Academic literature on the topic 'Homelessness – Northwest Territories'

Over the past three decades, homelessness has become an area of significant social concern in Alaska, the Canadian North, and most recently, Greenland. These three geographical contexts show both similarities and contrasts, but no effort has yet been made to review the research literature on homelessness from these three regions or to highlight key themes or gaps in current knowledge. We reviewed the literature in order to 1) understand the current state of knowledge of the dynamics of homelessness in Alaska, the Canadian North (here including Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut), and Greenland and 2) conceptualize a northern geography of homelessness. The research literature identifies common themes across these contexts, which include chronic housing insecurity, overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples among those living homeless, and the significance of gendered experiences of homelessness. It identifies key interconnections between hidden homelessness and visible homelessness as the dynamics of urbanization in northern towns and cities reveal the social consequences of chronic housing insecurity in settlements. Across these northern regions, the high rates of chronic homelessness reflect the prevalence of northern housing insecurity and the lack of both adequate, appropriate support for people experiencing mental health or addiction problems and supportive or public housing options. Strategies that aim to diversify housing stock at various critical points along the housing spectrum are needed in northern regions, an idea that is promoted by Housing First and transitional housing programs in Alaska and the Canadian North.

Urban Indigenous populations face significant health and social disparities across Canada. With high rates of homelessness and substance use, there are often few options for urban Indigenous Peoples to access land-based healing programs despite the increasingly known and appreciated benefits. In May 2018, the first urban land-based healing camp opened in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, one of the first to our knowledge in Canada or the United States. This camp may serve as a potential model for an Indigenous-led and Indigenous-based healing camp in an urban setting. We present preliminary outcome data from the healing camp in a setting with a high-risk population struggling with substance use and homelessness. Reflections are presented for challenging logistical and methodological considerations for applications elsewhere. This northern effort affords us ample opportunity for expanding the existing knowledge base for land- based healing applied to an urban Indigenous high-risk setting.

Homelessness is generally regarded as a recent phenomenon in the Northwest Territories (NWT). Since the late 1990s, emergency shelters in Yellowknife and Inuvik have reported a steady increase in use, representing a rise in absolute, or 'visible', homelessness. Significantly, the vast majority of homeless men and women in both communities are Aboriginal. In response to community-identified research needs, and through a desire to address gaps in the literature on northern homelessness, the primary aim of this doctoral research project is to understand how homelessness in the urbanizing regional centres of Inuvik and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, is produced and/or reproduced. My study includes data gathered in Inuvik and Yellowknife from 2007 to 2009. Drawing on 150 in-depth interviews, six focus groups, and over eight months of participant observation with homeless people, my dissertation brings together a conceptual framework grounded in theories of housing insecurity and homelessness, sociocultural upheaval, social exclusion, uneven development, and dependency with feminist research methods and a community-based approach to articulate a critical geography of northern homelessness. In my thesis, I address four specific research objectives. The first is to understand what factors comprise housing (in)security in a northern context and how they relate to northern homelessness. Through my analyses, I found that northern housing (in)security stems from a series of structural and individual factors that have challenged various elements of 'home'. These challenges result from sociocultural changes that have taken place in the Canadian North throughout the 20th century, such as: social and material exclusion; breakdowns in family and community; detachment from cultural connections; trauma; institutionalization and loss of independence; violence and gendered experiences of housing insecurity; economic insecurity; and, the emergence of chronic housing need. My second objective is to examine individual pathways to homelessness in order to better understand why certain individuals are vulnerable. My findings illustrate that among northern pathways to homelessness, there are common vulnerabilities present in seven key areas, demonstrating 'compounded disadvantage' as a concept of relevance in homeless peoples' lives. These key areas include: 1) education, training and employment; 2) work histories; 3) housing histories; 4) corrections histories; 5) child welfare system; 6) loss of social networks and dysfunctional relationships; and, 7) addictions and mental health. My third objective is to comprehend how policy and economic factors affect housing insecurity and homelessness in the Northwest Territories. I found that contemporary policy and practice for both public and private rental housing, combined with shifts in employment policy and practice, have significant impacts on the homelessness pathways of northern men and women. These policies and practices coalesce around the notion of 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor, casting certain characteristics and people as 'deviant'. I argue that the perception of dependency as a 'deviance' lies at the heart of much contemporary northern social policy. My fourth objective is to understand the role of rural-urban dynamics in pathways to homelessness in Yellowknife and Inuvik. My investigation revealed that homelessness in the northern urban centres of Yellowknife and Inuvik is rooted in factors that emerge through urban spaces as well as rural ones. These factors are shaped by colonial legacies and contemporary forms of government paternalism that are, at once, social and spatial. Four main themes framed the rural-urban movements of homeless research participants: 1) the draws of opportunity in larger centres; 2) core housing need in the settlements; 3) settlement-urban institutional flows; and 4) disintegrating social relationships in the settlements.
L'itinérance est généralement considérée comme un phénomène récent dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest (TNO). Avant les années 1990, les signes visibles d'itinérance dans les communautés des TNO étaient rares. Or, depuis la fin des années 1990, les hébergements d'urgence à Yellowknife et Inuvik ont signalé une augmentation constante de leur utilisation, correspondant à une croissance de l'itinérance absolue ou «visible». De façon significative, l'immense majorité des hommes et des femmes sans-abri dans ces deux communautés sont des Autochtones. Le principal objectif de ce projet de recherche doctoral est de comprendre comment l'itinérance dans les centres régionaux d'urbanisation d'Inuvik et de Yellowknife, TNO, est (re)produite.Mon étude comprend des données recueillies à Inuvik et à Yellowknife entre 2007 et 2009. S'appuyant sur cent cinquante entrevues, six groupes de discussion, et plus de huit mois d'observation participante avec des personnes sans-abri, ma thèse articule une géographie critique de l'itinérance dans le Nord à partir d'un cadre conceptuel fondé, d'une part, sur les théories de la précarité du logement et de l'itinérance, des bouleversements socioculturels, de l'exclusion sociale, du développement inégal et de la dépendance, et d'autre part, sur les méthodes de recherche féministe et une approche à base communautaire. Mon étude répond à quatre objectifs de recherche spécifiques. Le premier consiste à comprendre quels sont les facteurs de l'insécurité du logement dans un contexte nordique et comment ils se rapportent à l'itinérance dans le Nord. Mes analyses révèlent que l'insécurité du logement découle d'une série d'éléments structurels et individuels qui remettent en question les divers éléments du «chez soi». Ces défis résultent des changements socioculturels qui ont eu lieu dans le Nord canadien tout au long du vingtième siècle, tels que l'exclusion sociale et matérielle; les ruptures familiales et communautaires; l'effritement des liens culturels; le traumatisme; l'institutionnalisation et la perte de l'indépendance; la violence; l'insécurité économique; et le besoin de logement. Mon deuxième objectif est d'examiner les parcours individuels à l'itinérance afin de mieux comprendre pourquoi certaines personnes sont plus vulnérables que d'autres. Les résultats montrent que parmi les voies vers l'itinérance, il existe des vulnérabilités communes dans sept domaines clés: 1) l'éducation, la formation et l'emploi; 2) les antécédents de travail; 3) l'histoire personnelle relative au logement 4) les antécédents correctionnels; 5) le système de protection de la jeunesse; 6) l'effritement des réseaux sociaux et l'existence de relations dysfonctionnelles; 7) la toxicomanie et la santé mentale. Mon troisième objectif est de comprendre comment les facteurs politiques et économiques affectent l'insécurité du logement et l'itinérance dans les TNO. À ce sujet, je démontre que les politiques publiques et la pratique contemporaines relatives aux logements locatifs publics et privés, combinées à des changements dans les politiques et la pratique de l'emploi, avaient des impacts significatifs sur les trajectoires vers l'itinérance des hommes et des femmes dans le Nord. Mon quatrième objectif est de comprendre le rôle des régions rurales et urbaines dans la dynamique de l'itinérance à Yellowknife et à Inuvik. Mon enquête a révélé que l'itinérance dans les centres urbains nordiques de Yellowknife et d'Inuvik est enracinée dans des facteurs propres autant aux espaces urbains qu'aux zones rurales. Quatre thèmes principaux encadrent les mouvements ruraux-urbains des participants: 1) l'attrait des opportunités présentes dans les grands centres; 2) le manque de logement dans les zones rurales; 3) les flux institutionnels ruraux-urbains, et 4) la désintégration des relations sociales dans les communautés rurales.