La ville solidaire, au service de la ville revanchiste ? Vers une « invisibilisation bienveillante » du sans-abrisme à Portland (Oregon)

Abstract

Faced with the increase in homelessness in the United States, a multitude of measures have been put in place to deal with it, ranging from the multiplication of homelessness plans and spaces of care to the development of anti-homeless measures and the criminalization of precariousness. This article aims to understand how these registers of punitive and care interventions are combined and the significance of the rise in outreach practice in both policing and policies. Based on a fieldwork carried out in Portland (Oregon) in the United States, this article outlines how this rise in homelessness outreach practices is closely related to encampment cleanups and the invisibilization of homeless people through “compassionate eviction” from public space.

Keywords

• homelessness
• public space
• Portland
• inequality
• revanchism