The new Pacific Research Institute book, No Way Home: The Crisis of Homelessness and How to Fix it With Intelligence and Humanity, just published by Encounter Books, examines the root causes of homelessness in California, focusing on unaffordable housing, poverty, mental illness, substance addiction, and legal reform.
The book is available for purchase at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, and online booksellers nationwide.
There is a lot of discussion about the billions spent on anti-homeless programs in California. But very little independent analysis has been done evaluating whether these programs are actually effective.
In No Way Home, the authors evaluate the different strategies being used at the city, county, and state levels to prevent or reduce homelessness. The book also examines the state and local policy environment, with the authors exploring whether current programs related to housing, social services, and employment are perpetuating or reducing homelessness in California – or even making the problem worse.
What makes No Way Home such a unique book are the diverse perspectives that the four authors each bring to the publication. All share a common, free-market worldview, but they view the problem of homelessness through very different lenses.
One topic explored is the controversial “Housing First” program, which forbids accountability measures, complicating the effort by non-profit programs such as Saint John’s Program in Sacramento to transform people’s lives and get them on the path to recovery. There is also a legal perspective to the book, with a discussion of key legal cases and constraints that are hindering the ability of local governments to address homelessness.
Based on their findings and research, the authors put forward several long-term policy reform ideas that have the greatest potential to reduce homelessness in California.
From PRI's recent third annual (all virtual) California Ideas in Action conference, watch No Way Home co-authors Kerry Jackson and Wayne Winegarden discuss their book with Tim Anaya, PRI senior director of communications and the Sacramento office.
About the Authors
Kerry Jackson, fellow with PRI’s Center for California Reform, is the author of past PRI briefs on housing policy and poverty that garnered national attention and bipartisan praise.
Dr. Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in business and economics, co-authored with Jackson a brief on San Francisco’s housing crisis that was presented to Mayor London Breed’s administration.
Joseph Tartakovsky, PRI adjunct fellow in legal studies, is a practicing attorney who has litigated and lectured on issues of homelessness and constitutional law and advised policymakers in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington on framing defensible policies and laws.
Christopher Rufo, PRI adjunct fellow, is an activist, filmmaker, and policy analyst who covers poverty, homelessness, addiction, crime, and other afflictions.
What makes No Way Home such a unique book are the diverse perspectives that the four authors each bring to the publication. All share a common, free-market worldview, but they view the problem of homelessness through very different lenses.
