Do Criminalization Policies Impact Local Homelessness? Exploring the Limits and Concerns of Socially Constructed Deviancy

Abstract

Local criminalization policies levy costs on individuals who engage in behaviors that are constructed as socially deviant. Although these ordinances present social equity concerns in both the policy design and implementation processes, municipal actors use a deterrence rationality to justify their passage. To delve deeper into this logic, this article focuses on a sub-set of criminalization policies – anti-homeless ordinances – and utilizes a difference-in-difference model to identify if passing an ordinance criminalizing behaviors closely related to homelessness produces a subsequent decrease in homelessness within a community. Contrary to the deterrence logic, the results indicate that local anti-homeless ordinances cannot be relied upon to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness. To explain the continued passage of these ordinances, the authors argue that socially constructed criminality shapes both the policy design and implementation functions of the administrative state as well as the assessment and evaluation functions.

Keywords: public policy, homeless, local government, social equity, social construction

JEL Classification: H75, R10