Research / Reports

Urban poverty and homelessness keep growing while investments in health-promoting services and public infrastructure, including drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) have been decreasing. We used a mixed-method approach to collect data from 45 unhoused individuals in Germany identifying individual, infrastructure-specific, and location-based solutions to improve public WASH. Suggestions included adapting existing infrastructure, opening up existing, but inaccessible and constructing new inclusive infrastructure. Proactive, long-term sustainable solutions were preferred over reactive short-time options. Realizing safe WASH for all requires collaboration between homeless communities, governmental bodies, NGOs, businesses, and sanitation experts.
Lived expertise (LE) is a valuable form of expertise that can lead to more effective policymaking. Existing research points to important mechanisms for where and how to include LE. In this article, we bring the discussions together and ground them in the Canadian case of homelessness.
This Note discusses why the provisions of H.B. 1606 are problematic for the homeless population and the organizations that support them, how the language of H.B. 1606 may jeopardize the State of Missouri’s receipt of federal funding, the merits of “Housing First” Policy, and the remedies that exist for defending against H.B. 1606 or rectifying it through legislation.
Homelessness in Victoria (Canada) is often invisible and too many government responses focus on keeping people out of sight and out of mind, rather than moving people into housing that meets human-rights standards.
A qualitative study using a phenomenological design was conducted and eight homeless recidivist women around Jalan Chow Kit were interviewed. The research findings led to the discovery of two main themes namely; personal factors and structural factors which notably influence the re-involvement of homeless recidivist women in criminal activities.
AHURI: This research examines the organisational and resource implications of transitioning from ‘output-based’ to ‘outcomes-based’ funding arrangements for providing social housing in Australia. It explores relevant housing policy contexts, reviewing opportunities and key policy barriers for this reform goal.
Overall, the findings of our study highlight the importance of providing stable housing and facilitating social support and psychological integration as a means of increasing social capital among people with a history of homelessness.
Emergency shelters offer temporary sleeping accommodation to people deprived of housing and connect them to services. Service restriction is the practice of limiting or denying someone access to emergency shelters. This parallel convergent mixed methods study describes the characteristics, healthcare utilization, and morbidity of people experiencing service restrictions in Hamilton, Ontario, and explores the relationship between health and service restriction. Participants’ high healthcare need and utilization was shaped by criminalization, stigma, societal abandonment, and abstinence-based substance use policies.