Tent City: Patterns of Informality and the Partitioning of Sacramento

Unsanctioned tent cities are increasing in number in cities throughout the western United States. Scholars explain the phenomenon as homeless people asserting their ‘right to the city’ or as ‘managed marginality’. These explanations capture much of the socio-political relationship between local government and homeless populations, but do not explain the long-term persistence of tent cities and the fluctuating nature of their visibility. A spatial history of informal encampments in Sacramento at three key moments—the founding of the city, the Great Depression and the Great Recession—reveals a long-term ebb and flow of tent cities occupying close-to-the-center, urban vacancies. Urban vacancies arise from the partitioning of the city into specific purposes, places and people, a taken-for-granted perception of how cities should be. The visibility of tent cities disrupts this aesthetic notion of stability and growth as homeless people use the tent to protest their isolation and exclusion.     

Homeless in America: injuries treated in US emergency departments, 2007–2011

Despite being a high-risk population, epidemiological research about injuries among homeless individuals is limited. We sought to describe injury characteristics among individuals identified as homeless in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), and to compare them to age- and sex-matched controls. We searched text narratives for all patients with product-related injuries who presented to NEISS emergency departments from 2007 to 2011 to identify homeless cases (N = 268). A random sample of 2680 age- and sex-matched controls was identified for the same time period. The incident location differed between groups, and the mention of substance use was significantly more common among homeless cases than controls. The body part injured differed significantly between cases and controls for all age groups, with the exception of older adults. Among homeless cases, injuries occurred most frequently to the lower extremities, and sprains/strains, contusions/abrasions and burns were most common. Additional research on injury among homeless individuals is warranted in order to identify meaningful preventive strategies for this at-risk population.     

A synthesis of homelessness in South Africa: A rapid critical appraisal

Homelessness in South Africa requires collaborative research. Social, political, cultural and economic factors that cause homelessness must be considered to develop a common definition and understanding of homelessness. South Africa’s social complexity and diversity make it challenging to construct available results into one conceptual framework, and this in turn complicates national policy implementation and role allocation. By means of a rapid critical appraisal of literature on homelessness in South Africa, researchers provide evidence to direct and structure contextual research pertaining to homelessness. Four themes transpire: conceptualisation; demography; roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders; and strategic policy and research issues. Researchers caution that the findings are not generalisable, because of the rapid nature of the appraisal and possible selection bias of the literature. Measures of validity were used to ensure that the study accomplished its purpose through the key results and to ensure that the results are a true reflection of available evidence.     

Engaging with homelessness in the City of Tshwane: Ethical and practical considerations

ABSTRACT

Policies and practices aimed at developing more engaged universities that are responsive to the needs of society have become key features of the higher education landscape of most countries. Visions of universities ‘engaged’ in matters of local importance increasingly require academics to reframe their scholarship as some form of ‘engagement’. This requirement has been addressed in many different disciplines and has been met with ambivalence. Academics who see engagement as a new form of ‘public good’ find it enhancing of their teaching and research activities, while others view engaged work as unnecessary and problematic ‘third mission’ activities that impede on ‘normal’ academic work. This article aims to contribute to these debates by interrogating the paradoxes of action and inaction. Drawing on recent experiences in reviewing a policy on homelessness for a municipality in South Africa, the article seeks to bring the ambiguities and challenges of engagement into greater visibility.     

International responses to homelessness: Lessons for the City of Tshwane

ABSTRACT

Reports of increases in the numbers of homeless people are pouring in from all over the world yet many governments still do not consider homelessness worthy of a policy response in its own right and relegate it to the periphery of either housing or social (welfare) policy arenas and interventions. In the introductory sections of this article, reference is made to the current extent of homelessness in the world and the rise to prominence of a rights-based approach to homelessness. This is followed by a brief overview of responses to homelessness in Australia, the USA and some European countries. A few of the key components of these responses and their relevance for homelessness policies in South Africa and the City of Tshwane are identified.     

The right to adequate housing: evictions of the homeless and the elderly caused by the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo

Abstract

The reconstruction of the National Stadium for the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo has induced displacement of two groups of vulnerable people, raising concerns of the violation of human rights, particularly the right to adequate housing. The expansion of the stadium led to the expulsion of dozens of homeless people who lived in and around the park surrounding the stadium, and a sudden decision to demolish a nearby public housing estate built for the 1964 Summer Games forced over 200 tenants, most of whom were elderly, to be relocated. While the homeless people engaged in several rounds of negotiation with the government authorities, the majority of the housing tenants reluctantly agreed to move except for a few who kept demanding respectful treatment from the metropolitan government. Presenting the preliminary results of a mixed-method three-year qualitative study, this research note demonstrates that while the authority might have offered alternative housing considered ‘adequate’ in terms of physical living conditions, the process of evictions did not afford autonomy for the affected to choose where to live. The respective status of the affected – homeless and elderly – may demand the reconsideration of the concept of ‘adequate housing’ in relation to human dignity.     

Pictures of me: user views on their representation in homelessness fundraising appeals

There is a long‐standing ethical debate regarding the ‘right’ representation of recipients in charity marketing materials that are intended to accurately define and represent social problems whilst also prompting the maximum response in voluntary income. The study presented in this article makes a contribution to that debate by highlighting the views of charity beneficiaries regarding their representation in fundraising campaigns. Drawing on data from five focus groups conducted in cities across England, we explore the views of young homeless people regarding the images of homelessness that appeared in major charity campaigns aimed at raising money to fund homelessness services. Participants displayed a high level of reflexivity, demonstrating that they understood the issues involved with homelessness and the perceptions of people like themselves that exist in the public sphere and in the consciousness of potential donors. Although the participants held the view that maximising revenues through the use of simple, eye‐catching images is the prime goal of fundraising, they also expressed a desire for more nuanced campaigns that tell the dynamic stories of how people become homeless and the use of imagery that elicits empathy rather than merely arouses sympathy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.