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Reviewed by:
  • Derelict Paradise: Homelessness and Urban Development in Cleveland, Ohio
  • Fran Klodawsky
Daniel R. Kerr, Derelict Paradise: Homelessness and Urban Development in Cleveland, Ohio (Amherst and Boston: University of Massachusetts Press 2011)

The author ofDerelict Paradise, Daniel Kerr, begins his examination of the links between homelessness and urban development in Cleveland, Ohio by explaining why he decided to use historical and archival evidence: his interest was to shed light on the reasons that so many of the hundreds of unhoused persons that he had encountered over a seven-year period, beginning in 1996, were long-time Cleveland residents who had worked in a wide variety of jobs. His many conversations and formal interviews “radically changed my understanding of ‘homelessness.’ Rather than seeing the phenomenon as a condition faced by individuals without access to housing, I came to understand ‘homelessness’ as a set of institutionalized relationships that benefit some at the expense of others.” (3) Furthermore, “over and over again, my interviewees presented a fundamental paradox: homelessness is profitable.” (3)

From this starting point, Kerr’s goal in Derelict Paradise is to shed light on how homelessness became so entrenched in the city of Cleveland. The book is a rich compendium of stories, incidents and activities that highlight links among racism, poverty, power and urban development in ways that seldom resulted in good news for those with less privilege. Kerr argues for the benefits of engaging deeply with a local perspective. Only through this lens, he argues, is it possible to link structural change and everyday social relations.

Kerr details the manner in which, historically, two élite initiatives – the scientific charity movement and for-profit day labour services – operated in conjunction with one another to narrow the range of options for poor individuals who needed (and wanted) to work and have access to decent shelter. He couples this story with that of élite interest in transforming downtown Cleveland into a “playground for the wealthy” and how urban planning and redevelopment initiatives by local and state politicians tried to support this goal. Although not all of these élites were self-serving, those that were not tended to find their progressive efforts undercut by their more ruthless peers. Moreover, he notes that more recently, the marginalization of those with a criminal record has forced such individuals to accept the most marginal of jobs and shelter options in ways that closely parallel earlier interactions between élites and those who are marginalized.

Kerr has organized his examination historically as a series of “spotlights” on particular events and social interactions, with the greatest level of detail being given to the period before World War II. Each chapter’s title is meant to entice the interest of the reader. For example, [End Page 327] Chapter 1, “Employment Sharks and Spying Organizations,” examines the period between the late 1870s and the 1930s. He begins with a story of labour disputes centred on the railroads but the focus soon turns to how Cleveland business leaders “grew determined never again to leave their fate in the hands of even well-behaved workers … ‘a committee of prominent citizens’ announced the formation of the First City Troop and the Cleveland Gatling Gun Battery.” (14) Closely following the details of this initiative, he notes that “city business leaders turned their attention to revamping the ways the city provided aid to the poor” (15), and so introduced Cleveland’s engagement with the scientific charity movement. He further makes links between these activities and urban redevelopment: “City elites moved seam-lessly from their fixation on maintaining control of the lives of the unemployed and unhoused to their grander visions of resculpting the city’s landscape in a more orderly fashion.” (15) This overview is followed by a series of detailed vignettes drawing upon in-depth archival evidence. Thus, the reader learns about how the Charity Organization Society in Cleveland was formed, its proponents, its philosophy, and its links to other such organizations across the United States. Further details are also provided, including the names of the organizations that became involved and those that were shut down as a result of an inability to successfully provide an alternative to this orientation to welfare...

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