Punishing Homelessness: Policing Inequality and Neighborhood Change

• In Event: Punishment, Place, and the Policing of Marginality

Abstract

US cities have long embraced spatial removal to manage the visibility of homelessness. Although literature demonstrates the harmful health, material, and civil rights impacts of these tactics, their underlying determinants remain less clear. Prior research attests that such strategies reflect financial pressures of urban renewal. Yet studies often exclude vehicle dwellings and focus on formal sanctions in residential districts. They also fail to consider the prevalence of homelessness, which may moderate police contact. Addressing such gaps, this study leverages data on encampment clearances and vehicle impoundments to interrogate the relationship between contemporary removal practices and neighborhood change in Seattle, WA. This paper uses tax assessments to evaluate residential and industrial zones, as well as street outreach data to account for visible homelessness. Spatiotemporal models suggest that increases in neighborhood property value positively predict sweeps and impoundments, even after controlling for homelessness prevalence and complaints. Both interventions also correlate with crime, while vehicle removals seem further associated with lower population densities. These findings extend prior theory on urban social control, suggesting that law enforcement interventions may disproportionately target neighborhoods experiencing economic expansion. Clarifying these mechanisms will help communities more effectively address processes that criminalize homelessness, perpetuate injustice, and reinforce inequality.

Author

• Brandon Morande, University of Washington