Welcome back to the Ten Blocks podcast. This is Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal.

Joining me on today's show

is my colleague, Stephen Ide. He's a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He's a contributing

editor of City Journal. He holds a PhD in political science and is an expert on homelessness

and mental health issues, which he has written about extensively for City Journal and other

outlets. He has a new book forthcoming called Homelessness in America, the history and

tragedy of an intractable social problem. The book couldn't be timelier. It gives a comprehensive

overview of something that is plaguing

U.S. cities really from coast to coast and has been in the news, obviously, a lot recently.

Before we get to the conversation with Steve, let's take a quick break, though, for a message from

our colleague, Alison Schrager,

who has an exciting new podcast that has just launched on economics.

Hi, City Journal fans. This is Alison Schrager, and I'd like to tell you about my new podcast,

Risk Talking. It'll be me and some of the brightest economic minds I know debating what's going

on in the world and the economic challenges we face. So I hope you'll come check it out. It will be on

Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. And now, Stephen Eyde, thanks very much for joining us.

Thanks for having me, Brian. Your book,

again, the title is called Homelessness in America. It begins with a call for

terminological and conceptual precision. In the 70s, you know, progressive advocates who were

hoping to expand the realm of subsidized housing,

they began to search for a more compassionate sounding word than vagrant, which is what we used

to call the homeless. They landed on the term homeless, which you note had long connoted a sense of social alienation.

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