Policymakers’ fears of an increased concentration of marginalised and disadvantaged groups in already vulnerable urban neighbourhoods have prompted recent measures to combat the spatial concentration of human service facilities. In many cities, distributive siting policies have aimed to achieve a more equal distribution of homelessness facilities across areas. This article provides a critical assessment of the ‘fair share’ criteria that are in use in Dutch siting policies. It brings to the surface the normative and political nature of these criteria that often remains implicit in such policies. The research shows that policy is dominated by discourse focusing on the potentially negative effects these facilities may have on surrounding neighbourhoods in terms of safety and security. As a consequence, the perspective of homeless people is in danger of being overlooked by policymakers, risking a reduced accessibility to service facilities. This article develops an analytical framework that can be used to study fair share siting policies, and provides policymakers with guidelines for assessing where services should be located.