Social exclusion is the restriction of participation in one’s community; it is the denial of access to rights, services, dignity and respect. Youth who are homeless experience social exclusion on numerous fronts, as they are marginal to the social, economic and civil worlds of Canadian society. This dissertation is a qualitative, participatory project on youth homelessness that prioritizes voice by employing a “methods from the margins” approach (Kirby & McKenna, 1989). During this project I worked with youth who have experienced homelessness (ages 16-25), first in focus groups (n=13) and, then, through interviews (n=30), to explore their views on topics connected to social exclusion. The youth guided the topics that I explored, which I connected to the features of social exclusion outlined by Silver and Miller (2003). Results of this study highlight that youth who are homeless do not describe their experiences in terms of social exclusion. The results of this work question the homogeneity of experiences of the youth in the age bracket of 16-25, and review findings through three specific age categories of youth being “not yet adults,” “new adults” and “adults.” My findings indicate that youth who experience homelessness perceive themselves to be more independent and mature than youth who have not experienced homelessness, questioning dominant constructions of both “youth” and “homelessness.” Youth respondents also mentioned a number of other difficulties they experienced because of homelessness, including discrimination and limited opportunities for education and conventional employment and access to housing. This highlights the multidimensionality of social exclusion. At various points in the thesis I discuss youths’ views on rights and social citizenship, pointing to the impacts of limited rights and social safeguards in a neo-liberal state. Recommendations are made for reducing the social exclusion of youth who experience homelessness through “housing-first” approaches to addressing homelessness.

The provision of free or low cost meals is an integral component of community services working to address problems of poverty and homelessness in Canada. However, there has been little systematic examination of how they function relative to clients’ nutrition needs. The objective of this research was to investigate the scope and nature of meal programs by examining an inventory of charitable food provisioning activities, created between 2010 and 2011, in five Canadian cities. Of 290 agencies offering meal programs, 548000 meals were served every month. However, service scheduling varied throughout the week, and the majority of agencies were reliant on volunteer labour, donated food supplies, and experienced difficulties managing the current demand for food assistance. Findings from this study highlight the strengths and limitations of the current food provisioning system and a need to improve the capacity of agencies to respond to populations experiencing food insecurity in Canada.

No description available.

The provision of free or low cost meals is an integral component of community services working to address problems of poverty and homelessness in Canada. However, there has been little systematic examination of how they function relative to clients’ nutrition needs. The objective of this research was to investigate the scope and nature of meal programs by examining an inventory of charitable food provisioning activities, created between 2010 and 2011, in five Canadian cities. Of 290 agencies offering meal programs, 548000 meals were served every month. However, service scheduling varied throughout the week, and the majority of agencies were reliant on volunteer labour, donated food supplies, and experienced difficulties managing the current demand for food assistance. Findings from this study highlight the strengths and limitations of the current food provisioning system and a need to improve the capacity of agencies to respond to populations experiencing food insecurity in Canada.

No description available.

This thesis uses methods of discourse analysis to examine the news coverage of poverty in New Zealand. It seeks to find the extent to which dominant discourses, those that reinforce the dominant order, are reproduced and become hegemonic in the coverage of poverty. The use of news sources and their effect on poverty coverage, as well as the news' assumption of shared values are also examined. This thesis argues that through such processes news coverage reproduces dominant discourses that elide the extent to which poverty can be seen as an important and problematic social issue in New Zealand. This thesis analyses a range of New Zealand news texts about poverty. It looks at the press coverage of a Unicef announcement about child poverty in 2005. It also includes an analysis of news stories that refer to poverty, the poor and issues of welfare over a month in 2005. The final chapter of research analyses two television documentaries, The Streetkids and Life on the Streets, that are about aspects of homelessness in New Zealand. This study finds the reporting of poverty in New Zealand to be inadequate, containing debate over poverty and reproducing the hegemony of dominant discourses.

This thesis questions the connection between Indigenous and immigrant Prairie literature, taking six contemporary texts as a case study. Aboriginal texts include Maria Campbell’s Halfbreed, Beatrice Mosionier’s In Search of April Raintree and Marilyn Dumont’s A Really Good Brown Girl. Immigrant narratives discussed are Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms, Esi Edugyan’s The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, and Madeline Coopsammy’s Prairie Journey. Read alongside one another, these texts demonstrate that Indigenous and immigrant populations do express similar concerns through literature, generally having to do with Canadian multiculturalism. Specifically, this project will discuss bodily and linguistic differences from a white, English-speaking ‘norm,’ home making on the prairies, and story-telling as an alternative indicator of home. This thesis asserts the importance of studying cross-racial literary engagements as they nuance existing discussions of race and space on the prairies and in Canada.

Contemporary outreach services focus on prevention as a means to ending homelessness (Averill, Keys, Mallet, & Rosenthal, 2010; Gaetz, 2010; Higgitt, Ristock & Wingert, 2005). As a result, services are commonly aimed at youth to provide alternatives to street-life before negative patterns are ingrained; the emotional effects of homelessness are also starting to be addressed. Drop-in facilities are proving useful by responding with greater flexibility toward the inconsistent lives of homeless people (Bantchevska, Dashora, Garren, Glassman, Slesnick & Toviessi, 2008). Art programming offers an environment addressing both emotional concerns and technical skill development (Higgitt, Ristock & Wingert, 2005). In Winnipeg, MB, urban, youth street-culture has responded positively to drop-ins embodying Hip-Hop culture as the unifying theme (B. Veruela, personal communication, November 7, 2012). Hip-Hop provides a context for art and learning that incorporates belonging and growth - the identifiers of a playful space. Play spaces offer a positive environment for dealing with emotionally charged topics such as homelessness (Apter, 1991; Kerr, 1991). This project presents the adaptive reuse of one of Winnipeg’s industrial buildings as a modern drop-in centre where emotional care for youth is accommodated through play theory.

Over the last thirty years Cornwall has experienced a dramatic population expansion. Population growth has had effects in many areas, but particularly in housing. The increased demand for housing from those migrating into the area has inflated house prices, yet the Cornish economy is afflicted by low wage levels and high unemployment rates, creating a 'mortgage gap' for long term residents. This coupled with the decline in availability of both publicly and privately rented accommodation has resulted in what has been termed a housing 'crisis' (George 1987, Deacon et al. 1988, Lennon 1991, Williams 1993). It has been suggested that this 'crisis' has resulted in a 'two tier' housing system, recent inmigrants generally enjoying better housing chances than longer term residents of Cornwall (Williams, 1993). Furthermore, it has been suggested that much of Cornwall's housing problems remain 'hidden' having been absorbed into existing household structures. The research presented in this thesis aimed to assess the housing circumstances and chances of both recent in-migrant and long-term residents in order to discover if they do in fact differ. Whether or not housing need was being absorbed into existing household structures was also explored, as were the reasons why. It was found that the housing circumstances and chances of recent in-migrants are generally better than those of long-term residents and that this was as a result of the distinctly different economic characteristics of the groups. Housing need was also found to be to a large extent 'concealed'. This was mainly young adults who were unable to set up independent households as a result of a lack of affordable accommodation. The research suggests that families remain a source of support and assistance to their members in relation to housing, but that the type of support given varies according to occupational class and economic means which might serve to disadvantage long-term residents still further in the future.

Background: Street-involved youth are known to be at a greatly increased risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs); however, the role that environmental and structural factors play in driving disease transmission risk among this population has not been thoroughly examined. Methods: The At Risk Youth Study (ARYS) is a prospective cohort of homeless and street-involved youth between the ages of 14 and 26. From September 2005 to October 2006, participants completed a baseline questionnaire which elicited information regarding sexual activity, injection and non-injection drug use, addiction treatment experience, encounters with police and security guards, and health service utilization. Environmental and structural correlates of number of recent sex partners were identified using quasi-Poisson regression. Factors independently associated with consistent condom use were also examined using logistic regression. Results: Among 529 participants, 415 (78.4%) were sexually active during the past six months, of whom 253 (61.0%) reported multiple sex partners and 288 (69.6%) reported inconsistent condom use during this time period. In multivariate logistic regression, homelessness and self-reported structural barriers to accessing health services were inversely associated with consistent condom use. In multivariate analysis, living in a shelter, hostel, or single room occupancy hotel was positively associated with greater numbers of recent sex partners. Structural factors that were associated with number of sex partners included having a warrant or area restriction that affects access to health services, and for males, being accosted by the police. Conclusions: Unstable housing, homelessness, and structural factors related to the criminalization and displacement of street-involved youth were associated with an increased risk of HIV and STI transmission, even after extensive adjustment for sociodemographic and individual level characteristics. These findings suggest that both environmental and structural factors influence the spread of HIV and STIs, and point to the need for environmental-structural interventions to reduce the burden of these diseases among this population.