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Christmas 1975 and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is riding high in the charts. In a residential street just outside Cardiff a loud knocking breaks the stillness of the evening. When Rob Parsons, a young lawyer, opens his door, he finds a homeless man standing before him, clutching a bag of belongings and a frozen chicken. A Knock at the Door is the true story of this homeless man who entered the home of a young couple, became a dustman and lived as part of their family for over forty-five years until his death.

From poverty and policing, homelessness and overrun prisons to Grenfell and hostile environments, Britain has long been failing those who need our help the most. There is arguably one unifying theme that links all these afflictions: proximity. Proximity is how close we are to the action and how that affects how we assess, relate to and address whatever that action happens to be. Almost every job requires a level of experience and training with the notable exception of the most powerful people in the country—our political class.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the government launched its ‘Everyone In’ programme, aiming to house the homeless through lockdown. The Prince Rupert, a four-star hotel in Shrewsbury with four poster beds and suits of armour, was asked to play their part and host 33 rough sleepers. This is the story of how the hotel owners and rough sleepers—many of whom had been out of housing for decades—spent months locked in together and wound up transforming each other’s lives.

"Meine Tochter machte ihre ersten Schritte in einem Obdachlosenheim." Stephanie Land steht kurz davor, ihren Traum vom Studium in die Tat umzusetzen, als sie ungeplant schwanger wird. Ihr Freund fängt an, sie immer stärker zu kontrollieren und zu bedrohen, von ihrer Familie bekommt sie keine Hilfe. Zusammen mit ihrer kleinen Tochter flüchtet sie schließlich aus ihrer toxischen Beziehung und landet auf der Straße. Doch statt zu verzweifeln beginnt Stephanie zu kämpfen: Mit einem Job als Putzhilfe schafft sie es gerade so, sich und ihre Tochter über Wasser zu halten.

David’s audiobook is one of despair and hope; one that paints a picture of our society that is both dark and broken up by fleeting rays of light. From his plight on the streets in one of England’s richest regions, to the interactions of people he observes and encounters every day, to the impacts of Covid-19 and the changing seasons--this is poetry and prose at its most powerful. It is an audiobook that reveals the double-talk of homeless service provision--a society that consigns people as worthless without knowing their backgrounds.

In this fierce and moving account, journalist Vicky Spratt traces decades of bad policy decisions to show how and why the British dream of homeownership has withered and the safety net of social housing has broken. Through the lives of those in the renting trap, she illuminates the ways this crisis is devastating our health, communities and political landscape. But, as the COVID epidemic showed, there are also real, radical steps we can take to give everyone the chance of a good home.

Few topics have as many myths, stereotypes, and misperceptions surrounding them as that of poverty in America. The poor have been badly misunderstood since the beginnings of the country, with the rhetoric only ratcheting up in recent times. Our current era of fake news, alternative facts, and media partisanship has led to a breeding ground for all types of myths and misinformation to gain traction and legitimacy. Poorly Understood is the first book to systematically address and confront many of the most widespread myths pertaining to poverty.

In The Diaspora of Belonging, author Jay Sharma explores the history of systemic racism, structural oppression, and state-sanctioned discrimination and injustice as it relates to urban settings. Drawing on 12 unique cities across the country, Sharma demonstrates how calculated decisions regarding our cities are, and how those in power have weaponized the built environment for decades. Explore the connections between justice and design, economics and identity, and segregation and community. Let it challenge and inspire you to make our cities better places for us all.

Der Berliner Bezirk Neukölln steht seit etlichen Jahren für Armut, Arbeitslosigkeit, Gewalt, Verwahrlosung, Selbstjustiz, Autoritätsverlust und Staatsverachtung. Doch seit der Corona-Pandemie haben sich die Zustände um ein Vielfaches verschlimmert. Denn nach Sonderausgaben in Milliardenhöhe bleibt kein Cent mehr für die Finanzierung sozialer Projekte. Falko Liecke arbeitet seit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt als Stadtrat für die Bereiche Jugend, Gesundheit und nun Soziales.

Tim Wise is one of America's most prolific public intellectuals. His critically acclaimed books, high-profile media interviews, and year-round speaking schedule have established him as an invaluable voice in any discussion on issues of race and multicultural democracy. In Under the Affluence, Wise discusses a related issue: economic inequality and the demonization of those in need.

In 2016, a United Nations report found the UK government culpable for ‘grave and systematic violations’ of disabled people’s rights. Since then, driven by the Tory government’s obsessive drive to slash public spending whilst scapegoating the most disadvantaged in society, the situation for disabled people in Britain has continued to deteriorate. Punitive welfare regimes, the removal of essential support and services and an ideological regime that seeks to deny disability has resulted in a situation described by the UN as a ‘human catastrophe’.

From the opening conversation on a railroad trestle, Beggars of Life rattles along like the Fast Flyer Virginia that Tully boards midway through the story. This is the book that defined Tully’s hard-boiled style and set the pattern for the 12 books that followed over the next two decades. Startling in its originality and intensity, Beggars of Life is a breakneck journey made while clinging to the lowest rungs of the social ladder.

Ron Hall and Denver Moore, unlikely friends and even unlikelier coauthors, share the hard-to-stop story of how a remarkable woman’s love brought them together. Now, the pair details new reflections and stories of hope and healing, covering topics such as faith, friendship, community outreach, and more. Deeply moving but never sappy or sentimental, What Difference Do It Make? answers its own question with a simple and emphatic answer. What difference can one person (or two) make in the world? A lot!

Valley View Senior Housing, built in 2019 in Napa County, California, is a very affordable community of 70 cottages. This groundbreaking homeless project was organized by American Canyon’s city government for older homeless people and homeless veterans of the area. This solution-oriented book shares the inspiring story of a compassionate and humane project. Imagine if every city could create one community like this - we could begin to make headway to solve the homeless problem.

For decades, the Republican Party has been known as the party of the rich: arguing for “business-friendly” policies like deregulation and tax cuts. But this incisive political history shows that the current inequality crisis was also enabled by a Democratic Party that catered to the affluent. The result is one of the great missed opportunities in political history: a moment when we had the chance to change the lives of future generations and were too short-sighted to take it.

Based on years of investigative reporting and unprecedented fieldwork, Walking the Bowl immerses readers in the daily lives of four unforgettable characters: Lusabilo, a determined waste picker; Kapula, a burned-out brothel worker; Moonga, a former rock crusher turned beggar; and Timo, an ambitious gang leader. These children navigate the violent and poverty-stricken underworld of Lusaka, one of Africa’s fastest growing cities.

As a care-leaver who has experienced homelessness, award-winning investigative journalist Daniel Lavelle has spent his life navigating social services that are not fit for purpose and leave many vulnerable people slipping through the cracks. For though the right to adequate housing is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the reality is another, much grimmer, story.

Sage and Rocky Lewis own the land in Akron Ohio where a community of people that society threw away built a small village. The village was created on the principle of dignity, respect, and second chances. The city of Akron voted to close this village because it did not adhere to zoning codes even though it is completely hidden from the street and the only house near it is owned by The Homeless Charity which runs this village and day center. This audiobook is the story of some of the residents in that village. But maybe more importantly it is a story of community, love, and support.

Rev. Adam Hamilton, COR, Kansas writing about The Wealth of Poverty says, "Often the church’s efforts addressing poverty involve performing acts of service for or to the poor. These acts are sometimes motivated more by one’s own needs or self-interest than by a genuine concern for the poor. Tina Carter and Mindy Johnson-Hicks invite listeners to take a different approach...."

The Working Centre in the downtown core of Kitchener, Ontario, is a widely recognized and successful model for community development. Begun from scratch in 1982, it is now a vast network of practical supports for the unemployed, the underemployed, the temporarily employed and the homeless, populations that collectively constitute up to 30 percent of the labour market both locally and across North America. Transition to Common Work is the essential text about The Working Centre.