Homelessness and the issue of freedom

Abstract

The condition of homelessness represents a fundamental deprivation of freedom as understood within liberal legal and moral philosophy. Because all human actions require a physical location, the rules of private and common property dictate where individuals are permitted to exist and act. In a system dominated by private property, those without homes are excluded from nearly all physical space, leaving them entirely dependent on common property—such as streets and parks—to perform basic life-sustaining functions. Legislative efforts to regulate public spaces by banning activities like sleeping, washing, or sitting effectively create a situation of comprehensive unfreedom for the homeless. Since these individuals possess no legal right to perform such actions on private land, prohibitions in the public sphere result in a total legal ban on their necessary biological activities. This restriction constitutes a violation of negative freedom, defined as the absence of forcible interference, as the state employs physical force to remove or penalize individuals for simply being or acting in the only spaces available to them. Consequently, homelessness is not merely a matter of material deprivation but a critical failure of liberal principles regarding the protection of individual liberty and agency. – AI-generated abstract.