State Violence, the Real Estate State, and the Perpetuation of Stigmas that Justify the Housing “Crisis”

• In Event: Abolition, Culture, and Geography

Abstract

We use Bangor, Maine as a case study to apply the framework of state violence to precarious housing and homelessness. Homelessness and the precarity of housing have increased in the last few years. Eviction rates since 2000 have continued to rise. Housing is increasingly a market exploited by corporations and what Samuel Stein calls the Real Estate State. Consequently, the state continues to target those impacted by these policy choices with removal and further stigmatization to clear the way for profit-making tied to the housing market. The process of removal is accomplished through various forms of stigmatization and dehumanization, first at the public and institutional level. These stigmas then trickle down to intra-community and self-stigmatization. In all, these stigmas serve to justify and maintain the evolving status quo of homelessness and precarious housing, deflecting the blame of this “crisis” away from policymakers, the Real Estate State, and the state violence they are perpetuating. We use interviews with 18 precariously housed and unhoused people in Bangor to demonstrate this process in action.

Authors

• Brenna Jones, Illinois State University

• Brian Pitman, Lander University