Oxford Academic

Oxford Academic

English

Homelessness is viscerally experienced at the local level. Local governments play a crucial role in shaping factors that affect homelessness, like housing development and police behavior, yet direct responses to homelessness exist largely outside of local government. Why would this be? Using novel quantitative data along with in-depth qualitative evidence from three divergent cases, Charley Willison identifies four influential actors in homelessness response and explains how this history of devolution, combined with a lack of coordination among powerful players, contributed to homelessness policy responses coming up short.