Similar to others here, I see "unsheltered"--and the decrepit house -- as pointing us to the massive changes that have been going on for some time, but we're now experiencing the negative impacts and the pressure to respond: global warming, but also the global economy, rising inequality in the US, new waves of immigration everywhere, likely to increase with climate change, and which challenge some people's sense of "how things are supposed to be," the way they used to be... Like the characters in who live in the house, we too feel threatened and unprotected by these changes -- and with good reason. Interesting that the house in the novel has been weakened by hasty prior attempts to "remake" it, without a solid foundation -- in a way, it also stands for our nation. (I'm thinking of Lincoln's quote, "A house divided against itself cannot stand.") Fortunately Tig points out a way we can respond with more hope.