Reintegrating the homeless post-institution

Homelessness plagues the American city. It is a simple description of a complex reality, and part of what has brought the issue to its current level is an erroneous conception of “community integration.”

Make no mistake, the idea of community integration is good. When people are able to live as a cohesive whole — with opportunities of which they take advantage, and with social trust high — things are ideal. If something goes wrong along the way, as Manhattan Institute senior fellow Stephen Eide told the Washington Examiner, that is “an experience of social disintegration.” It is the chronic homelessness we see so often. And the goal, Eide said, is to “reintegrate a person who lost integration,” largely through resocialization.

The problem is that this

Continue reading