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Beyond Homeless: Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes, Transformative Solutions
In this groundbreaking book, Mary L. G. Theroux and Lawrence J. McQuillan show that homelessness, despite its many causes and complicating factors, is a problem that can be solved.
We must first acknowledge that there is no one-size-fits-all policy, and no amount of HUD-funded housing that will fix the crisis. Instead, a multifaceted and individualized approach, as found in these pages, is desperately needed. Years of on-the-ground research have yielded the wisdom and cold, hard stats necessary to understand homelessness—as well as a determined faith in the spirit and resilience of the human person. Read this book and learn how we can finally move beyond homelessness and find hope.
We must first acknowledge that there is no one-size-fits-all policy, and no amount of HUD-funded housing that will fix the crisis. Instead, a multifaceted and individualized approach, as found in these pages, is desperately needed. Years of on-the-ground research have yielded the wisdom and cold, hard stats necessary to understand homelessness—as well as a determined faith in the spirit and resilience of the human person. Read this book and learn how we can finally move beyond homelessness and find hope.
200 pages, Hardcover
Published October 28, 2025
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November 3, 2025
I found Mary Theroux's analysis of and prescriptions for solving the nation's homeless problem to be at once shocking yet hopeful. Living in California, as do I, we wonder how it is that the problem only seems to get worse despite the vast sums of money collected from us to solve it. The author provides some eye-popping facts.
Between the years 2019 and 2023, the total US homeless population fell from 647,000 to 582,000, a 10% drop. Yet in California, we've seen an INCREASE in the homeless from 139,000 to over 171,000, a whopping 23% increase!
Even more shocking, we spent $24 billion on homeless programs during the fiscal years 20019 - 2023, yet the agency responsible for spending the funds, California Interagency Council on Homelessness (CAL ICH), cannot account for the effectiveness of those funds or even where all the money was spent. So much for the efficacy of one-party governance.
But the book provides some very concrete answers and reasons for optimism. She documents and succinctly reports on programs that are working in various pockets around the country. One is the Haven for Hope of San Antonio, Texas, which the author refers to as a transformational one-stop-shop, a twenty-two-acre facility, providing substance abuse counseling to job coaching, financial counseling, benefits assistance. and many other services.
Whereas 20 or 30 separate agencies handle homeless services in most states, the author shows that a one-stop shop is the most effective way to address homelessness and greatly reduce it. My recommendation is that when California elects a new governor, he appoints Mary Theroux his homeless czarina.
Between the years 2019 and 2023, the total US homeless population fell from 647,000 to 582,000, a 10% drop. Yet in California, we've seen an INCREASE in the homeless from 139,000 to over 171,000, a whopping 23% increase!
Even more shocking, we spent $24 billion on homeless programs during the fiscal years 20019 - 2023, yet the agency responsible for spending the funds, California Interagency Council on Homelessness (CAL ICH), cannot account for the effectiveness of those funds or even where all the money was spent. So much for the efficacy of one-party governance.
But the book provides some very concrete answers and reasons for optimism. She documents and succinctly reports on programs that are working in various pockets around the country. One is the Haven for Hope of San Antonio, Texas, which the author refers to as a transformational one-stop-shop, a twenty-two-acre facility, providing substance abuse counseling to job coaching, financial counseling, benefits assistance. and many other services.
Whereas 20 or 30 separate agencies handle homeless services in most states, the author shows that a one-stop shop is the most effective way to address homelessness and greatly reduce it. My recommendation is that when California elects a new governor, he appoints Mary Theroux his homeless czarina.
Displaying 1 of 1 review