![Sample our Urban Studies journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110826/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Urban-Studies.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
In this article, I analyze ongoing changes in the field of homelessness governance in Portland, Oregon (USA) to understand the underlying rationale behind current shifts toward a so-called compassionate approach to homelessness. Based on fieldwork carried out in Portland, this paper analyses the increased inclusion of outreach practices in the management of homelessness in both policing and city policies. To gain an understanding of how policies are implemented on the ground, I focus on the management of homeless encampments. This paper then outlines how this rise in homelessness outreach practices is closely related to encampment cleanups and the invisibilization of homeless people through a “compassionate eviction” from public space.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 2020. The 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.
2. Note also the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness (2010).
3. National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. 2019. Housing Not Handcuffs. Ending the criminalization of homelessness in U.S. cities.
4. F. Stuart defines it thus: “the field of poverty governance encompasses all those agencies and organizations typically involved in regulating poor populations. This includes state welfare bureaucracies, city officials, and the municipal police department, as well as private welfare organizations and local businesses” (Stuart, Citation2016, p. 40).
5. In 2020, Portland has been ranked the 9th best place to live in the U.S. News and World Report.
6. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is the largest of the United States, whose rulings affect Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
7. In 2009, six members of Boise’s homeless community sued the City of Boise, Idaho over tickets they received for sleeping outdoors under the city’s ordinance prohibiting public camping despite a lack of adequate shelter beds. In 2018, the judges of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that prosecuting people for sleeping on the streets, when there are no shelter beds available is unconstitutional as it constitutes a violation of the 8th amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
8. Spending more than 50% of their incomes on rent.
9. As other cities in the west coast of the United States have done (amongst others: Seattle (WA), Eugene (OR), San Diego (CA), Oakland (CA)).
10. The Navigation Center works differently, limiting stays to 90 days as a way to keep some beds always available, in order to help with the management of public space. See below.
11. When I was given the opportunity to do a ride-along, I was aware of the “observer effect” and the possibility of adjusted behaviors in response to my presence. But seeing police officers at work from the inside was an opportunity to talk with them about their daily practices, to ask questions about what they were doing and to better understand they ways in which they interpret their work and law-enforcement. This ride-along created a relationship of trust which opened broadly the discussion (which continued after with a semi-structured interview). Furthermore, I think that my position as a foreigner helped to build this trust.