The “Homeless Problem” and the Double Consciousness*

The purpose of this article was to identify manifestations of a social discourse that construct those who are homeless as an existential problem. Based on 4 years of ethnographic data and grounded theory analysis, we illustrate the nature of exclusionary social practices that emerge from discourse on the homeless problem as well as the conflicting identities experienced by those who are homeless. Herein we frame the data using DuBois concept of double consciousness. Our findings indicate that those who are homeless mix together discourses of value and legitimacy with self-applied stigmas and self-denigrating political perspectives in ways that directly mirror DuBois notion of the conflicting nature of African and American identities around the end of the nineteenth century. We illustrate identity problems that manifest in the contemporary conflict between being both homeless and American.