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A Complex Exile

Homelessness and Social Exclusion in Canada
  • Erin Dej
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2020
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About this book

Over 235,000 people couch-surf, stay in emergency shelters, or live on the street in Canada every year. But lack of housing security is just one barrier faced by people who are homeless. As A Complex Exile shows, the homelessness sector inadvertently reinforces social exclusion as well. The very policies, practices, and funding models that exist to house the homeless, promote social inclusion, and provide mental health care form a homelessness industrial complex. These practices emphasize personal responsibility and individualized responses that ultimately serve to exclude people in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Erin Dej demonstrates that the causes of, and responses to, homelessness have become largely medicalized, limiting discussion on structural and systemic drivers such as income inequality, discrimination, and housing affordability. A Complex Exile goes beyond bio-medical and psychological perspectives on homelessness, mental illness, and addiction to call for a transformation in how we respond to homelessness in Canada.

Author / Editor information

Erin Dej is an assistant professor of criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, where she co-authored A New Direction: A Framework for Homelessness Prevention with Stephen Gaetz, and she is the co-editor of Containing Madness: Gender and ‘Psy’ in Institutional Contexts with Jennifer M. Kilty.

Reviews

Erin Dej's essential work of non-fiction makes the connection clear between Canada's failed response to the homelessness epidemic and its role in perpetuating social exclusion.

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Front Matter

    i
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    Contents

    vii
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    Acknowledgments

    ix
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    Exploring Exclusion among People Experiencing Homelessness

    1
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    The Pillars of Exclusion: Homelessness, Mental Illness, and Criminalization in Canada

    27
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    Managing in Place: The Shelter as Neoliberal Total Institution

    50
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    Identity Management: Identity Making in the Context of Marginalization

    82
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    Taking the Blame: Responsibilizing Homelessness

    115
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    The Homeless Mental Health Consumer: Managing Exclusion through Redeemability

    145
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    Moving toward Inclusion

    182
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    Notes

    197
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    References

    203
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    Index

    225
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
August 3, 2023
eBook ISBN:
9780774865135
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
254
https://doi.org/10.59962/9780774865135
eBook ISBN: 9780774865135
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
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