From NIMBY to Neighbour
Brokering a dialogue about homelessness among people experiencing homelessness, law enforcement, and the community
The purpose of the From NIMBY to Neighbour study is to interrogate perceptions about people experiencing homelessness as inherently deviant and dangerous, and build a new narrative premised on knowledge sharing and enhancing community resiliency.
With approximately 35,000 people experiencing homelessness each night (Gaetz et al., 2016) homelessness is a growing crisis effecting communities across Canada. However, there are unique challenges in mid-sized cities, where the visibility of homelessness is often a relatively new phenomenon, and the demand by community members to 'do something' comes up against the rights and needs of people experiencing homelessness. Too often police are called to manage the optics of homelessness, particularly in commercial areas. These interventions lead to what are at best band-aid solutions to systemic problems. At worst, they criminalize and further marginalize people experiencing homelessness.
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the pre-existing inequity between people who are homeless and the communities they live in. More people are at risk of experiencing homelessness, fewer housed people are circulating within urban centres while people who are homeless have lost access to drop-in spaces, and more visible encampments exist as a result of significantly reduced capacity in shelters and outbreaks within shelters. All of this has resulted in come cases greater tension in communities regarding people who are homeless, but it also acts as an opportunity to change the narrative on homelessness as the structural and systemic problems people who are homeless face becomes clear to the community, and more people who were once comfortable housed experience precarious housing themselves.
From Roots to Home
This tree depicts the root causes of homelessness and the effort to becoming housed. It is a maple tree, one that provides so much joy and bounty in its beauty, shade, and sap. The sweetness of the tree is on its inside. The tree has so much to offer and is valuable just by the nature of what it is. So too are all people worthy and important simply by being who they are.
The tree is divided in two. One side shows what can happen if people are provided with the care, support, and community they need to become stably housed. There is colour and brightness in the lives of people who have the opportunity to find and maintain housing. The other side is a decaying tree and represents what happens when people are not given the tools and resources to flourish. The world is darker and it is difficult to find hope beyond daily survival.
The story of homelessness begins at the roots of the tree – the foundation for the journey to come. For many people who are homeless their lives are rooted in oppression and marginalization. Experiences of generational poverty, discrimination based on gender, race, ability, or sexuality, mental health challenges, relationship breakdown and intimate partner violence, and childhood trauma are some of roots that can lead to homelessness. For Indigenous Peoples, colonization, represented here by dry land, does not provide the nourishing environment to live, grow, and thrive. These root causes are not individual failings. They come from social inequities and a lack of social support to ensure everyone is safely housed.
The tree trunk has dents and chips as people struggle to survive, making clear that the experience of homelessness itself is damaging. But still, the bark of the tree remains strong. People who have been on this journey have had to build up intense resiliency to withstand all that has come their way – criminalization, stigma, disappointment, and loss.
The path to becoming housed is not linear. The twisted, chipped ladder helps us see that the way forward for people who are homeless is long and challenging and requires a great deal of strength as people navigate complicated systems and services. There are tears, hardship, and bad days along the way. But as people make their way up the ladder, the colours, and their lives, become brighter and more vivid.
To get to the top of the tree requires support. The vines that hold the tree up are the resources people need for people to carry on in their journey. This includes community care, mental health and substance use supports, housing supports, income assistance, and feeling a sense of belonging and inclusion in their lives.
The ultimate goal is for people to find a home. Not simply a house or a unit, but somewhere where they feel welcome and safe. The treehouse is a symbol for the many different shapes home can take; the important part is that people have a roof over the head and can find rest, peace, and comfort every day. The bird sings a joyful tune – there is so much happiness to be found within the home. The green door welcomes someone in and is a reminder of the strength and resiliency it took to get here. As the journey to remain stably housed continues, the sun provides the light and energy to take on each day and the moon reminds us that there are cycles to life and we will pass through many phases throughout our lives. The rose on the windowsill symbolizes that even once housed life can still be thorny from time to time, but life is beautiful. The branches and leaves on the tree shade and protect the treehouse. They are the ongoing support and community that we all need to stay securely, safely, and permanently housed.
Fostering Inclusive Community Responses to Homelessness Workshop
The Centre for Resarch on Security Pratices and the NIMBY to Neighbour research team hosted a workshop on September 29th, 2022 supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. This workshop was designed to address the challenges facing mid-sized cities and was guided by the following objectives:
- Sharing scholarly analyses of issues concerning homelessness in mid-sized cities with respect to enhancing community building and social inclusion.
- Identifying research gaps and developing a national research network of scholars in the field of homelessness, mid-sized communities, and community building.
- Sharing learnings from the workshop with key stakeholders and the public.
Resources from the workshop can be found below. Note that additional outputs stemming from the workshop will be added to this site as they are completed.
For the full program, please click the image below.
For full pdf versions of each resource, please click the images.
Nick Blomley, Ph.D. - Self Dispossession in Action
Kathy Dobson, Ph.D. - Making Connections: How Advocates Can Get - and Keep - The Media's Attention On What Matters Most to Them
Jeff Karabanow, Ph.D. - You Are Pretty Much On Your Own... The Two Disasters of Homelessness and the Pandemic
Jamie Livingston, Ph.D. - Civilian Mental Health Mobile Crisis Services
Carrie Anne Marshall, Ph.D., OT Reg. (Ont) - Co-design as a Key Strategy for Responding to Homelessness in Mid-Sized Cities: The Transition from Homelessness Study
Sahar Raza - Shift Hearts and Minds: Communicating Across the Political Spectrum
Laurence Roy, Ph.D. - Collaborative Responses to Homelessness: Insights from the Literature and from Mid-Sized Quebec Communities
Kaitlin Schwan, Ph.D. - A Rights-Based Approach to Encampments: What does it mean?
Stephanie Vasko - The COH's Layered Approach to Communications
Julia Woodhall Melnik, Ph.D. - The Right to the City: Who is housing for?
Below are a series of additional resources useful for mid-sized communities provided by presenters for workshop attendees.
Allyship in Research Toolkit - Developed by the Kelowna Homelessness Research Collaborative
Decampment Report Card - Developed by the Osgoode EJS Clinic, Pivot Legal Society, The Shift, and housing rights advocates
A National Protocol for Homeless Encampments in Canada: A Human Rights Approach - Protocol developed by UN Special Rappoprteur on the Right to Housing, Leilani Farha and lead researcher Kaitlin Schwan
Homeless Encampments & Your Human Rights - Handout developed by The Shift
Transition from Homelessness Project: Kingston Site Report - Provided by presenter Carrie Anne Marshall
Transition from Homelessness Project: London Site Report - Provided by presenter Carrie Anne Marshall
For full pdf versions of each resource, please click the images.
Collaborative Responses to Homelessness: A How-To Guide Handout
Challenging Eviction: Judicial Review in Ontario Handout
Five Communication Strategies for Advocates Working to End Homelessness
