Struggling in the Land of Plenty by Anne Roschelle (review)

The title of Anne Roschelle's book, Struggling in the Land of Plenty: Race, Class, and Gender in the Lives of Homeless Families, captures the irony of poverty and homelessness in California's affluent Bay Area. It offers an in-depth look at the myriad problems facing chronically homeless families and explores the causes of homelessness, its cyclical nature, and the strategies that families use to survive. Roschelle shows how trauma, addiction, and mental illness can be both causes of and reactions to homelessness, underscoring its complexity and intractability. She uses intersectionality theory as a way of understanding the multifaceted nature of family homelessness as reflective of larger patterns of inequality in society. And she spends 4 years in the field volunteering at a program providing services for homeless families and using extensive interview data and participant observation to substantiate the claim that structural and individual factors combine to limit opportunities and chances for social mobility. Focusing on the voices and experiences of chronically homeless mothers and children is a key strength of this work and is evident in its theoretical grounding, methodological tools, and Roschelle's presence in the field as an activist scholar.

One of the most important insights this book offers is the fact that the challenges and deficits that chronically homeless families face are individual, structural, overlapping, and generational. It describes how welfare reform in the 1990s works to undermine child and family development and weaken kinship networks for low-income, female-headed families of color, who bear the brunt of the burden of poverty and unequal access to employment, education, and housing, to mention a few. In this sense, the survival strategies that families develop are used against them to cut benefits, to stereotype and stigmatize, and to limit even survival-based assistance. In reaction to the confusing and degrading nature of social service situations, combined with traumatic life experiences, chronically homeless women often become frustrated. Yet, any sign of defensiveness, anger, or confusion, any missed meeting with a welfare caseworker, or misunderstanding of complicated regulations means a loss of benefits for the entire family. Roschelle's illustration of the coping strategies, strength, and resilience of chronically homeless families brings these struggles into full relief, as both action and reaction, rather than affirming a degraded status.

The book's description of the experiences of women and children is both well detailed and emotionally jarring. From the violence and abuse, tenuous personal and social ties, and degrading interactions with service organizations that mothers face to the developmental and social deficits, health risks, and exposure to violence, trauma, and insecurity that children face, one wonders how any families ever manage to exit homelessness. When they have comparatively greater resources, when their history with homelessness and trauma is brief, some of them do make it out. But Roschelle does more than simply chronicle the ongoing pain and struggle of those who do not; she explains how they manage untenable circumstances. Instead of glossing over the frightening and repulsive details of child abuse, sexual violence, or other atrocities, they are approached head-on and understood in context, offering a sobering look at chronic family homelessness.

Finally, Roschelle's focus on female-headed homeless families is itself an important strength of this work, as they are both a hidden part of the homeless population and a majority, comprising 84% of the overall family total. Her exploration of chronic family homelessness also highlights the radical disparity between black and white families and children, in terms of their experiences with shelter, homelessness, and poverty. Among the alarming statistics contained in this book is the fact that the rate of black families staying in homeless shelters is seven times what it is for whites. It also shows the prevalence of disabilities and health problems for women and children, as conditions that exacerbate poverty and chronic homelessness, making a quick exit with minimal support unlikely...