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Housing, Homelessness, and Social Policy in the Urban North

Housing, Homelessness, and Social Policy in the Urban North

Edited by Julia Christensen, Sally Carraher, Travis Hedwig and Steven Arnfjord

Published by: University of Toronto Press

Imprint: University of Toronto Press

1 b&w illustrations, 1 b&w map, 6 b&w figures, 20 b&w tables

Digital download
9781487554200
Published: January 2024

Digital download
9781487553753
Published: January 2024

Description
Contents
Authors

Housing, Homelessness, and Social Policy in the Urban North brings together leading scholars on northern urban housing across the Canadian North, Alaska, and Greenland. Through various case studies, the contributors examine the ways in which housing insecurity and homelessness provide a critical lens on the social dimensions of northern urbanization. They also present key considerations in the development of effective and sustainable social policy for these areas. The book kickstarts a conversation between multiple stakeholders from different cultural and national regions across the North American north. It asks key questions including these: What are the common problems of, and responses to, housing insecurity and homelessness across these northern regions? Is a single definition of “homelessness” even possible, or desirable? And if not, can a shared language around how to end the housing crisis and homelessness in our northern regions still occur?

The contributors explore how experiences of northern towns and cities inform an overall understanding of urban forms and processes in the contemporary world, and speak directly to the emerging body of literature on cities. Highlighting key limitations to federal, state, and provincial policy, Housing, Homelessness, and Social Policy in the Urban North raises important implications for developing policy that is responsive to northern realities.

Introduction
Section One: The Canadian North

Regional Introduction: The Canadian North
Julia Christensen

1: It’s a Tough Game: Navigating Housing Monopolies in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
Lisa Freeman and Julia Christensen

2: Responding to Homelessness in Yellowknife: Pushing the Ocean Back with a Spoon
Nick Falvo

3: An “Urban” Issue, and the Issue with “Urban”: Contextualizing Homelessness in Whitehorse
Alexandra Nelson

4: Homelessness, Mobility, and Migration from the James Bay
Carol Kauppi, Michael Hankard, and Henri Pallard

5: A Different Kind of “Ecological Refugee”: Land Claims, Migration, and Inequalities in Northern Labrador
Joshua Moses

6: Making Place Home: The Contradictions of Inuit Housing in a Liberal Democracy
Frank Tester

Section Two: Alaska

Regional Introduction: Alaska
Sally Carraher and Travis Hedwig

7: Northern Voices on Homelessness: Engaging the Public and Promoting Inclusivity for Homeless Alaskans in Public Discourse
Sally Carraher and Travis Hedwig

8: Differing Meanings of Housing First: Lessons Learned from a Single-Site Program Evaluation in Anchorage, Alaska
Travis Hedwig

9: Alaska Is a Very Small Town: Moving Towards an Understanding of Homelessness in the Urban North
Clare Dannenberg

Section Three: Greenland

Regional Introduction: Greenland
Steven Arnfjord and Julia Christensen

10: In Search of Security: Women’s Homelessness in Nuuk, Greenland
Steven Arnfjord and Julia Christensen

11: Welfare Colonialism and Geographies of Homelessness in Nuuk, Greenland
Julia Christensen, Steven Arnfjord, and Marie-Louise Aastrup

Conclusion
Epilogue: Homelessness across the Arctic in the Shadow of COVID-19

Sally Carraher is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Travis Hedwig is an associate professor of health sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Steven Arnfjord is an associate professor of social work and the director of Ilisimatusarfik’s Centre for Arctic Welfare at the University of Greenland.