PA 874, Session 11

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PA 874, Session 11

• Homelessness 2

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Chapter 2 History in NYC

• Colonial- Mid 19th Century
• 19th Century Station Houses and Shanty Towns
• Recognition of Public Responsibility
• 1909 Municipal Lodging House
• Shifting Cultural Interpretations
• Great Depression
• Post WWII The Modern Era

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The Role of Ethnography

• Ethnographers Get It Right
• Stuart Rice and Nels Anderson
• Four Themes pp. 50-51
• Vagrancy Multiple Causes
• Labor Market and Kinship Critical
• Reactive Attitudes and Initiatives Matter
• Remedies Can Cause Harm as Well as Good

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Part II

• Chapter 3
• Synthesis of 1981 Book Speaks for Itself
• But Great Ethnography
• Interesting Points
• How Men Got There? Well Springs?
• Description of Facilities and Life in them and on
  the street (Sleeping Rough)
• Loneliness
• Overdone? Violence? Note Ending.

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Part II (Cont.)

• Chapter 4. Airports
• Makes Sense Doesnt It?
• But Note the Tension That Would Exist.
• 9/11 May Have Ended That.
• Chapter 5 Census Enumeration
• Interesting Points
• Street Order
• A Better Enumeration System

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Part II (Cont.)

• Chapter 6 African American Men
• Tallys Corner Anthropology Classic
• Early Indicators Imprecise, but Overrepresented
  at turn of the last century in vagrancy arrests
• Clearly Now -- Why?
• Homeless Factors More Serious for Black Men
• Labor Markets and Unemployment
• Breakdown of Extended Families
• Housing Problems
• Incarceration

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Advocacy and Engagement Methods Documentation

• Gaining Attention Getting on the Agenda
• Use of Media
• Reports
• Visual Effects - Documentaries
• Marches
• Hearings
• Organize National and Local Coalitions
• Multiple Aspects Poverty, Housing, Health

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Methods Legislation

• Stuart McKinney Homeless Assistance Act 1986
  Reauthorized in 1990.
• A series of programs supporting housing, mental
  illness, children
• Clever Excess Government Land/Facilities
• National Affordable Housing Act 1990
• Plus Numerous Local Programs Passed at the State,
  City and County Level

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Methods Litigation NGOS

• NYC Litigation Callahan v. Carey
• Required City to Provide Shelter for Homeless
• Administrative Requirements and Rules Critical to
  Enforcement
• Non-Governmental Organizations
• A Myriad of National and Local
• Often Combining Civic Organizations Business
  Government and Religious
• But How Stable? Permanent? Dependent on
  Activists?

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Summing Up Policies and Results

• Hopper
• Seems Quite Discouraged in the End Policies?
• Homeless a Marginalized Policy?
• Missed Opportunities to Broaden the Coalitions
• E.G. Never Mentioned in Welfare reforms of the
  1990s
• Only Solid Link to Low-Income Housing Actions
  Which He Views as Marginal As Well
• Results? Advances? Stalled?

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Summing Up Ethnography

• Hopper Not So Clear
• Positives
• Awakening
• Multiple Areas Yet To Study E.G.s
• African Americans
• Household Violence Links
• Neighborhood Opposition to Special Needs Housing
• Negatives
• Sterility of Studies
• Lack of Engagement and Action to Go With Research