http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/322520999

The politics of benevolence homeless policy in San Francisco

Faced with the highest per-capita rate of homelessness in the country, San Francisco has struggled to address its homeless problem for more than twenty years. Until recently, the city relied primarily upon criminalization tactics to manage the problem, issuing criminal citations for sleeping outside, loitering, panhandling, and other activities. In 2003, the newly elected mayor, Gavin Newsom, ushered in a new policy regime designed to "truly help" the City's homeless: converting cash assistance into concrete housing and services, phasing out troubled emergency shelters, and involving the community in large, city-coordinated volunteer initiatives. Using the case of San Francisco, my research examines this approach as an emerging paradigm in American poverty management, which I characterize as a shift from punitive neoliberal measures toward a liberal politics of benevolence.

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