This week, I decided to read through some of the sources I found last week in my research. For some readings, I found that there were other articles in the same issue with similar topics to look at later. I also started looking up some of the sources cited throughout the various readings. For example, in Tony Spark’s “Reproducing Disorder” I found a majority of his argument surrounds information from a survey conducted by the San Francisco Coalition of Homelessness. While I have not searched or attempted to access this document yet, I looked at some of the directly relevant sources found in the paper’s bibliography such as: “Punishing the poorest: How San Francisco’s Criminalization of Homelessness Perpetuates Poverty,” “San Francisco has Failed its more Vulnerable,” and “Enforcing Laws, Changing Attitudes: Would Stronger Enforcement of Laws Against Street Camping and Petty Crime Reduce Homeless?” (published in the San Francisco Chronicle) among many more. The new sources I’m finding will help me find new angles that I can hopefully begin to consolidate into a larger essay structure.
In addition to the previously mentioned sources, I also found some broader non-SF specific sources such as: “The New Logics of Homeless Seclusion: Homeless Encampments in America’s West Coast Cities,” “California’s New Vagrancy Laws: The Growing Enactment and Enforcement of Anti-Homeless Laws in the Golden State,” and City of Quartz. These sources may not speak on San Francisco but do point to larger social structures that might guide my understanding of neoliberalism, gentrification, homelessness, and inequality. I see this divide in sources as a potential point of contention for the rest of my research project as it could draw on theory and generalizations too heavily and distract from my specific research interests. I am more interested in studying the events and structure of inequality in SF rather than academic discourses surrounding inequality generally.
Another useful thing that came from this article is that I’m finding other aspects of inequality in SF that I’m interested in but may not be necessarily or easily linked to my other sources. Despite this, I am very interested in how houseless people with mental health issues are impacted by policing in the city. Other terms and information that I need to look up include the “Matrix Program,” “Proposition Q,” quality of life ordinances in SF, cuts for budgers on mental health services, homeless shelters in SF, and fare evasions.
Lastly, there was a lot of relevant content that I found intriguing and would like to further investigate. One thing I found interesting was that many houseless people who have mental health issues are given the quality of life citations that can lead to warrants and arrest if not paid. I’m also interested in finding the need for resources by marginalized people vs what is actually available such as 153 psychiatric beds available to over 2000 potential users. I’m still very interested in how areas that were seen as ‘downtrodden’ like Western Addition, Civic Center, South od Market, and Mission had the most resources available to houseless people but were being more heavily policed, and resources were cut for revitalization efforts.
Next week, I think I will continue to do the same as this week but focus on details less and try to gather more information from more articles.