Moving Them Elsewhere: Police as Influencers and Implementers in Homeless Policy

• In Event: Power and Precarity: The Political Economy of U.S. Housing Policy

Abstract

Policy choices profoundly shape the well-being of America’s unhoused population. A wide body of research has identified the long-term harmful effects of the criminalization and over-policing of homeless people. There has been comparatively little research, however, into the mechanisms by which the police become involved in homelessness policy. We descriptively explore how involved the police are in making homelessness policy and examine the mechanisms by which this occurs. We use a multifaceted methodological approach featuring novel elite survey data, national primary data from cities across the country, quantitative analysis of 311 and policing data, and in-depth interviews with persons experiencing homelessness. Our findings illustrate that the police are key decision-makers and influencers of homeless policy. Moreover, local governments across the country rely on their police as implementers of both punitive and harm reduction policies. They are driven, at least in part, by citizen complaints. Police are important promulgators of homelessness policy, leading to more punitive state interactions for America’s unhoused.

Authors

• Katherine Levine Einstein, Boston University

• Charley Ellen Willison, Cornell University