Dispossessed: A Critical Analysis of Resources and Barriers to Food Insecurity for the Unhoused

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 13: Food Access and Inequality

Abstract

Homelessness and food security are two pervasive and interconnected social problems in the United States. The people experiencing these hardships live daily lives that are significantly different than those who are housing and food secure. Life in the intersection of these issues poses a unique set of challenges. This paper reviews the current literature on the experience of eating and food insecurity for the unhoused. Bourdieu’s theory of social capital, social reproduction theory, and stigma theory are used to analyze the food security barriers and resources faced by the unhoused, as well as argue for a greater emphasis on the systemic factors within capitalism that influence homelessness and related food insecurity.

I argue that a critical examination of the relationship between food insecurity and homelessness should place structural violence by capital at the center, in contrast to the mainstream framework that focuses on the individual “failings” of those experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. A focus on the role of capitalism recognizes that it constricts the food access landscape for the unhoused: reducing their food choices, tying them to systems that do not fully meet their needs, and forcing them to sacrifice health or safety in order to eat. Recognizing the capitalist roots of U.S. food assistance programs and their shortcomings is critical to creating effective solutions. Hunger, especially for the unhoused, goes far past individual qualities like drug addition, laziness, or lack of education. Capitalist economic processes, such as wage labor and gentrification, enforce a select few food obtainment options (e.g., SNAP, food pantries/kitchens, and fast food and convenience stores in food deserts) to be presented to the unhoused that keep them dependent upon those sources–stigmatized in a way that upholds capital ideals of the wage laborer and consumer, and ensures the continuation of capital accumulation.

Author

• Tyler Despe, Illinois State University