This dissertation is an archaeological investigation of a late 20th century homeless encampment in Pelham Bay Park, New York City. This project examines the relationship between aspects of dwelling and the social status of homelessness within an iconic urban setting in the United States. In contemporary public discourse, the meaning of "homelessness" seems self-evident to most people as a condition defined by lack: a lack of permanence in general and of a permanent dwelling place in particular, a lack of personal possessions and personal relations, and most consequentially, a lack of political status. This research interrogates these assumptions by reading homelessness through the material record that people left behind, of what they did have when they inhabited spaces outside the sanctioned institutions for the "homeless," spaces where people intentionally dwelled and created their own structures of home. This project returns us to the most basic questions in the study of homelessness in the United States: what exactly is homelessness, what does it mean to be homeless, and how are people marked or recognized as homeless within our society? In order to answer these questions, this research explores how boundaries defining homelessness manifest and are articulated within our society.

The continued increase in homelessness in Portland, Oregon is in part a result of the systemic restructuring of the welfare state as well as a shift in local governance purviews. Primarily this has eradicated the affordable housing stock in the city which is compounded by the limited availability of emergency shelter spaces. These and other financial constraints have left a depleted service support system to cover a rising homelessness problem. In response to this, contemporary social movements have been focusing attention on economically marginalized groups such as the homeless, calling for rights to access resources in cities such as housing. This approach critiques the neoliberal policies that have bolstered entrepreneurial approaches to urban growth. Neoliberal policies result in a failure to maintain financial support for the well-being of the homeless and connected support services. This research examines one alternative to the traditional approach to sheltering the homeless. It focuses on a self-organized homeless tent city in downtown Portland, Right 2 Dream Too, which has become a critical resource in homeless emergency service provisioning. The rest site's success as an emergency service is primarily predicated on its geographic proximity to a nexus of social services in the Old Town neighborhood. Drawing on ethnographic work and archival data, I analyze the multiple spatialities of this self-managed site to better understand homeless individuals' experience with this place and other related spaces, as a means to understand its value as an emergency service for the homeless in Portland, and other cities with similar constraints. I argue this perspective is essential for mitigating homelessness in Portland and informing the decision-making surrounding its relocation.