Homeless in Las Vegas

Stories from the Street

Kurt Borchard

• Verlag: University of Nevada Press
• Jahr: 2011
• ISBN:
  9780874178395
• Thema: Sciences sociales
• Thema: Sociologie

The homeless men and women represented in this book speak candidly about their plight, its origins, and the many obstacles to escaping it. They discuss the unique challenges and opportunities that Las Vegas's focus on tourism, indulgence, and diversion offers its homeless residents. This compelling and emotionally charged ethnography counters many of the stereotypes of homeless men and women, revealing the remarkable diversity of their circumstances. It also offers their perspectives on social services and civic attitudes toward homelessness.

Index

abeyance theory, 91, 148–49

abstinence-only alcohol interventions, 95–96

African Americans: homeless men (see homeless African American men); homeless women, 85–86; issues of opportunity and inequality, 53–54; social support and, 54

Albuquerque (N.Mex.), 214, 215

alcohol: homeless people and, 42–43, 55; Kevin’s story, 65, 68, 70; Las Vegas and, 95

alcoholism: Alaska’s story, 86–94; Bruce’s story, 75–85, 86, 87; interventions for the homeless, 55, 88, 91, 95–96

American Civil Liberties Union, 218

American Dream, 20, 21

“amnesty,” 137–38

anti-narratives, 20–21

Aryan Brotherhood, 62, 72

Assertive Community Treatment program, 88

Ayres, Nathaniel, 103

Barr, Murray, 96

bartering, 175

Beeson, Ty, 4

boosting. See shoplifting

Bowling Alone (Putnam & Feldstein), 200

Bryson, E. Brent, 218

Bubeck, Zachary, 6–7

Bumfights (video), 4–7, 100

“bums,” 28

bureaucracy: “iron cage” of, 135

bus passes, 158

Cambridge Community Center, 175

camps. see homeless camps and communities

Canada, Geoffrey, 54

Cashman Center, 138

Catholic Charities, 138–39, 147

cell phones, 188, 189

charities: approaches to homelessness, 3–4; principle of “less eligibility” and, 27, 81; principle of residual social welfare and, 25; views of the homeless on, 116, 117, 119

child molesters, 72–73

cigarettes, 160, 193

Circle Park. See Huntridge Circle Park

clothing, 45–46, 174, 175

College Park Baptist Church, 140

community health programs, 112

community mental health systems, 101, 102, 120

computers, 11, 12, 173

Continuum of Care (CoC), 78, 88, 119

crack cocaine, 83, 97, 98

Davidson, Larry, 101

Davis, Angela, 167

day labor, 58–59, 142–43, 155. See also employment

day labor halls, 142–43

deinstitutionalization movement, 101, 118

distraction, 20–21

Dos Passos, John, 10

Downtown Transportation Center, 34–35, 70

drug addicts: Bruce’s comments on, 77–78, 79, 83; crack cocaine, 83, 97, 98; Gary’s story, 121–35; harm reduction treatment, 136; in homeless camps, 77–78; i...