Homelessness and social work: an intersectional approach

167 Pages·2017·10.041 MB·English

by  Zufferey, Carole

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Homelessness and Social Work

Drawing on intersectional theorising, Homelessness and Social Work
highlights the diversities and complexities of homelessness and social work
research, policy and practice. It invites social work students, practitioners,
policy makers and academics to re- examine the subject by exploring how
homelessness and social work are constituted through intersecting and
unequal power relations.
The causes of homelessness are frequently associated with individualist
explanations, without examining the broader political and intersecting
social inequalities that shape how social problems such as homelessness are
constructed and responded to by social workers. In reflecting on factors such
as Indigeneity, race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, sexuality, ability and other
markers of identity the author seeks to:
• construct a new intersectional framework for understanding social work
and homelessness;
• provide a critical analysis of social work responses to homelessness;
• challenge how homelessness is represented in social work research, social
policy and social work practice; and
• incorporate the stories of people experiencing homelessness.
The book will be of interest to undergraduate and higher research degree
students in the fields of intersectionality, homelessness, sociology, public
policy and social work.
Carole Zufferey is a senior lecturer at the School of Psychology, Social Work
and Social Policy, University of South Australia. She has a social work back-
ground. Prior to entering academia, she practised in the fields of community
welfare, child protection and youth justice in remote Western Australia; aged
care and disability in London, UK; and mental health and homelessness in
Adelaide, South Australia. She has published numerous journal articles and
book chapters on social work, homelessness and intersectionality. Her recent
research projects include exploring lived experiences of and diverse perspec-
tives on home and homelessness, and the impact of domestic violence on
women’s citizenship, including on their mental health, housing, employment
and social participation.
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Homelessness and Social Work
An intersectional approach
Carole Zufferey
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Homelessness and Social Work

An intersectional approach
Carole Zufferey
iivv
First published 2017
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Carole Zufferey
The right of Carole Zufferey to be identified as author of this work has been

asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
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to infringe.
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Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
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ISBN: 978- 1- 138- 85877- 0 (hbk)
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Typeset in Times New Roman
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Contents

Acknowledgements vi

1 Introduction 1

2 Homelessness and social work: an intersectional approach 13

3 Social work research and homelessness 40

4 Social policy and homelessness 67

5 Social work practice and homelessness 96

6 Lived experiences of homelessness 120

7 Conclusion 146

Index 155
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Acknowledgements

This book draws on different research projects that I have completed dating
back to 2001. Thank you to all the research participants involved in these
projects. This includes people who experienced homelessness, social workers
and community informants who were interviewed for the various studies
referred to in this book.
Thank you to Routledge for their interest in this work and the University
of South Australia for their support to complete this book.
Many people have contributed to this book. First, I would like to thank Dr
Christopher Horsell, for his ongoing commentary on the development of the
book, for contributing a reflexive case study for Chapter 5 and his ongoing
support in life.
As well, many thanks to Dr Margaret Rowntree for her editorial and con-
ceptual support, her contribution to the book synopsis and her insightful
feedback on the content, structure and writing of this book.
I would like to thank Professor Donna Chung, who supervised me in my
MSW and PhD research studies, for her ongoing support and mentorship
over the last 15 years. Our inspiring conversations have helped to shape my
thinking about gender, domestic violence, homelessness, social work and
intersectionality.
Finally, I would like to thank Associate Professor Adrian Vicary for his
insights on academic scholarship during the writing of my PhD thesis.
Thanks also to my colleagues, Dr Nilan Yu and Dr Shepard Masocha, for
our ongoing conversations about the complexities of writing and thinking
about race and racism, that helped me think beyond gendered relations and
homelessness.
I dedicate this book to my son Andre.
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1 Introduction

Homelessness is a topical issue generating substantial attention in Western
countries. While there is considerable research on the subject, little has
been written on intersectional social work approaches to homelessness.
Homelessness is complex and diverse because it intersects with other social
issues (such as gendered violence), and with multiple social markers that
include gender, class, race, sexuality and ability. As well, understandings of
both homelessness and social work are contested, and vary according to
different countries and organisational contexts. Complicating matters further,
both service users and providers are constituted by the complex interplay of
these multiple social locations.
This book is the first to promote an intersectional approach for social
workers addressing homelessness. It builds upon my recent chapters in edited
books on feminist research and practice in social work (see Wahab et al.,
2015; Wendt and Moulding, 2016). I use a critical and social construction-
ist epistemology, to explore how homelessness and social work are consti-
tuted through intersecting and unequal power relations. Following the work
of social work scholars Hulko (2015) and Murphy et al. (2009), I advocate
for adopting an intersectional approach that incorporates reflections on both
oppression and privilege. This project is not situated exclusively within a par-
ticular school of thought, such as a structural or post- structural feminism.
My intersectional approach in this book combines and draws on both critical/
structural and post- structural ideas and theoretical perspectives. I argue that
engaging with both structural and post- structural thought enables a more
comprehensive and complex analysis of the topic of homelessness. It is this
multi- faceted analysis that can then assist social workers to attend to the diver-
sities of homelessness, and to advocate for ‘the homeless’ using new knowl-
edge, research methods and practices. I also draw on Winker and Degele’s
(2011) conceptualisation of intersectionality that highlights the intersection
of social structures, institutionalised organisational practices, multiple identi-
ties, cultural symbols and discursive representations of social problems. My
intersectional social work approach has been developed through researching
the perspectives of people from diverse social locations who experience home-
lessness, and of social workers who work with them, linking their subjective
22
2 Introduction
experiences (the micro), with social structures and institutionalised practices
(the mezzo and the macro).
My argument in this book is that intersectionality provides a new way
of understanding homelessness and social work research, social policy and
social work practice. I examine how homelessness is constituted through
unequal and intersecting power relations in social processes and social iden-
tity categorisations (or social locations), related to Indigeneity, race, eth-
nicity, gender, class, age, sexuality, ability and other markers of identity.
I also explore how social work and responses to homelessness are consti-
tuted, by reflecting on social workers’ own positions of power and often
invisible privileges (and oppressions). The social locations of social workers
can relate to white race privilege, class, ability, being employed, educated or
other markers of privileged identities, as well as unequal power relations
in client– worker relationships and social work processes. Therefore, in this
book I highlight the intersecting diversities and complexities of homeless-
ness and social work research, policy and practice, by proposing an intersec-
tional social work approach.
The complexities of intersectionality

The scope of intersectionality is contested and debated. Intersectional
theorists have particularly drawn upon structuralist approaches to identity (or
subjectivity) ‘as informed by various systems of oppression relating to race,
class, gender and sexuality’ (McKibbin et al., 2015, p. 99). Intersectionality
is a study of intersections between different systems of discrimination and
a way of thinking about multiple identities and interconnected oppressions/
privileges in both men and women’s lives (Crenshaw, 1991; Mehrotra, 2010;
Hulko, 2015). This approach highlights multi- dimensional intersections
related to for example, gender, sexuality, race/s kin colour, ethnicity, nation/
state, class, culture, ability, age, sedentariness, origin, wealth, religion,
geographical locations and social development (Lutz et  al., 2011).
However, there is slippage ‘between structuralist and post-s tructuralist
ontologies’ in intersectional literature, causing some confusion about ‘the
relationship between post- structuralist feminism, postcolonial feminism and
intersectionality’ (McKibbin et al., 2015, p. 100). Social work and feminist
scholars such as Murphy et al. (2009) and McKibbin et al. (2015) take different
epistemological positions towards intersectionality. Unlike Murphy et al.’s
(2009) more structuralist approach, McKibbin et al. (2015, p. 101) argue for a
post- structural orientation to intersectionality as a ‘discourse’. They argue that
post- structural feminist orientations open up more possibilities for analyses
of social problems, including men’s violence against women. However, in
this book, I argue that both theoretical perspectives can contribute to social
work approaches to homelessness, depending on the purpose of the political
project. These contestations, including Lykke’s (2010) ‘post- constructionist’
theorising of intersectionality, are further discussed in the next chapter.
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Introduction 3
Whilst acknowledging the critiques of intersectionality as providing a
‘handy catchall phrase’ (Phoenix and Pattynama, 2006, p. 187), I argue
that an intersectional approach can contribute to new ways of reflecting
on homelessness and social work. Intersectionality is useful for analysing
the various ways in which different social divisions and power relations are
enmeshed and constructed. It allows for a more complex, fluid, multilayered
analysis of diverse social identities (or subjectivities) and social locations,
and for a more thorough reflexive exploration of how social processes and
relationships intersect and continue to uphold social inequalities (Damant
et al., 2008; Lykke, 2010). Intersectionality can provide a new social work
approach that makes visible the ‘multiple positioning that constitutes eve-
ryday life and the power relations’ (Phoenix and Pattynama, 2006, p. 187),
and contributes to shaping the complexities of social work and homeless-
ness. It can also be a powerful tool for social workers to examine their own
privileges (and oppressions).
Similar to Hulko’s (2009, p. 52) vision for intersectionality, my hope for this
book is that it will help social workers and social work students ‘appreciate
that they can be both oppressors and the oppressed at the same time’. For
example, we can be aware of our ‘marginal social status’ (such as Aboriginal
ancestry or ethno- cultural background), yet not have considered our ‘social-
class position’ (Hulko, 2009, p. 52). However, it is also important to note that
some intersectional oppressions/ privileges can change over time and in differ-
ent social contexts. Thus, we cannot homogenise the ways political projects
affect different people (Yuval Davis, 2006; 2012). In regards to homelessness,
this approach would involve not sliding into essentialism, such as pointing
out the characteristics of ‘the homeless’, and reductionism, such as arguing
that there is one cause of homelessness.
In this book, I aim to rethink how the ‘problem’ of homelessness is under-
stood and addressed by social workers. I am not arguing that social work
is the only discipline that has a claim to the issue, as many different profes-
sions are involved in responding to homelessness. However, this book draws
on my own research and expertise, which is in the field of social work and
homelessness. I come to this work with experience as a social work practi-
tioner in multi-d isciplinary and multi-c ultural teams in Australia and the UK
that included responding to the diversity of homelessness and other social
issues, such as the wellbeing and protection of children, disability, ageing and
mental health. For over 15 years I have been researching homelessness and
social work, particularly in the Australian context. More recently, I have been
engaged in exploring the relevance of intersectionality to social work and
homelessness (Zufferey, 2009; 2015; 2016b).
There is one book on intersectionality and social work (Murphy et al.,
2009) but no previous books have combined a focus on intersectionality,
social work and homelessness. The assumptions that underpin intersectional-
ity are consistent with those of social work, as they are about social change,
building coalitions and working to upholding social justice and human rights.