Power and perception: Homelessness and soft policies of enforcement in the Arcata community forest

This article examines Arcata residents’ attitudes toward homeless people in the Arcata Community Forest and what their perception of homelessness implies about the nature of public space. This article indicates that, although Arcata residents express concern for people considered to be “genuinely homeless,” many homeless living in Arcata are thought to have chosen their lifestyle, and therefore are looked down upon as an unwanted “other.” This sense of “other” in the community leads to a heightened sense of ownership and the sanitization of public spaces through the use of soft policies of enforcement. The conceptualization of the Arcata Community Forest as a prime space indicates that natural beauty can be consumed as a commodity and that public space is to be consumed by the right people, at the right time, in the right way, as determined by a community in power.