Lived experiences of homelessness

This chapter highlights the diverse ‘voices’ of service users and people affected by homelessness, including their perceptions of the effectiveness of social work policies and services. I commence this chapter by presenting my original research on the everyday lived experiences of homelessness, from the perspectives of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal male and female service users in Adelaide, South Australia (Zufferey and Kerr, 2004). Although this research was not initially designed and analysed from an intersectional approach, I  centred the voices of people who experienced homelessness, intersected two categories of difference and analysed gendered and race relations. In this chapter I also discuss my research projects on home and homelessness focusing on sexuality, migration, different ethnicities, classes, genders and ages. I draw on insights from research literature about gendered violence and women’s homelessness, as well as children’s and young people’s perspectives of homelessness, as they intersect with gender, race and ethnicity. I  argue that the voices of the least powerful are often ignored or re-constructed for particular political purposes. Finally, I highlight service user-led evaluation research (Coltman et  al., 2015) as the way forward, to further promote reflexive approaches to social work practice.