Book Review: J. Gerson Hope Springs Maternal: Homeless Mothers Talk About Making Sense of Adversity New York: Gordian Knot Books, 2007. 328 pp. $20 (paper)
Abstract
Book Review J. Gerson Hope Springs Maternal: Homeless Mothers Talk About Making Sense of Adversity New York: Gordian Knot Books, 2007. 328 pp. $20 (paper) SAGE Publications, Inc. 201010.1177/0886109910364376 Maryah Stella Fram College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA 10.1177/0886109910364376 Recent decades have seen rapid increases in the number of homeless families, a trend that flows from rising costs of housing, growing gaps between income and need among low-wage earners, and a range of policy shifts that have diminished the adequacy and stability of the safety net for vulnerable women and children. In Hope Springs Maternal, Jill Gerson takes us into the daily life experiences of 24 homeless mothers in New York City. These women’s perspectives on the causes, experiences, and contexts of their homelessness provide rich insights into what works and what is flawed in cur- rent housing programs and policies. Gerson builds on these insights into open up thinking about how to improve social work practice. Gerson situates her research well, giving the reader a clear understanding of the interplay between women’s experiences and the particular socioeconomic, policy, and programmatic contexts in which they are embedded. She discusses the unique housing challenges in