Providing for the diverse needs of the unhoused population is generally believed to be a governmental responsibility, but recent research suggests that some disparities can be ameliorated by businesses. This project seeks to investigate how businesses’ policy decisions can impact social capital development and maintenance among the unhoused, and how such choices impact the greater community. MAXQDA analysis of an ongoing ethnography, which includes interviews with business stakeholders and passive observations in public spaces, highlights the diversity of homelessness management policies, underlying motivations, and their community impacts in downtown Eau Claire, Wisconsin. How interviewees spoke about business practices regarding unhoused individuals demonstrates a balance between two conflicting desires: altruism and individualism. Business stakeholders expressed similar beliefs regarding the business mindset, which is based in concern that excessive altruism poses a threat to a business’s success. However, the different proportions of altruism and individualism in businesses’ homelessness management policies have implications for social capital among the unhoused. Balanced policies may actually ease conflicts between the unhoused and business communities and, in conjunction with other existing public and nonprofit services in the area, improve life conditions for unhoused patrons through social capital development.
