Unhoused America (A special edition of AmeriQuests Journal)

AmeriQuests Editor:

Robert Barsky

Guggenheim Fellow Professor of French, European Studies, and Jewish Studies and Professor of Law

Vanderbilt University

Unhoused America Special Edition Editor:

Dana McKinney White

Assistant Professor of Urban Design

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Research Assistants:

Zach Deocadiz, MDes ’26

Jazzlynn Derrick, MDes ‘25

Tyler White, MDes/MUP ’26

Joshua Udemba, MAUD ‘26

Unhoused America seeks to unsettle persistent, and often counterproductive, stereotypes about homelessness in the United States by curating a multimedia online issue of AmeriQuests—developed in collaboration with MIT’s Knowledge Futures Group. The project demonstrates diverse experiences of homelessness, multi-faceted, varying by region, demographic characteristics, and lived experience. Our approach leverages geospatial mapping, a historical timeline, and AI-generated, trauma-responsive storytelling to promote more nuanced, data-rich, and empathetic understandings of unhoused populations while offering planners, policymakers, social service providers, and designers greater legibility of unhoused community needs.

We publicly released the platform on April 13, 2026 and have launched a rolling call for submissions for peer-reviewed text submission (2,000-5,000 words), non-peer reviewed text submissions as commentary (1,000-2,500 words), and creative submissions (visual art, performance art, design, architecture, culinary arts, and other media practices) to feature in conversation with the platform. Over the next year, we expected to receive, review, and publish submissions to open a conversation on the state of homelessness in America.

We would like to especially acknowledge the Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative along with Vanderbilt University and the Harvard University Graduate School of Deign for their support of the project.

Project Website:

https://unhousedamerica.ameriquests.org

Grant Recipient: Dana McKinney White