Rural Homelessness in Western Canada: Lessons Learned from Diverse Communities

Jeannette Waegemakers Schiff, Rebecca Schiff and Alina Turner
Additional contact information
Jeannette Waegemakers Schiff: Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Canada
Rebecca Schiff: Department of Health Sciences, Lakehead University, Canada
Alina Turner: Turner Research and Strategy Inc., Canada

Social Inclusion, 2016, vol. 4, issue 4, 73-85

Abstract: Until recently, there was little acknowledgement that homelessness existed in rural areas in Canada. Limited research and scarce data are available to understand the scope and dynamics of rural homelessness in Canada. As suggested in our previous work, there is a need for rural homelessness research to examine themes from a provincial perspective. The aim of this research was to contribute to expanding the knowledge base on the nature of rural homelessness at a provincial level in the Canadian province of Alberta. In order to understand the dynamics of homelessness in rural Alberta, we conducted interviews with service providers and other key stakeholders across Alberta. We examined homelessness dynamics and responses to rural homelessness in 20 rural communities across the province. Across all of the communities in the study, homelessness was reported however, the magnitude of the issue and its dynamics were distinct depending on the local contexts. We also identified several themes which serve as descriptors of rural homelessness issues. We note a number of recommendations emerging from this data which are aimed at building on the experiences, capacities, and strengths of rural communities.

Keywords: Canada; disaster management; domestic violence; homelessness; Housing First; immigrant; indigenous persons; rural; seniors; youth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/633 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:socinc:v4:y:2016:i:4:p:73-85

DOI: 10.17645/si.v4i4.633

Access Statistics for this article

Social Inclusion is currently edited by Mariana Pires

More articles in Social Inclusion from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().