Abstract
On June 17, 2019, after a prolonged period of community concern, the Portland City Council voted to relocate the city’s homeless shelter from the rapidly gentrifying Bayside neighborhood to a wooded area at the city limits. As municipal shelters continue to move away from metropolitan areas, the impact of NIMBY-ism on local and state policies related to homelessness cannot go unnoted. By analyzing publicly available testimony that occurred in the months after the decision to relocate, a variation of NIMBY-ism begins to emerge. This phenomenon, which could be referred to as “neo-NIMBY-ism” is characterized by individuals with lived experience of homelessness and advocates arguing that it is exclusionary policies, rather than homeless individuals, are not welcome in their proverbial backyards.
Keywords
homeless, homelessness, policy, NIMBY-ism, neo-NIMBY-ism
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Social Work
Presentation Type
Poster Session
Faculty Mentor
Reuben Addo, PhD, MSSA
Open Access?
1
Included in
Social Policy Commons, Social Welfare Commons, Social Work Commons
Understanding How NIMBY-ism Shapes Portland, Maine’s Homeless Policies: A Qualitative Study
On June 17, 2019, after a prolonged period of community concern, the Portland City Council voted to relocate the city’s homeless shelter from the rapidly gentrifying Bayside neighborhood to a wooded area at the city limits. As municipal shelters continue to move away from metropolitan areas, the impact of NIMBY-ism on local and state policies related to homelessness cannot go unnoted. By analyzing publicly available testimony that occurred in the months after the decision to relocate, a variation of NIMBY-ism begins to emerge. This phenomenon, which could be referred to as “neo-NIMBY-ism” is characterized by individuals with lived experience of homelessness and advocates arguing that it is exclusionary policies, rather than homeless individuals, are not welcome in their proverbial backyards.
