2008 Woodie Awards
Reduction of homelessness in Tacoma becomes work of UPS faculty, students assist in research
Darin Leedy
Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: News
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Professors Richard Anderson-Connolly, Carolyn Weisz and Renee Houston of UPS, along with several students, are helping with research in a project aimed at developing local policy measures to reduce homelessness in Pierce County.
Their research is part of the university's Civic Scholarship Initiative, which partners university faculty with community members in projects to improve the community. They are assisting the Road Home Leadership Team and the Department of Community Services with research. The local action began in the state legislature, which has mandated a 50 percent reduction in homelessness in the next ten years.
The researchers recently finished the first phase of their study, which used focus groups, interviews and surveys of affected peoples to gain an understanding of homelessness in the area and how the community perceives it. Houston testified Thursday in Olympia to the House of Representatives' Housing Committee with the group's findings.
One of the biggest problems, according to Houston, is that the community in general has many misperceptions and negative feelings about the homeless.
"Distancing ourselves from people who are poor and not like us perpetuates poverty," she said. "There is a crisis of public perceptions. People are not sympathetic about addressing the issue."
According to one of the researchers, junior Sonia Ivancic, she and junior Carrie Clark, another student who looked at media portrayals of homelessness, found that the News Tribune reports about the homeless mainly in a negative light.
"We ended up finding that the majority of articles on homelessness were about them being sex offenders, criminals, victims of crime and a detriment to society," she said. "They are presented as people who deplete the county's resources, and contaminate parks and neighborhoods. This becomes problematic if we take into consideration the fact that people base their opinions and actions off of what they see and read."
Their research is part of the university's Civic Scholarship Initiative, which partners university faculty with community members in projects to improve the community. They are assisting the Road Home Leadership Team and the Department of Community Services with research. The local action began in the state legislature, which has mandated a 50 percent reduction in homelessness in the next ten years.
The researchers recently finished the first phase of their study, which used focus groups, interviews and surveys of affected peoples to gain an understanding of homelessness in the area and how the community perceives it. Houston testified Thursday in Olympia to the House of Representatives' Housing Committee with the group's findings.
One of the biggest problems, according to Houston, is that the community in general has many misperceptions and negative feelings about the homeless.
"Distancing ourselves from people who are poor and not like us perpetuates poverty," she said. "There is a crisis of public perceptions. People are not sympathetic about addressing the issue."
According to one of the researchers, junior Sonia Ivancic, she and junior Carrie Clark, another student who looked at media portrayals of homelessness, found that the News Tribune reports about the homeless mainly in a negative light.
"We ended up finding that the majority of articles on homelessness were about them being sex offenders, criminals, victims of crime and a detriment to society," she said. "They are presented as people who deplete the county's resources, and contaminate parks and neighborhoods. This becomes problematic if we take into consideration the fact that people base their opinions and actions off of what they see and read."
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