school food programs and similar initiatives to meet immediate needs for sustenance, and the place that shelters play in providing temporary housing. Organizations such as non-profit agencies, churches, and governments help fund shelters. Social assistance initiatives include welfare. Touching on the role of policies and competing interests for tax dollars at work, Peterson introduces ideas such as universal basic income (UBI) that some voters, politicians and poverty activists endorse.

One chapter, “Not Wanted Here” introduces possible reasons someone might fear a homeless person, the practice of some jurisdiction to give homeless persons one-way bus tickets out of town, and the opposition to long-term housing for the poor, shelters, halfway houses and encampments by residents who feel threatened by the disadvantaged and invoke NIMBY-ism. In enumerating ways that community furniture and landscaping are designed to discourage loitering and sleeping on benches etcetera, Peterson broadens awareness of how society often views and reacts to the homeless. In one sidebar, readers learn about one woman who used to be angry and complain about people camping in the bush until she joined a group working with the homeless that strives to find solutions.

Paying the bills can be impossible, even if someone is working full-time at a minimum wage job. Readers are encouraged to calculate the cost of living in their communities using local minimum wage rates, costs like rent, phone, food, clothing, and transportation. It quickly becomes obvious that poverty can be crushing. In Canada, some are eligible for rent subsidies. In the United States, similar supports are called vouchers. These safety nets help. Spending for shelters and other supports for homeless people may cost as much as $100,000 per person per year while secure housing could cost as little as $20,000 per year. It is unclear where these numbers originate and how they may vary dramatically from one place to another. Regardless, the final chapter, “Housing First”, is the end goal for many activists and is finally becoming public policy in many jurisdictions. This model of helping house everyone so that this basic need is met and the individuals can spend more effort on getting their lives back on track and becoming more healthy. Medicine Hat, Alberta, is identified as one municipality that implemented a homes first model that, since 2009, has helped 1200 people find new homes and shelters.

Overall, Shelter is a thought-provoking book that is suited to the target audience. The finished work will include standard features such as an index, glossary, and resources. The resources section is particularly noteworthy for it includes a group of nonfiction works, a selection of fiction that deals with homeless themes, and a very interesting online section. The first named online resource is, itself, a fascinating site worth exploration. The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness: Homeless Hub (homlesshub.ca) covers many of the same topics found in the book but with a Canadian focus, and it includes reports and data such as cost analysis and more in-depth consideration of related legal and justice issues. One final observation that this reviewer will share is that social justice advocates are now beginning to prefer the term unhoused over homeless when describing people.