The invisibility of rural homelessness in a canadian context

Competing perspectives on rural homelessness: Findings from a qualitative study in Ontario, Canada

“…The small group of individuals known to police and community leaders were highly visible in the community but did not represent this range of individuals struggling with access to a suitable shelter. This is consistent with a growing body of literature demonstrating the most consistent feature of rural homelessness is its invisibility (Carpenter‐Song et al., 2016; Gibbons et al., 2019; Kauppi et al., 2017; MacDonald & Gaulin, 2019; Waegemakers Schiff et al., 2016; Yousey & Samudra, 2018). The lack of infrastructure in a rural setting, including shelters and warming centres, means many people facing homelessness rely on informal networks and strategies that hide them from public view.…”

“…The intersectional nature of stigma can worsen this experience, with negative attitudes that are particularly problematic if individuals have more than one stigmatising condition such as homelessness, mental illness, addiction, and low socioeconomic status (McGinty & Barry, 2020). This stigma translated into participants' perception that members of the community didn't care about them, consistent with the sense of rejection, shame, and isolation experienced by people experiencing homelessness in other rural settings (Carpenter-Song et al, 2016;MacDonald & Gaulin, 2019).…”

“…Within the small body of existing academic literature on rural homelessness in Canada, researchers have examined the phenomenon within specific geographic regions or among subpopulations, such as individuals with mental illness (Forchuk et al., 2010), Indigenous peoples (Peters & Robillard, 2013), youth (Karabanow et al., 2014) and residents of Quebec (MacDonald & Gaulin, 2019) and the northern territories (Christensen, 2012; Schmidt et al., 2015). Common findings from this research suggest that rural homelessness is frequently hidden; that a lack of social services, shelters, and public transportation create few options for managing rural housing insecurity; and that relocating between locations and from rural to urban centres is a common strategy to cope with homelessness.…”

“…Within the small body of existing academic literature on rural homelessness in Canada, researchers have examined the phenomenon within specific geographic regions or among subpopulations, such as individuals with mental illness (Forchuk et al, 2010), Indigenous peoples (Peters & Robillard, 2013), youth (Karabanow et al, 2014) and residents of Quebec (MacDonald & Gaulin, 2019) and the northern territories (Christensen, 2012;Schmidt et al, 2015).…”

Leveraging research to inform prevention and intervention efforts: Identifying risk and protective factors for rural and urban homeless families within transitional housing programs

“…In California, single‐headed households (typically led by mothers) with two to three children have seen a modest increase in family homelessness over the past decade (Institute for Social Research, 2017). Most research on family homelessness and interventions focus on concentrated urban areas (Biel et al, 2014; Shinn et al, 2015, see exceptions Brott et al, 2019; MacDonald & Gaulin, 2019). Comparing experiences across rural and urban transitional housing settings provides a deeper understanding of the differences and similarities in needs, resources, services and support for homeless families residing in rural areas compared to urban communities.…”