“…They’re Still Blaming It on the Person Being Lazy”: Stigma in the Lives of Precariously Housed and Unhoused People

Housing is increasingly a market exploited by corporations and what Samuel Stein calls the Real Estate State. Consequently, the state continues to target those impacted by these policy choices with removal and further stigmatization to clear the way for profit-making, which is tied to the housing market. The process of removal is accomplished through various forms of stigmatization and dehumanization, first at the public and institutional level. These stigmas then trickle down to intra-community and self-stigmatization. In all, these stigmas serve to justify and maintain the evolving status quo of homelessness and precarious housing, deflecting the blame of this “crisis” away from policymakers and the Real Estate State. Using 18 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with unhoused and precariously housed people, this paper explores the ways in which stigmatization appeared as a barrier to gaining long-term, sustainable housing in the Greater Bangor area of Maine.