Associate Professor Emeritus of Social Work Bill Birdsall visited the School of Social Work for a discussion on his experiences working with the homeless in Ann Arbor. Birdsall discussed how he initially became involved with the homeless back in the 1960’s as a Jesuit in Washington, D.C. and how that experience has influenced his views on homelessness to this day.
Given his extensive involvement with the homeless, Birdsall proposes that training should be required for those who intend to assist the homeless and understand their plight. Training should cover topics such as setting boundaries, confidentiality, and potential unintended consequences. Such training is necessary to ensure that volunteers and researchers understand that despite lacking access to permanent shelter, the privacy of the homeless should still be respected. Moreover, he expressed his views on policies to end homelessness. He suggested that rather than addressing homelessness itself, policies should focus on poverty alleviation that would help prevent homelessness from occurring in the first place. Homelessness is a symptom of poverty; it could be prevented if people were not poor to begin with.
The needs of the homeless are not much different from those of anyone else; the desire to be active, belong to a community, and have a place to live is ubiquitous among this population. To achieve these goals, the homeless should take part in carrying out efforts to alleviate.