Housing for All Discussion Questions

This summer, our team read through and discussed Maria Foscarinis' book Housing for All: The Fight to End Homelessness in America. As we read, we compiled a list of discussion questions for each chapter. We hope they can serve as a helpful study guide if you choose to pick up the book yourself and/or engage in a conversation about housing and homelessness with your friends, families, or neighbors.

Introduction: The Price of Homelessness

1. Have you ever wondered about the legality of staying outside? If there is nowhere to legally sleep outside, does that make being homeless illegal?

2. “As homelessness rapidly became a national emergency, Reagan insisted that no one was really living in the streets other than those who were ‘homeless by choice.’” 

   1. What do you think of the phrase “homeless by choice”?

3. What stereotypes have you heard, or thought yourself, about people who receive government benefits? Foscarinis gives the example of “welfare queens.” Where do these stereotypes come from?

4. “Securing housing as a human right is a necessary step to end homelessness. It is also essential to ensuring basic civil and political rights. As human rights law recognizes, economic/social rights and civil/political rights are interdependent. Without basic economic and social rights, civil and political rights cannot truly be exercised.” 

   1. What would it take to shift the view of housing from a commodity to a human right?

Chapter One: Homeless in Suburbia

1. Why can a shelter or motel not take the place of a permanent, affordable home? What is missing physically and psychologically?

2. Prior to reading this chapter, what would you have said is the leading cause of homelessness? Were you surprised by anything you read? 

3. What is the right to shelter? How does this help and how does this harm the issue of homelessness in America?

Chapter Two: Reagan’s America

1. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development uses a narrow definition of homelessness, only including people sleeping in shelters or places not meant for sleeping. However, the US Department of Education includes people who are living doubled up. How could these different definitions cause confusion or issues with accessing resources for people who need them?

2. Why does not having an accurate count of people experiencing homelessness matter?

3. During this chapter, the author shares about receiving a cancer diagnosis and reflects, “I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened to me had I been uninsured and unhoused – and without a network of family and friends with resources.” What network or supports do you have, or what are you lacking if you were to have a crisis?

Chapter Three: Broken Promises

1. Where does the association of significant mental health conditions and homelessness come from? How much is truth and how much is stigma?

2. Why is it not a sustainable solution to force people into treatment (mental health, substance use, etc) when they do not have housing?

Chapter Four: “Move Along to Where?”

1. Why is emergency shelter not a long-term solution? What are some barriers someone might encounter while staying in a shelter/why might it not be the right fit for them? Does this “refusal of services” mean they should not be offered other supportive services or housing referrals? 

2. This chapter shared, “homeless people are more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators.” Was this surprising to you? Why or why not?

3. “Sweeps” and “clearing” of homeless encampments is a costly practice that many cities have implemented. Does it effectively solve homelessness? What are the outcomes?

Chapter Five: “This System is Rigged”

1. What did this chapter say were the fundamental causes of homelessness? What systemic changes would need to be made to address these causes?

2. Have you seen any examples of “hostile architecture” in your community? 

Chapter Six: “They Should Help Us Go to School”

1. How should we weigh the financial cost with the cost on people’s well-being?

2. The author has an extensive legal background, and in this chapter she stresses the importance of the exact words used in laws. What are some examples of the ambiguity of alaw being used to neglect services or requirements?

3. Children began being placed in their own schools only for those experiencing homelessness. How is this reminiscent of other segregation practices?

4. How can homelessness be a generational cycle? What are barriers that prevent the next generation from breaking that cycle?

Chapter Seven: Housing Is a Human Right

1. How is having housing connected to a sense of freedom?

2. What would our country look like if people lived with a sense of duty to their community over their own self-interest? 

3. If housing is not a human right, what other rights are jeopardized? 

Chapter Eight: Human Rights in Action

1. Why does “treatment first” programming only work for a subset of people?

2. How are racial discrimination and redlining contributing to the issue of homelessness?

3. Why do landlords want to be able to discriminate based on source of income?

4. One person mentioned in the book claimed, “unhoused people are not our neighbors.” What makes someone a neighbor?

Chapter Nine: “Am I a Citizen?”

1. Is it important that people experiencing homelessness have the right to vote? Why or why not?

2. How does having agency and autonomy affect someone’s quality of life and ability to truly be free?

Concluding Questions 

1. What was your biggest takeaway from the book? 

2. Has it changed the way you think about anything or your approach to addressing homelessness?