This comprehensive PowerPoint presentation delves into the complex issue of homelessness in urban environments, examining its historical origins, socio-economic factors, and policy implications. The presentation provides a deep dive into the topic, aiming to raise awareness and foster a deeper understanding of the multifaceted nature of homelessness and its impact on individuals and communities. The presentation begins by exploring the historical roots of homelessness, tracing it back to the 16th century when the emergence of the modern private property institution and enclosure acts displaced individuals from communal lands. Referred to as "vagabonds" or "vagrants," many found themselves without property or means of sustenance. The subsequent industrial revolution further exacerbated the problem as displaced individuals became property-less beggars. During this era, the state responded to homelessness with punitive measures known as the "Vagabond Acts." Offenses were met with harsh penalties, including whipping, branding, servitude, imprisonment, and even execution. These acts were largely driven by the perception that homelessness was "bad for business" in emerging urban spaces of consumption. The presentation then shifts to the 20th century, examining the distinctions between the deserving and undeserving poor during the Great Depression. Homelessness was closely tied to the fluctuations of the economy, rising and falling with economic downturns. The discussion highlights how government policies, such as FDR's New Deal, aimed to reduce homelessness through welfare institutions and a focus on full employment. However, the presentation explores the shift in attitudes and policies that occurred during the Reagan era, with the rise of neoliberalism. Emphasizing individual responsibility and limited government intervention, Reagan's policies sought to dismantle welfare institutions and roll back social safety nets. This had the unintended consequence of exacerbating homelessness, particularly with the defunding of mental health institutions, which pushed many mentally ill individuals onto the streets. The presentation also examines the rise of "anti-homeless" laws since the 1990s, which sought to manage homelessness through punitive measures rather than addressing its root causes. These laws include sit-and-lie ordinances, anti-panhandling laws, park closures, and prohibitions on erecting tents in public spaces. However, research has shown that these measures do not effectively curb homelessness but rather spatially manage homeless populations to conceal visible homelessness in affluent areas. Addressing the prevailing narrative that homelessness is solely a result of individual deficiencies and pathologies, the presentation emphasizes the political economy of homelessness. It highlights how factors such as labor market conditions and housing dynamics play a significant role in perpetuating homelessness.

1. Homelessness and
the City

2. Origins of Homelessness
16th Century
• Dates to emergence of the modern private property institution
• Initially referred to as “vagabonds” or “vagrants”
• Initially placed on boats as a means of shipping them to other
places (Michel Foucault, Madness and Civilization, 1961)

3. Origins of Homelessness
16th Century
• Dates to emergence of the modern private property institution
• Initially referred to as “vagabonds” or “vagrants”
• Initially placed on boats as a means of shipping them to other
places (Michel Foucault, Madness and Civilization, 1961)
Enclosure Acts
• Wave of successive acts during the 16th and 17th Centuries that
closed off more and more communal land; impacts of the
Reformation and industrialization of agriculture further pushed
the masses off the land, with many becoming property-less
beggars with the rise of the industrial revolution

4. The “Vagabond Acts”
Henry VIII – Successive Wave of “Vagabond Acts”
• First offense – whipping or branded with branding iron and put
into servitude of the person who reported you to the authorities

5. The “Vagabond Acts”
Henry VIII – Successive Wave of “Vagabond Acts”
• First offense – whipping or branded with branding iron and put
into servitude of the person who reported you to the authorities
• Second offense – Imprisonment

6. The “Vagabond Acts”
Henry VIII – Successive Wave of “Vagabond Acts”
• First offense – whipping or branded with branding iron and put
into servitude of the person who reported you to the authorities
• Second offense – Imprisonment
• Third offense – Execution
(Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, 1867)

7. The “Vagabond Acts”
Henry VIII – Successive Wave of “Vagabond Acts”
• First offense – whipping or branded with branding iron and put
into servitude of the person who reported you to the authorities
• Second offense – Imprisonment
• Third offense – Execution
(Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, 1867)
Effect of private property institution meant that property-less
vagrants were thrust into public spaces, necessitating a public
response by the state; and with the emergence of urban spaces of
consumption, loitering homeless beggars became “bad for business”
when concentrated in such public, urban spaces

8. The Deserving and Undeserving Poor
The Great Depression (1929 – 1950)
• Distinction between the deserving and
undeserving poor
• Homelessness has historically risen and fallen
in close association with the ebb and flow of
the economy (Mitchell, 2011)
Homeless encampment during the Great Depression

9. The Deserving and Undeserving Poor
The Great Depression (1929 – 1950)
• Distinction between the deserving and
undeserving poor
• Homelessness has historically risen and fallen
in close association with the ebb and flow of
the economy (Mitchell, 2011)
The Golden Years (1950-1973)
• Homelessness reduced to historic low point
• Accomplished via FDRs new Deal emphasis on
welfare institutions, objective of full
employment, and state intervention in
economic policy
Homeless encampment during the Great Depression

10. Reagan’s “Welfare Queen”
• Rise of Neoliberalism
• Emphasis on individual responsibility and culpability
• Government support of the poor through welfare only enables
poor people to continue to make bad decisions
• Assault on welfare institutions and “roll back” of social safety
nets, exacerbating the already increasing numbers of homeless
across urban America

11. Reagan’s Assault on Mental Health Institutions
• Rise of Neoliberalism
• Emphasis on individual responsibility and culpability
• Government support of the poor through welfare only enables
poor people to continue to make bad decisions
• Assault on welfare institutions and “roll back” of social safety
nets, exacerbating the already increasing numbers of homeless
across urban America
• Defunding of previously state-sponsored mental health
institutions, pushing mentally ill patients onto the street
• Many became homeless, linking homelessness with mental
illness

12. Neoliberal “Anti-Homeless” Laws
The punitive programs that have sought to curb homelessness since the 1990s have
now been thoroughly documented in urban studies:
• Sit-and-lie ordinances
• Anti-panhandling laws
• Public park closures after sunset
• Prohibition of erecting tents in public spaces
• Enhanced police programs that prioritize heightened surveillance and forcible clearance of
homeless camps
(see Dear and Wolch, 1987; Wolch and Dear, 1993; Daly, 1996; Mitchell, 2003, 2011; Klodawsky &
Blomley, 2009; Beckett and Herbert, 2010; Hackworth, 2010; Sparks, 2010, 2012; Von Mahs, 2011)
• The ultimate effects has been not the curbing of homelessness, but the spatial management of
homeless bodies such that visible homelessness is curtailed in prime spaces of affluent
redevelopment (Mitchell, 2003, 2011)

13. The Political Economy of Homelessness
• The neoliberal-informed notion that homelessness is the result of individual deficiencies and
pathologies (e.g., substance abuse, mental health) continues to pervade both political rhetoric
and public imaginary (Sparks, 2012, 2017), effectively legitimating the status-quo in policy
prescriptions: to provide accessible resources to the homeless via shelter facilities that enable
them to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps.”

14. The Political Economy of Homelessness
• The neoliberal-informed notion that homelessness is the result of individual deficiencies and
pathologies (e.g., substance abuse, mental health) continues to pervade both political rhetoric
and public imaginary (Sparks, 2012, 2017), effectively legitimating the status-quo in policy
prescriptions: to provide accessible resources to the homeless via shelter facilities that enable
them to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps.”
Empirical realities:
• Not all homeless individuals are substance abusers and/or mentally ill, but we don’t see these
people as they are not “marking” themselves visibly as being homeless

15. The Political Economy of Homelessness
• The neoliberal-informed notion that homelessness is the result of individual deficiencies and
pathologies (e.g., substance abuse, mental health) continues to pervade both political rhetoric
and public imaginary (Sparks, 2012, 2017), effectively legitimating the status-quo in policy
prescriptions: to provide accessible resources to the homeless via shelter facilities that enable
them to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps.”
Empirical realities:
• Not all homeless individuals are substance abusers and/or mentally ill, but we don’t see these
people as they are not “marking” themselves visibly as being homeless
• Not all homeless substance abusers become homeless because of their substance abuse; the
brutal experience of being homeless drives just as many to substance abuse

16. The Political Economy of Homelessness
• The neoliberal-informed notion that homelessness is the result of individual deficiencies and
pathologies (e.g., substance abuse, mental health) continues to pervade both political rhetoric
and public imaginary (Sparks, 2012, 2017), effectively legitimating the status-quo in policy
prescriptions: to provide accessible resources to the homeless via shelter facilities that enable
them to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps.”
Empirical realities:
• Not all homeless individuals are substance abusers and/or mentally ill, but we don’t see these
people as they are not “marking” themselves visibly as being homeless
• Not all homeless substance abusers become homeless because of their substance abuse; the
brutal experience of being homeless drives just as many to substance abuse
• Only a fraction of total population of substance abusers are or become homeless; how then can
this be the explanation, or the real root cause of the problem?

17. The Political Economy of Homelessness
• The actual causes of houselessness are
rooted in “labor market conditions and
housing market dynamics” (Langegger and
Koester, 2017: 1044).
• Unemployment, as Marx long ago revealed,
is a necessarily permanent condition in
capitalist societies, and if there is little
political will to ensure that those most
vulnerable are housed (i.e., those without
family and/or friends capable of housing
them), then some degree of houselessness
is inevitable despite questions of individual
character (Mitchell, 2011).

18. Property and Homelessness
Nick Blomley (2010):
• Blomley applauds Waldron’s powerful and compelling criticism of property law in relation to
public space but argues that Waldron stops short of indicting private property as a key,
institutional force in producing and shaping the socio-spatial contours of contemporary
houselessness.
• Waldron observes the ways in which the combined individual actions of private owners serve to
confine the homeless to public space … but Waldron’s anger is targeted at the law that regulates
public space, rather than with any legal relations that might force people into such public spaces
in the first place.
• How might we regulate, or intervene in private property?

19. Private Property Interventions
What can be done (Blomley, 2010):
• Stricter forms of rent control
• More non-market housing
• Anti-speculation taxes
• Conversion bans (i.e., from rental
apartments to condos)
• Anti-displacement zones
• Transfers to community property
• Treatment property wealth gains
as a “social dividend”
• Any private sector decision that
displaces tenants (without
substantive compensation) be
designated a criminal act. Pearl District, Portland, OR

20. Private Property Interventions
What can be done (Blomley, 2010):
• Removal of otherwise rentable
units from circulation (past a
certain period of time) should be
turned over to house houseless
individuals
• Increased corporate-taxes to
bolster unemployment benefits
• Resuscitation of federal funding to
city governments
Pearl District, Portland, OR

21. Homelessness Abroad?
• Homelessness tends to be far lower in almost every other advanced, industrialized country,
especially Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and Singapore
• But even in these countries, homelessness has risen sharply over the past decade
Copenhagen, Denmark Singapore

22. Public Housing Abroad?
• The Vienna Model to Public Housing: the state prioritizes subsidizing the development of a variety of
different forms of public housing. Perhaps most importantly, once one lands a job and increases their
income and standing, they do not need to move out, resulting in most complexes being mixed-income.
Vienna, Austria

23. From Homelessness to Houselessness
Skid Row, Los Angeles – largest tent city in the Untied States