title: "This is My Community": Reproducing and Resisting Boundaries of Exclusion in Contested Public Spaces.
abstract: The way that public space is structured has significant implications for identity, social interaction, and participation in society. For those experiencing homelessness, with no or limited private space, survival hinges on the accessibility and livability of public space. However, the increasing privatization of public space in the United States has contributed to the implementation of anti-homeless ordinances in cities, restricting sitting, standing, panhandling, and sleeping in public. This study analyzes data from interviews with housed and unhoused community members, text from a local policy document, and ethnographic observations to explore how boundaries between "insiders" and "outsiders" are drawn in public space and mediated through individual discourse. Our findings suggest that boundaries of exclusion are constructed through dominant narratives that portray the unhoused as a threat to safety and economic vitality, thus justifying the need for regulation and punishment through the criminalization of homelessness. Yet, informants also demonstrate resistance to this narrative by discussing how criminalization of homelessness perpetuates dehumanization, violence, and economic inequality. Policy implications for the regulation of public space are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Psychology Faculty Services, University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA. eetoolis@ucsc.edu.
authors.forename: Erin E
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2046-5035
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Toolis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Psychology Faculty Services, University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Phillip L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Hammack
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D002140:California; D005260:Female; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011640:Public Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D017150:Public Sector; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012923:Social Class; D012931:Social Environment; D012938:Social Perception; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Discourse; Homelessness; Moral exclusion; Narrative; Policy; Public space