Better Must Come

How do people leave homelessness in the global cities of Los Angeles and Tokyo? Sociologist Matthew Marr offers a “multi-level contextual theory of exiting homelessness,” eschewing either/or perspectives on the causal primacy of individual, local, or national factors for an integrative explanation of when and how various factors matter. Focusing on transitional housing, or programs that offer housing aid with time limits, it reveals both the striking similarities and differences in how urban marginality is constructed and addressed across contexts. In so doing, Marr reminds homelessness scholars not to take their object for granted, and to recognize the parochial nature of much US-centered research and theorizing. Drawing primarily on in-depth interviews, the book usefully shifts focus from how people become homeless, or acculturated to a “culture” of homelessness, to the less-studied question of how people attempt to exit. Unlike much comparative work that seeks to control for all but one variable across cases, Marr's selection of Los Angeles and Tokyo is fruitful because it brings multiple differences into stark relief. In LA, a high rate of homelessness encompasses a more diverse population, yet people's better access to subsidized housing programs, closer ties to service providers, and better support from familial and friendship networks facilitate survival amid poor access to wage labor and affordable housing. Tokyo has a far lower rate of homelessness, with concentration primarily in middle-aged and older men. Yet, despite better access to low-wage employment and affordable housing, these men encounter harsher cultures of service provision and little in the way of social network support. These contrasting configurations cannot be easily reduced to singular variables or characterizations like “liberal welfare state” versus “hybrid corporatist,” or “individualistic” versus “collectivistic” culture, and this is why Marr's multilevel analysis is crucial.

Affordable housing · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Friendship · Political science · Population · Service (business) · Social science · Sociology · Subsidy · Wage · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law