The Social Construction of Homeless Shelters in the Phoenix Area

Homelessness became a salient social problem during the latter decades of the 20th century and major cities across the nation responded by increasing the number and capacity of shelters. This case study documents the response to homelessness in the Phoenix, Arizona urban area, using newspaper accounts to chronicle the public discourse that accompanied the expansion of services that occurred after 1982. It examines the effect of homeless stigmatization and exclusionary attitudes on the construction of a shelter system that concentrated services in the least desirable areas of the central city.