Homelessness and Social Work

Book excerpt: Drawing on intersectional theorising, Homelessness and Social Work highlights the diversities and complexities of homelessness and social work research, policy and practice. It invites social work students, practitioners, policy makers and academics to re-examine the subject by exploring how homelessness and social work are constituted through intersecting and unequal power relations. The causes of homelessness are frequently associated with individualist explanations, without examining the broader political and intersecting social inequalities that shape how social problems such as homelessness are constructed and responded to by social workers. In reflecting on factors such as Indigeneity, race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, sexuality, ability and other markers of identity the author seeks to: • construct a new intersectional framework for understanding social work and homelessness; • provide a critical analysis of social work responses to homelessness; • challenge how homelessness is represented in social work research, social policy and social work practice; and • incorporate the stories of people experiencing homelessness. The book will be of interest to undergraduate and higher research degree students in the fields of intersectionality, homelessness, sociology, public policy and social work.