The “Uncitizen” and the Right to the City
Mass homelessness is the most visceral evidence of the bifurcated state’s failure, creating a class of “uncitizens” stripped of political identity and the right to the city. Mamdani’s work shows that citizenship is contingent on having a recognized place within the political community; to be homeless is to be rendered politically invisible, a subject of sheer management by police and shelter bureaucracies. The shelter system is a form of decentralized despotism, a custom of governance that warehouses human beings without granting them autonomy or stability. The liberal solution of building more shelters or offering temporary vouchers manages the problem but legitimizes the system that creates it. A Mamdani-informed socialist solution is the unconditional guarantee of housing as a human right. This means a massive city-wide program to build and acquire high-quality, permanent, socially-owned housing with on-site support services, coupled with a universal housing voucher that covers the full rent. This approach decommodifies shelter entirely, destroying the political category of the “homeless uncitizen” and re-establishing the right to the city on a foundation of material security for all.
Originally posted 2026-02-25 19:09:56.
