Thesis
Do Washington state public policies foster social constructions of homelessness?
Washington State University
Master of Public Affairs (MPA), Washington State University
07/2018
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000000081
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/119293
Abstract
This study examined public policies and city ordinances in Washington State. In particular, this
study focused on identifying whether Washington State policies and City ordinances on housing
and homelessness fostered a construction of homeless individuals. Much of the academic literature
focuses on what causes homelessness and how homelessness affects specific types of homeless
populations, but it seems to exclude homelessness in the policy process and how policies construct
these definitions of homeless populations. A mixed method approach was used. An interview with
nine Washington state employees who work in the housing and homelessness field, and a content
analysis of 321 Washington State policies and 212 city ordinances, was conducted to better
understand the social constructions of homelessness that have been codified in policy. Blaming
perspective and systemic factors were used to identify whether a policy was constructing homeless
individuals positively or negatively. Within the State of Washington policies, 77% were passed in
favor of addressing the systemic factors that affect housing and homelessness. Within the city
ordinances, 72% of the policies were passed with intent to address the systemic factors. However,
only 11% of state laws perceive individual blaming perspective, while 52% of city ordinances proposed individual blaming perspective. According to the participant responses, economic
factors played the largest role as stressors to the housing field and homeless population. Further,
certain populations of homeless individuals see more preferential treatment than others as they are
seen more deserving and harder to judge.
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Details
- Title
- Do Washington state public policies foster social constructions of homelessness?
- Creators
- Adna Trnjanin
- Contributors
- SUSAN FINLEY (Degree Supervisor) - Washington State University, Teaching and Learning, Department ofPAUL THIERS (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, School ofLAURIE DRAPELA (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Criminal Justice and Criminology, Department of
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Public Affairs (MPA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 57
- Identifiers
- 99900591263401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis