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Abstract
Conflicts over siting of group homes for people transitioning out of homelessness or struggling with addiction illustrate the multiscalar dynamics at play between locally-based activism and supra-local laws. In Massachusetts, the state-scale legal environment limits the effectiveness of opposition to group housing; nonetheless, such opposition occurs at the municipal level. Drawing on media accounts, official documents, and interviews with stakeholders in conflicts over group home siting in Worcester, Massachusetts, I investigate the dynamics between neighborhood place claims, the responses of the local state, and the state-wide laws governing group home siting. Examining the legal frameworks relevant to social movement grievances demonstrate that law structures the political opportunities available for protest and local government response.
Notes
1 For a more thorough discussion of lawyering and its relevance to geography and analyses of contention, please see Martin et al. (Citation2010).
2 The shelter eliminated its open-door policy in fall 2009 and moved to a system of triage screening; it is too soon to measure the results of this effort (Hammel, 2009). This new system relies on a continued supply of individual sites for housing placements, including treatment group homes such as the ones that are the focus of this study.
