Views with Homeless Adults, I Examine How Homeless Persons Experience Policing

University of Alberta Homeless and policed: The racialized policing of homelessness, space, and mobility in Edmonton by Joshua Eugene Freistadt A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology ©Joshua Freistadt Spring 2014 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. Dedication “We may be homeless, but we are not heartless” -Staci, White homeless female “They don’t see the person that is fucking suffering. … I think people should be compassionate with each other.” -Carl, Aboriginal homeless male This research is dedicated to all the street-involved individuals who shared their stories with me. It is my sincere hope that their stories might change hearts, produce sympathy, multiply compassion, and inspire new responses to homelessness. Abstract The City of Edmonton recently developed an anti-panhandling bylaw and a diverted giving campaign. Previous literature on the policing of homelessness has focused on the development and discourses of these measures. Using 22 interviews with homeless adults, I examine how homeless persons experience policing. I argue that Edmonton’s anti-panhandling efforts hold problematic assumptions about street life and contribute to a racialized policing of homelessness, space, and mobility. My findings contribute to previous literature by documenting how the policing of homelessness unfolds on the ground, the politics behind it, and the ways it intersects with racial identity. I show that the policing of homelessness targets all visibly homeless persons who stand out in prime consumer spaces, attempts to displace these homeless persons into marginalized spaces, and in so doing produces spaces and patterns of mobility that disadvantage homeless Aboriginals. I discuss how this displacement benefits businesses, perpetuates policing, and maintains racial hierarchies. My analyses contrast the stories of homeless persons with existing arguments about the policing of homelessness. I reject the claims of broken windows sympathizers, dispute the argument that anti-homeless efforts attempt to produce proletarians, refine arguments that the policing of homelessness removes the poor from consumer spaces, reorient the position that urban policing maintains pedestrian flow, and extend discussions of racialized policing. I conclude that attempts to challenge the policing of homelessness must address the diverse and racialized ways it unfolds. Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the help and support of countless individuals. I am genuinely grateful for the financial support of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Killam Trusts, the City of Edmonton, and the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta. My deepest thanks to the street-involved individuals who agreed to speak with me about their personal lives. I also owe gratitude to the staff at the Bissell Centre and the Boyle Street Co-op for allowing me to familiarize myself with homelessness prior to my fieldwork. Without all these persons, this project would have been logistically impossible. Many faculty members have shaped this project. Dr. George Pavlich, Dr. Jana Grekul, Dr. Wayne Renke, and Dr. Aaron Doyle provided insightful feedback. Dr. Joanne Minaker, Dr. Diane Conrad, and Dr. Lisa Strohschein were continual sources of encouragement and inspiration. My supervisor and friend, Dr. Bryan Hogeveen, has provided me with invaluable mentorship throughout my graduate career. He fundamentally changed my way of thinking about social justice and continually challenged me to become a better academic. To him I am forever indebted. I will miss working under his direct supervision. The patience and support of my friends and family was essential to the completion of this degree. I benefitted immensely from the fellowship of Manoj Misra, Kamrul Islam, Patrick McLane, Susan Richardson, Kim Sanderson, Irfan Chaudhry, Jeff Schlotter, and Stephanie LeBlanc. Greg Eklics and Dayna Crosby deserve special recognition for their daily encouragement. My in-laws, siblings, parents, and step-parents have been consistent cheerleaders. My father patiently and loving reviewed the earliest versions of each chapter. To all these people I give my heartfelt thanks. Above all, my deepest appreciation goes to my wife, Lindsay, and our two children, Hailey and Thomas. They taught me the most importance lesson of all – that any endeavour is meaningless if it is not enveloped in faith and love. Their faith in me and their unconditional love pushed me through the toughest phases of this long journey. This degree is as much their accomplishment as it is mine. Our family will forever be my strongest source of inspiration and my proudest accomplishment. I love you all. Table of Contents Introduction: Eli’s Cry: Hear the Homeless and Policed .................................................. 1 Topic: The Experiences of Heavily-Policed Homeless Persons ..................................... 3 The Extent and Causes of Homelessness ........................................................................ 4 Policing Responses to Increased Homelessness ............................................................. 7 Edmonton’s Policing Responses ................................................................................... 12 Conclusion: The Dire Need to Hear Homeless Persons’ Voices .................................. 18 Chapter One: Contribution and Method: Adding the Voices of the Homeless to Arguments about the Policing of Homelessness ............................................................... 22 Contributions to the Major Arguments about the Policing of Homelessness ............... 24 The Broken Windows Theory ................................................................................... 27 The Production of the Proletariat Argument ............................................................. 28 The Civic Sanitation Argument ................................................................................ 32 The Pedestrianism Position ....................................................................................... 37 Previous Literature Has Overlooked Racialization....................................................... 41 Intervention: In-Situ Interviews with the Visibly Homeless ........................................ 45 Racial Identity as a Reflection of Racialization ........................................................ 52 Conclusion: Overarching Argument and Contributions ............................................... 56 Chapter Two: Constructed as Dangerous: Exaggerated and Decontextualized Claims Depict Panhandlers as Wealthy Fraudsters, Criminals, Addicts, and Intimidators .......... 60 Echoing Kelling and Coles ........................................................................................... 62 Challenging and Contextualizing Anti-Panhandling Supporters’ Claims .................... 67 Not Wealthy Fraudsters ............................................................................................ 67 Criminality and Homelessness Have Complex Relationships .................................. 75 Not Simply Feeding Addictions................................................................................ 88 Politeness and the Panhandlers’ Code ...................................................................... 92 Conclusion: Homeless Persons Call Everyone to Shed Prejudice ................................ 95 “We Are All Human Beings” ................................................................................... 97 Chapter Three: Told to Seek Help from Charities: Redirecting the Homeless to Service Agencies Does Not Necessarily Help ............................................................................... 99 Closed Doors and Treatment Gaps ............................................................................. 102 “Like Who Wants to Go in There?”: Dangers In and Around Facilities .................... 107 “I Was Happier on the Street”: Services Out of Sync with Many Homeless Persons’ Lives ............................................................................................................................ 112 Informal Economy and Autonomous Consumption Preferred ............................... 118 Programs Ignored Homeless Persons’ Social Lives ............................................... 119 Conclusion: Recommendations to Align Services with Homeless Persons’ Lives .... 124 Chapter Four: “If You Are Homeless, Of Course You Stand out More in the Crowd”: Looking Out of Place in Consumer Spaces Drew Police Attention Regardless of Actions or Relations to Wage Labour .......................................................................................... 129 Police Did Not Target Aggressive Panhandlers.........................................................

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