Homelessness

Pictures of Me: user views on their representation in homelessness fundraising appeals

by Jon Dean

Co-authored with Beth Breeze.

There is a long-standing ethical debate regarding the ‘right’ representation of recipients in charity marketing... more There is a long-standing ethical debate regarding the ‘right’ representation of recipients in charity marketing materials that are intended to accurately define and represent social problems whilst also prompting the maximum response in voluntary income. The study presented in this article makes a contribution to that debate by highlighting the views of charity beneficiaries regarding their representation in fundraising campaigns. Drawing on data from five focus groups conducted in cities across England, we explore the views of young homeless people regarding the images of homelessness that appeared in major charity campaigns aimed at raising money to fund homelessness services. Participants displayed a high level of reflexivity, demonstrating that they understood the issues involved with homelessness and the perceptions of people like themselves that exist in the public sphere and in the consciousness of potential donors. Although the participants held the view that maximising revenues through the use of simple, eye-catching images is the prime goal of fundraising, they also expressed a desire for more nuanced campaigns that tell the dynamic stories of how people become homeless and the use of imagery that elicits empathy rather than merely arouses sympathy.

The Homelessness Partnering Strategy and Social Work Practice

by Derek Chechak

Recognising Homelessness in Public Space: Intolerance and Invisibility

by Tristan Ferguson

Published in: Parity, Vol. 24, No. 10.

The article presents several observational scripts from research conducted for an honours thesis into the... more The article presents several observational scripts from research conducted for an honours thesis into the rationalisation of public space. Specifically, it explores the ways homeless individuals are sanctioned within those spaces, but at the same time how they are experts of behavioural practices as a result of such sanctioning. They blend invisibly into the fabric of public areas, particularly when undertaking practices of shopping, sleeping and storage of goods.

Newsletter 2012

by Robert Silva

Northern California Social Services for Homelessness

Newsletter about experience according to law Newsletter about experience according to law

Newsletter 2012 first Quarter

by Robert Silva

Living with homelessness, Northern California living in shelters.

It is 2012 Newsletter first quarter. It is brief overview of my experience and how to understand the processes to not... more It is 2012 Newsletter first quarter. It is brief overview of my experience and how to understand the processes to not sleep in the part where the police harass you but BLM land is open for sleeping in America.

Neurobehavioural and cognitive function is linked to childhood trauma in homeless adults

by Graham Pluck

Hodgetts, D., Radley, A., Chamberlain, K., & Hodgetts, A. (2007). Health inequalities and homelessness: Considering material, spatial and relational dimensions. Journal of Health Psychology, 12, 709-725.

by Kerry Chamberlain

doi: 10.1177/1359105307080593

Hodgetts., D., Stolte, O., Radley, A., Leggatt-Cook, S., Groot, S. & Chamberlain, K. (2011). ‘Near and far’: Social distancing in domiciled characterizations of homeless people. Urban Studies, 48, 1739-1754.

by Kerry Chamberlain

DOI: 10.1177/0042098010377476

For domiciled individuals, homeless people provide a disturbing reminder that all is not right with the world.... more For domiciled individuals, homeless people provide a disturbing reminder that all is not right with the world. Reactions to seeing homeless people frequently encompass repulsion, discomfort, sympathy, and sometimes futility. This paper considers domiciled constructions of homeless people drawn from interviews with 16 participants recruited in the central business district of a New Zealand city. We document how, when trying to make sense of this complex social problem, domiciled people draw on shared characterizations of homeless people. We recover the concept of ‘social distance’ to interrogate the shifting and sometimes incongruous reactions evident in participant accounts. ‘Social distancing’ is conceptualized as a dynamic communal practice existing in interactions between human beings, and reflected in the ways that domiciled people talk about their experiences with homeless individuals.

Radley A, Chamberlain K, Hodgetts D, Stolte O, Groot S (2010). From means to occasion: Walking in the life of homeless people Visual Studies 25(1):36-45

by Kerry Chamberlain

DOI:10.1080/14725861003606845

This article discusses walking by homeless people, who were asked to take photographs of their everyday lives. These... more This article discusses walking by homeless people, who were asked to take photographs of their everyday lives. These individuals walked to take their pictures, and they used their photographs to explain the walking that homeless people do. Stories about photographs taken were used to explain the significance of different modes of walking, as means, as condition and as occasion. Rather than see walking as integral with a kind of method – or ready-made technique – the authors argue that whatever walking ‘is’ emerges in the course of producing (not just analysing) that experience. They suggest that walking tears at the fabric of symbols and voiced conventions to produce traces and dissonances that invite repair – repair through ‘storying’ the journeys made.

Hodgetts, D., Stolte, O., Chamberlain, K., Radley, A., Groot, S., & Nikora, L. (2010) The mobile hermit and the city: Considering links between places, objects, and identities in social psychological research on homelessness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 49, 285-303.

by Kerry Chamberlain

DOI: 10.1348/014466609X450465

This article explores aspects of a homeless man’s everyday life and his use of material objects to maintain a sense of... more This article explores aspects of a homeless man’s everyday life and his use of material objects to maintain a sense of place in the city. We are interested in the complex functions of walking, listening and reading as social practices central to how this man forges a life as a mobile hermit across physical and imagined locales. This highlights connections between physical place, use of material objects, imagination, and sense of self. Our analysis illustrates the value of paying attention to geographical locations and objects in social psychological research on homelessness.

Schneider, B., Chamberlain, K., & Hodgetts, D. (2010). Representations of homelessness in four Canadian newspapers: Regulation, control, and social order. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 37, 147-171.

by Kerry Chamberlain

This article reports on a content analysis of homelessness repre- sentations in four Canadian newspapers: two city... more This article reports on a content analysis of homelessness repre- sentations in four Canadian newspapers: two city broadsheets, one city tabloid, and one national newspaper. Clear differences between the papers emerged showing that in general coverage of homeless- ness in Calgary was much more positive than coverage in Vancou- ver, conveyed a stronger sense of crisis or urgency and a stronger sense of optimism that the problem should and can be solved. Ex- perts dominate public discourse about homelessness, with people who experience homelessness themselves marginalized as speakers. Despite these differences, the four papers present a unified narra- tive of homelessness in which readers are exhorted to be sympa- thetic to the plight of homeless people while at the same time, ‘they’ are presented as needing to be controlled and regulated in order to maintain social order. This narrative has implications for citizen- ship and social inclusion of people who experience homelessness.

Neuropsychological and cognitive performance of homeless adults

by Graham Pluck

Time perspective, depression, and substance misuse among the homeless

by Graham Pluck

Socio-spatial Exclusion, Community Reactions to Homelessness, India

by Malte Warburg Sørensen

This report examines the dynamics of how socio-spatial exclusion and how it plays out around homeless shelters in the... more This report examines the dynamics of how socio-spatial exclusion and how it plays out around homeless shelters in the Indian city of Hyderabad. Using the concept of NIMBY (Not-In-My-Back_Yard), the analysis reveals how exclusion is based on the construction of prejudices, how community opposition evolves, and how different stakeholders use a variety of strategies in order to make push their agenda forward. Finally, the report relates the findings from the analysis to broader societal issues in India, particularly the themes of governance and participation.

Terminal <2012>

by Joerg Potthast

in N. Marquardt & V. Schreiber (eds.)

Ortsregister: Ein Glossar zu Räumen der Gegenwart, Bielefeld: transcript.

Cortisol function among early school-aged homeless children

by J. J. Cutuli

Cortisol function among early school-aged homeless children

by J. J. Cutuli

Asthma and behavior in homeless 4-to 7-year-olds

by J. J. Cutuli

From Right to Denial- Homeless and the Privatization of Public Space in New York City

by Carla Betancourt

Stop and Go: A Field Study of Pedestrian Practice, Immobility and Urban Outreach Work

by Robin James Smith

Hall, T. and Smith, R.J. (2012) Stop and go: a field study of pedestrian practice, immobility and urban outreach work

Drawing on fieldwork observation of a team of street-level welfare bureaucrats, this article presents a pedestrian... more Drawing on fieldwork observation of a team of street-level welfare bureaucrats, this article presents a pedestrian case-study of routine footwork and slow progress in the making and maintaining of contact between outreach workers and the urban homeless. This material is used to highlight two aspects of modern-day mobilities that are perhaps under-examined and certainly worthy of attention. The first is urban pedestrianism, described here not as a means of transport – walking as a way of getting somewhere (else) – but as a nonetheless necessary practice, a job of work, or chore. The article also examines immobility – stopping – as an active accomplishment, something other than the absence or tethering of movement, and reciprocally linked to the pedestrian activity described. The politics of urban public space provide background and context.

Key words: pedestrian(s), walking, outreach, homelessness, regeneration