The Sociospatial Exclusion of Homeless People

摘要

This book gives a thoughtful account of the impact of public policy on homeless people and their prospects of escaping homeless-ness. To assess the impact of government intervention on homelessness and attempts to overcome it, the author proposes a comparison of welfare policies, service provision, homeless people's life courses and exit chances in Berlin and Los Angeles. While both cities are often dubbed 'homeless capitals' on the basis that they have the largest homeless populations of their respective countries, only Los Angeles is a much studied example in scholarship on homelessness. Compared with the rich and still-growing body of work on homelessness in Los Angeles and in particular in its Skid Row district, geographical research on homelessness in Berlin (or in other German cities for that matter) is almost nonexistent.