The Annihilation of Space by Law: The Roots and Implications of Anti-Homeless Laws in the United States

There is a link between changes in the contemporary political economy and the criminalization of homelessness. Anti-homeless legislation can be understood as an attempt to annihilate the spaces in which homeless people must live, and perform everyday functions. This annihilation is a response to the economic uncertainty produced by the current political economy. The process of criminalizing homelessness 1) destroys the very right of homeless people to be; and 2) reinforces particularly brutal notions of citizenship within the public sphere. Such laws are made possible when urban government and surrounding communities and elites seek to promote the urban landscape at the expense of urban public space. This usurpation of public space will have profound impact not only on homeless people but also on how the housed interact with each other.     

Re‐phasing Neoliberalism: New Labour and Britain's Crisis of Street Homelessness

In this paper we continue the task of fleshing out understandings of "actually existing neoliberalism". More specifically, drawing on the work of Tom Ling, we suggest that Peck and Tickell's recent distinction between periods of roll‐back/roll‐out neoliberalisation can usefully be supplemented by the identification of a second, more powerful moment of roll‐out neoliberalism—described by Ling in terms of the shift from a system of governance to one of "governmentality". Illustrating our argument with an analysis of changing central government responses to a crisis of street homelessness in 1990s Britain, however, we draw attention to the uneven and often contrary effects of recent government policy in this field. The paper therefore concludes with a warning of the need to temper a reading of the juggernaut of roll‐out neoliberalism with an awareness of the incomplete and plain "messy" character of actually existing neoliberalisation.     

Modes of Attentiveness: Reading for Difference in Geographies of Homelessness

Hegemonic accounts of urban homelessness, focusing on attempts to restrict homeless people's presence in public space, stress the punitive nature of current homelessness policy. In contrast, in this paper we explore the “messy middle ground” of the UK homeless services system. Examining Stacey Murphy's (2009) (Antipode 41(2):305–325) arguments regarding a shift to a “post‐revanchist” era in San Francisco, we chart the apparent similarities between developments in San Francisco and changes to the management of street homelessness bought in to effect by the New Labour government in the UK, and assess the extent to which such developments might be read as holding in tension more obviously punitive and supportive trends usually viewed as necessarily oppositional. In the final part of the paper we present a re‐reading of recent changes to the management of street homelessness in the UK through a postsecular lens. We suggest that this lens provides the possibility for a much more optimistic reading of homeless services and of the grammars of homelessness and urban (in)justice more broadly, and make the case for an alternative mode of academic attentiveness open to sometimes subtle and smaller‐scale yet nonetheless important examples of different ways of understanding and doing.     

Drifting Along or Dropping into Homelessness: A Class Analysis of Responses to Homelessness

Abstract: Prominent assumptions about street homelessness and how it should be addressed originate primarily from middle class domiciled worldviews. This article draws on interviews with 58 street homeless people to develop a typology for explaining different forms of homelessness resulting from differences in class of origin. The concepts of social distance and abjection are used to illustrate how class politics manifests in street homelessness and in responses to this issue. Many of our homeless participants referred to two broad groupings of homeless people who display distinct experiences and cultures in their daily lives on the streets. Drifters are people who do not experience homelessness as a sharp disjuncture from their previously housed life. Street homelessness is a continuation of the hardships of their lower class backgrounds. Droppers are people who have “fallen” on hard times and aspire to return to mainstream middle class lifeworlds. Differentiating between these two groups provides a space for defamiliarizing dominant understandings of, and current generic responses to, homelessness and foregrounds the need for reorienting services to better meet the needs of drifters.     

Survive but not thrive? Geographical strategies for avoiding absolute homelessness among immigrant communities

This article seeks to unpack why certain immigrant communities manage to avoid absolute homelessness, emphasizing how survival strategies embedded in immigrant community space may be deployed in both advantageous and disadvantageous fashions. Bangladeshis in Greater London and Central Americans in Los Angeles County were compared, based on the fact that they are similarly vulnerable immigrant communities in terms of poverty and segregation, yet have successfully avoided the streets and/or shelters. Key strategies included the beneficial clustering of non-profits and overcrowding strategies within immigrant community space, although Bangladeshis differed substantially in terms of more state support for their community space. The implications for the study of race and survival are offered.     

日本批准《1930年伦敦海军条约》过程及对其政局的影响

1930年伦敦海军会议是对美、英、日、法、意五国海军辅助舰作出限制的一次会议。会上签订的《1930年伦敦海军条约》在日本国内的批准过程颇费周章,在政府做出大量让步的情形下条约才勉强获得批准。其结果对日本政局以及政治走向产生了重大影响：条约的签订非但未能有效遏制法西斯势力的崛起,延续政党政治的强势力量,反而使海军内部分裂、派系之争明显,并加速了日本对美国发动战争的进程。     

‘Our home,our way of life’: spiritual homelessness and the sociocultural dimensions of Indigenous homelessness in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada

In this article, I examine the sociocultural dimensions of Indigenous home and homelessness through a case study of increasing visible homelessness in two northern Canadian communities. Drawing on five years of ethnographic research on Indigenous homelessness in Yellowknife and Inuvik, two regional centres in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada, I suggest that Indigenous experiences of homelessness are at once collective and immediate. In particular, I draw on the concept of ‘spiritual homelessness’ (Keys Young 1998) to examine the multiple scales of homelessness experienced among northern Indigenous people. Research participants highlight several key elements of rapid sociocultural change that have an enduring impact on a collective sense of home and belonging, and play integral roles in shaping the experiences of homeless Indigenous people. Social and material exclusion, breakdowns in family and community, detachment from cultural identity, intergenerational trauma and institutionalisation are all woven throughout the personal narratives of homelessness articulated by research participants. I argue that the alleviation of Indigenous homelessness in the NWT depends on a decolonising agenda that specifically addresses contemporary colonial geographies and their expressions in the key institutions in Indigenous peoples' lives.     

1840-1914年伦敦贫民窟问题与工人住房建设分析

19世纪伦敦贫民窟的大量存在映证了英国工人恶劣的居住环境。19世纪90年代之前,英国政府将其视为城市环境问题,力图通过清理修缮的方式来解决;当时的工人住房建设主要由社会慈善组织来承担。90年代之后,伦敦郡议会主导市政工作,实行贫民窟清理与公租房建设并举政策,政府开始直接干预工人住房问题。     

Pathways to Homelessness: a Comparison of Gender and Schizophrenia in Inner-Sydney

The study compares residential ‘pathways’ into homelessness of a sample of 50 homeless people in inner city Sydney, in an attempt to see whether gender difference or schizophrenia is more important in the determination of mobility patterns leading in and out of homelessness. Three structural processes contributing to the present pattern of homelessness in inner Sydney are identified, providing the context for observed differences in residential histories leading to inner city homelessness. A hypothesis of the study is that women would be likely to experience different factors in the pathway to homelessness such as child raising or partnerships that may influence their residential history. However, after the breakdown of marriage, partnerships appear to play a minor role in the residential mobility of both schizophrenic women and men.     

Beyond Punitive Regulation? New Zealand Local Governments' Responses to Homelessness

Abstract: This article investigates the ways in which New Zealand local authorities respond to homelessness. It finds that while some punitive bylaws targeting homeless people exist, they are not widespread, and in three case study cities are accompanied by efforts to support social service providers. This indicates that New Zealand local authorities are prepared to look at alternatives to address homelessness, as opposed solely to following trends towards the increasing persecution of homeless people. However, cities' attitudes are subject to political whim, and on occasion they articulate an exclusive vision of public space linked to concerns for public safety and city image. Such thinking has led, for example, to homeless people being served with trespass notices by local authorities asserting “ownership” of public space. Nevertheless, the actions of New Zealand cities depart significantly from the dominant approaches seen elsewhere. This may be explained in part by the relative invisibility of homelessness in New Zealand, and by a popular distinction between “good” and “bad” homeless individuals. The net result is a generally positive approach to reducing homelessness by providing appropriate housing and support to those on the streets, complicating any direct application of the critical geographical literature on this issue to the New Zealand context.     

“They want a different life”: Rural northern settlement dynamics and pathways to homelessness in Yellowknife and Inuvik,Northwest Territories

Visible homelessness in the Northwest Territories, Canada is often described as a recent phenomenon by policy makers and the popular media alike. Indeed, since the late 1990s, homeless shelters in Yellowknife and Inuvik report a steady increase in demand for beds and other support for homeless people. Homelessness in these two communities disproportionately affects Aboriginal northerners, however little is known about their individual pathways to homelessness. Moreover, homelessness in the Northwest Territories is often portrayed as an issue confined to larger “urbanizing” regional centres, yet many homeless Aboriginal northerners have originated from small, rural settlement communities. Despite this, little concern has been paid to how factors at the small community level intersect with more visible forms of homelessness in larger, urban centres, not to mention how these intersections shape a territorial geography of homelessness. In this article, I aim to uncover and explore the often hidden factors at the northern rural settlement level that ultimately contribute to more visible forms of homelessness in northern urban centres. I suggest that uneven and fragmented social, institutional, and economic geographies result in a unique landscape of vulnerability to homelessness in the Northwest Territories. This geography emerges through the production of particular dynamics between rural settlement communities and northern urban centres. In particular, four main factors represent these rural‐urban dynamics: 1) the attractions of opportunity in northern urban centres; 2) rural settlement‐urban institutional flows; 3) chronic housing need in the settlements; and, 4) disintegrating social relationships in the settlements. I explore the particular ways in which these factors influence rural‐urban migration among the homeless population and what roles this mobility plays in individual pathways to homelessness.     

“If we don't push homeless people out,we will end up being pushed out by them”: The Criminalization of Homelessness as State Strategy in Hungary

In recent years, the intensity of the criminalization of homelessness in Hungary gave rise to a veritable tug‐of‐war between the ruling party and grassroots activists. In fact, today it is the only country in the world where the possibility of penalizing homelessness is encoded in the constitution itself. In this paper, I first provide an overview of the rise of homelessness since the late 1980s. Then, I go on to examine changing public and political attitudes towards homelessness in post‐socialist Hungary and place the growing trend towards penalization in the larger context of an emerging criminal paradigm. After examining the recent authoritarian turn, I argue that the radical intensification of criminalization is a strategy not only to secure political dominance, but also to obscure the failure of the state to address the social, political and economic contradictions that became salient at the time of the regime change.     

‘A place to rest’: the role of transitional housing in ending homelessness for women in Calgary,Canada

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to determine the role of transitional housing in ending homelessness for women and (2) to explore how gender-specific experiences of homelessness may inform housing service delivery models. Using a participatory research methodology, photovoice, and focus group discussion, nine women with lived experience of homelessness were engaged over 10 weeks in a process of reflection and critical dialogue about their previous experiences in a YWCA transitional housing facility and their current YWCA permanent housing in Calgary, Canada. Through this process women revealed that the key aspects of transitional housing that helped them exit homelessness were the interplay of four important factors: safety, time, a community of women with similar experiences, and a supportive environment with access to appropriate services in which to recover from trauma. Although moving directly from homelessness to permanent housing may be appropriate for some women, findings from this study demonstrate that this may not be the case for all. Our results suggest that once permanently housed women, especially those with histories of trauma, struggle with the trade-off between the rules that kept them safe in transitional housing and living as independent, autonomous adults in the community.     

Between Vanity and Sensitiveness: Indo–British Relations During Vijayalakshmi Pandit’s High-Commissionership (1954–61)

Studies of Indo–British relations in the 1950s have been usually dominated by the personalities of Jawaharlal Nehru and, after him, VK Krishna Menon. This article instead focuses on Vijayalakshmi Pandit and her tenure as India’s High-Commissioner in London. Pandit came to London having served as Nehru’s envoy to the Soviet Union, the USA and the United Nations. Based on government records and private papers in India, Britain and America, this article shows that her time in London offers insights into the wider context of changes in Indo–British relations and presents her High-Commissionership as a microcosm of the inter-governmental relations.     

Methodologies for Examining Homelessness and Their Application to a Mandated Statewide Study

Using findings from a federally mandated statewide study of homelessness in the state of Iowa, this paper presents methodologies developed to address various aspects of homeless research, including enumeration of the population, screening for reporting duplications, estimating the annual number of incidents of homelessness, and exploring county-level estimates of homelessness. After implementing an algorithm to eliminate duplicate reporting, and using the baseline unduplicated reported number of homeless persons, a statewide estimate of the number of homeless individuals was derived. Following further adjustments for differences in agency reporting practices and after extrapolating for nonreported time periods, we estimated the number of Unique incidents of homelessness experienced in the state during the year of the study (1997). The policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Malaysia and the End of the Bretton Woods System 1965–72: Disentangling from Sterling

This article examines the tense and complex monetary relationship between Britain, Singapore and Malaysia in the period from 1965 to 1972. It questions the assumption that Malaysia's economic significance to Britain was ‘on the wane’ by the 1960s. As the second largest government holder of sterling assets in the world, Malaysia should have been able to exert considerable leverage in London over the disposition of these assets. Ultimately, however, the very scale of these assets limited Malaysia's room for manoeuvre, as it could not sell off a significant proportion of them without undermining international confidence in the exchange rate of the pound and thereby precipitating the devaluation of its remaining sterling assets. The devaluation of sterling in 1967 emerges as a watershed in relations between London and Kuala Lumpur, with the Malaysians thereafter seeking to forge a more independent monetary policy. It is clear, however, that they did not actually succeed in doing so until 1972.     

The Pursuit of Coordination: The Organizational Dimension in the Response to Homelessness

The pursuit of "coordination" has been a prominent theme both in local responses to homelessness and in the current incentives in federal housing policy. This article reviews some of the conditions that make coordination important yet difficult to achieve in the homeless area. A variety of approaches for achieving coordination at the local level are reviewed, ranging from point-of-service coordination to system-design. The local examples are drawn from the cities participating in the evaluation of The Robert Wood Johnson and the Department of Housing and Urban Development Homeless Families Program. The questions of effectiveness and future prospects for homeless service coordination are raised.     

Britain,the United Arab Emirates and the defence of the Gulf revisited

This article investigates the deepening of the UK's security and defence arrangements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In recent years there has been a flurry of diplomatic activity indicating far closer engagement between London and Abu Dhabi. Rather than being an innovative initiative of the Cameron government, the interaction has deeper roots, with this article uncovering the importance of the relatively unknown Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) of 1996, signed by the Major government. Furthermore, the UK‐UAE defence relationship is shown to have endured beyond the infamous UK withdrawal from ‘east of Suez’ in 1971. The current engagement is, however, more intense and potentially far‐reaching than it had been in recent decades, with the defence sector being placed at the forefront of UK efforts to bolster the relationship with the oil‐rich Gulf emirate. Using official statements from London and Abu Dhabi, this article suggests that the UK‐UAE relationship has always remained intact, although it lost focus following the end of the Major government until the refocusing on the Gulf by the Cameron government. The article concludes with an assessment of the expectations of the UAE, and the strategic drivers underpinning UK policy.     

“De-Risking” East London: Olympic Regeneration Planning 2000–2012

The concept of legacy has emerged in the twenty-first century as a dominant narrative within mega-event projects. Accordingly, event hosts now engage in detailed legacy planning. This often means creating new agencies and new plans; something that has important implications for wider urban governance and planning. This paper focuses on initiatives attached to the 2012 Olympic Games in London. One of the main aims of staging the Games was regenerating East London; and the pre-event planning (2000–2012) associated with this legacy promise is the focus here. Using evidence collected from primary and secondary research, the paper records how the governance and planning arrangements evolved over 2000–2012. These were designed to achieve regeneration effects at different scales; in the Olympic Park, the fringes of the Park and in the wider sub-region. The paper acknowledges the pioneering work undertaken in London, but also identifies the key issues, challenges and dilemmas involved. The paper concludes that Olympic regeneration planning has rescaled regeneration governance in London, privileging city-wide and national stakeholders. It also suggests that, rather than a process driven by corporate interests and public–private partnerships, London 2012 regeneration planning is best understood as government intervention that de-risked East London for private-sector investors.     

London in the European financial services industry: locational advantage and product complementarities

If its prospects were doubted in the early 1990s, London isnow the pre-eminent international financial centre. It dominatesits European rivals and is joined with New York and Tokyo ina non-stop reciprocal global embrace. Whereas some analystsapproach this topic concentrating on the nature and qualityof market relationships in London, others emphasise the rolethat government regulation has played in promoting the growthof the City of London with respect to its European rivals. Here,I elaborate the logic whereby financial products and servicesare produced at a particular point in space even if financialtrading is an increasingly ubiquitous virtual activity. I emphasisethe competitive dynamics of the financial services industry,the complementary qualities of financial products, and the placeof London in corporate global transactions systems. I mean toshow that the production of financial products has been broughtto ground (so to speak) in London for a variety of (perhapsnon-replicable) reasons. In this regard, my argument is clearlyat odds with those analysts of information and communicationtechnology who proclaim the end of geography. However, my argumentsits uncomfortably with those who insist upon the persistenceand co-existence of different national financial systems. Implicationsare drawn for the role of London in the evolving integratedEuropean market for financial services, and for the future ofcontinental European financial centres.