- Ravenhill, Megan Honor. A Culture of Homelessness: An Ethnographic Study. Dissertation. London School of Economics. UMI 615614
- Davis, Ruth E. "Tapping into the Culture of Homelessness." Journal of Professional Nursing, Vol. 12, No. 3, 1996, pp. 176-83
- Phillips, Kaitlyn. Homelessness: Causes, Culture and Community Development as a Solution. Thesis. Salve Regina University. 2012
While those papers don't fully discuss the implications of homelessness as a culture, nor do they - as far as I can tell based on abstracts - argue that homelessness should be considered a cultural identity, I think it's important that the argument is recognized. Homeless persons communicate with each other differently than how they communicate with non-homeless persons. There is a segregationary aspect surrounding homeless persons where non-homeless persons are more likely to associate with each other rather than non-homeless persons and as such, community, relationships, shared experiences and a common shared identity arise. This is in part due to the nature of how class and social position work, however, government failings and policies have accelerated this to the point where the concept of homelessness as a cultural identity can no longer be ignored.
Speaking anecdotally, I had been on and off the streets for about 9 years. I have been enjoying my current apartment for over a year. But I still identify as homeless. It's part of my cultural identity and even still, despite being housed, part of my community. This isn't entirely unique to me. Efforts to "integrate" homeless persons into broader society result in many guest management issues as people try to maintain their communities in the face of disbursement. Some residents sleep on the floor in their own homes despite owning a bed because homelessness is ingrained in who they are. For many who had experienced some of the longest periods spent in the shelters or on the streets, almost every decision they make is influenced by the time they spent there. The oppression, segregation, human rights abuses, criminalization, and lack of adequate services we experience frames our worldview and what we feel we need to feel safe and secure.
Speaking anecdotally, I had been on and off the streets for about 9 years. I have been enjoying my current apartment for over a year. But I still identify as homeless. It's part of my cultural identity and even still, despite being housed, part of my community. This isn't entirely unique to me. Efforts to "integrate" homeless persons into broader society result in many guest management issues as people try to maintain their communities in the face of disbursement. Some residents sleep on the floor in their own homes despite owning a bed because homelessness is ingrained in who they are. For many who had experienced some of the longest periods spent in the shelters or on the streets, almost every decision they make is influenced by the time they spent there. The oppression, segregation, human rights abuses, criminalization, and lack of adequate services we experience frames our worldview and what we feel we need to feel safe and secure.
Of course there is intersectionalism. Homelessness isn't the only identity we can carry. Just like it's possible for someone to identify as both black and gay, or as a woman and trans, cultural identity within homelessness is intersectional and compounds on many other ways minorities are already marginalized. A person who is indigenous and homeless then find themselves assaulted by discrimination on two fronts: being indigenous and being homeless. They may face some discrimination for being indigenous without homeless discrimination, or vice-versa, but more often face discrimination for being both simultaneously.
So if "homelessness" is not simply a state of not having a home, but is an identity and culture, there are serious implications that go with this. Firstly, it means in Calgary we have a minority group of 3500 individuals with no human rights protections currently facing voter suppression, segregation, and criminalization. Homelessness needs to be included in Human Rights Legislation, as well a change in societal attitudes towards the homeless communities and culture. I stated in a classroom recently "Personally, I think it's wonderful that we're starting to accept than people can use the bathrooms that match their gender identity, but we're still arguing over whether homeless persons should use a bathroom at all!"
Secondly, and this is equally important but a harder pill for some people to swallow: current efforts to "end homelessness" is cultural genocide. Organizations are ignoring the concept of homeless persons having a unique identity and needs and forcing integration into the mainstream of society on them. Furthermore, housing efforts do not make any attempt to preserve homeless culture and preserve homeless communities and the relationships formed among those who lived on the streets. They make no efforts to guarantee services for people who identify as homeless exist in their communities. Because the standard for acceptable living and rules governing how must one behave in their own home are not created with homeless as identity in mind, it is also setting up homeless persons for failure to which they lose their housing. Strategies to "end homelessness" removes the right of self determination from homeless persons, self determination in how to obtain adequate housing and self determination to preserve their culture in their own home.
Furthermore, it displaces and breaks up communities, scattering homeless persons all over the city (or in some cases, ships them to another city or province), destroying the bonds, relationships, and social supports that create a feeling of comfort and security for the homeless community.
The right to cultural preservation doesn't have to conflict with the right to adequate housing. We do need a complete overhaul in how we address this. Firstly, recognition of homeless persons as a minority group is imperative. Furthermore, homeless persons need to be consulted as to our definition of adequate housing. Efforts must be made to ensure homeless communities and relationships are not broken up when housing the homeless and that services unique to the needs of homeless persons are available in the areas they are moved to. Also recognizing the right to self-determination means that homeless persons should not be forced to move or relocate anywhere if they feel their current situation is adequate without penalty and those who do opt to move into housing must have a say in where they move to without fear of penalty and must be allowed to decline offers if they feel housing offered does not meet their needs.
Cultural sensitivity must be written into tenancy law. Clearly we don't want fire hazards from overcrowded accommodations, but guest management is an issue with homeless persons because it's how we preserve our culture and maintain our relationships and communities, and must be taken into account when housing homeless persons.
If agencies and governments adopt a homelessness as culture approach to addressing the lack of adequate housing for homeless persons, we can save lives, save resources, preserve a culture, and create dynamic and vibrant communities, as well as ensure human rights and dignity for 3500 Calgarians, 10,000 Albertans, and almost 300,000 Canadians.
Secondly, and this is equally important but a harder pill for some people to swallow: current efforts to "end homelessness" is cultural genocide. Organizations are ignoring the concept of homeless persons having a unique identity and needs and forcing integration into the mainstream of society on them. Furthermore, housing efforts do not make any attempt to preserve homeless culture and preserve homeless communities and the relationships formed among those who lived on the streets. They make no efforts to guarantee services for people who identify as homeless exist in their communities. Because the standard for acceptable living and rules governing how must one behave in their own home are not created with homeless as identity in mind, it is also setting up homeless persons for failure to which they lose their housing. Strategies to "end homelessness" removes the right of self determination from homeless persons, self determination in how to obtain adequate housing and self determination to preserve their culture in their own home.
Furthermore, it displaces and breaks up communities, scattering homeless persons all over the city (or in some cases, ships them to another city or province), destroying the bonds, relationships, and social supports that create a feeling of comfort and security for the homeless community.
The right to cultural preservation doesn't have to conflict with the right to adequate housing. We do need a complete overhaul in how we address this. Firstly, recognition of homeless persons as a minority group is imperative. Furthermore, homeless persons need to be consulted as to our definition of adequate housing. Efforts must be made to ensure homeless communities and relationships are not broken up when housing the homeless and that services unique to the needs of homeless persons are available in the areas they are moved to. Also recognizing the right to self-determination means that homeless persons should not be forced to move or relocate anywhere if they feel their current situation is adequate without penalty and those who do opt to move into housing must have a say in where they move to without fear of penalty and must be allowed to decline offers if they feel housing offered does not meet their needs.
Cultural sensitivity must be written into tenancy law. Clearly we don't want fire hazards from overcrowded accommodations, but guest management is an issue with homeless persons because it's how we preserve our culture and maintain our relationships and communities, and must be taken into account when housing homeless persons.
If agencies and governments adopt a homelessness as culture approach to addressing the lack of adequate housing for homeless persons, we can save lives, save resources, preserve a culture, and create dynamic and vibrant communities, as well as ensure human rights and dignity for 3500 Calgarians, 10,000 Albertans, and almost 300,000 Canadians.
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