ABSTRACT
Homelessness is a complex, systemic problem with interlinked causes, frequently compounded by hostile political and social groupings that deem homeless people inferior and perpetuate their marginalisation. International development frameworks such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the New Urban Agenda often seek to prevent the dispossession and dislocation of homeless populations, using the concept of inclusion, and demanding that states eliminate legislation that criminalises homelessness and the homeless. Yet national and local policies aimed at ensuring inclusive public space actively exclude the homeless in the name of improving the quality of life of those who are desirable in public space. The chapter argues that international and national policies are rhetorical to local circumstances, since they are not aligned with the lived experiences of homeless people, thereby amplifying their marginalisation. It employs qualitative research methods to disrupt norms of inclusion applied in public space management by adopting a fluid understanding of belonging in public space. The chapter discusses the experience of a homeless group of people at Brixton Cemetery in the City of Johannesburg. It concludes that national policies render the meaning and implications of inclusion useless when they conform to international conventions without interrogating their applicability to the local context.
