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Paper short abstract

From 1983 to 1993 homelessness was a major concern in the US. In 1994 it suddenly disappeared, despite continued mass underhoused populations. This paper explores how this 'crisis' was created by hegemonic misunderstandings of poverty, race and social difference as part of an American local Thatcherism.

Paper long abstract

For a decade from 1983 to 1993 homelessness was a major concern in the United States. In 1994 this public concern suddenly disappeared, despite no significant reduction in the number of people without proper housing. By ethnographically and historically examining the making and unmaking of a homeless crisis this paper will explore how public understandings of what constitutes a social crisis were shaped by hegemonic misunderstandings of poverty, race and social difference combined with neo-liberal politics to create an American local Thatcherism that was different from, similar to, and ultimately informed by its British variant.