Generating new insights into family homelessness: sociological approaches to citizenship

Much research into homelessness in Australia and internationally is constructed within a public policy paradigm which sees people experiencing homelessness as potential or actual clients of government-supported services. Research conducted within this paradigm has focused on the nature and extent of homelessness among particular groups, pathways into and out of homelessness, and the adequacy of support services. In this paper, we explore the insights that can be generated through framing homelessness in other ways. In particular, we draw on recent scholarship which argues for a more sociological approach to citizenship in which the emphasis is more on norms, practices, meanings and identities than on legal rules specifying relationships between citizens and the state (Islin and Turner 2002). From this work comes a focus on lived experiences of citizenship, which refer broadly to the ways in which people understand and negotiate rights and responsibilities, participation and belonging through daily practices (Lister 2007). We draw on a qualitative study of homeless women with children to illustrate some of the insights which this approach can generate. These include the dilemmas associated with caring responsibilities, the ‘job of being homeless’, conditionality and opportunities for participation, and effects of homelessness on sense of belonging