Through the looking glass

1. Through the looking glass The politics of homelessness research

2. Rationale and Purpose • Motivated by curiosity about whether the increasing attention and commitment of funds has made a difference to homelessness OR to people experiencing homelessness • Assumptions: - homelessness research takes place in a political context - there are inherent tensions in this context for funders and researchers • Purpose of this paper is to address 2 central questions: - how does the political/policy agenda influence the research agenda (and vice versa)? - how does existing research contribute to how we understand and respond to homelessness?

3. What contextual factors influence homelessness research? • Research is a political activity • In 2012, the Australian political context is shaped by trends characteristic of post industrialised countries including neo liberalism; economic rationalism; competition policy; and risk identification and management • Public profile of homelessness (particularly public space dwelling) has been raised through state, territory and national government commitments • Limited sources of funding for research • Pressure on researchers to ‘publish or perish’

4. How/does the political/policy agenda influence the research agenda (and vice versa)? • Tenders and applications for research funds are determined at least in part on the basis of ‘fit’ between the political/policy agenda and the proposal • Researchers gain recognition as ‘experts’ whose views are sought • Social issues are picked up by the media – which raises political and public (including researchers’) awareness • Peak bodies and community based services commission research to raise awareness, highlight service gaps; and in lobbying government

5. How/does existing research contribute to how we understand and respond to homelessness? • Conceptual work, for example Chamberlain and MacKenzie’s definition of homelessness, Robinson’s work re the meaning of homelessness • Work that challenges existing beliefs and stereotypes (for example Johnson & Chamberlain) • Work that focuses on existing administrative arrangements and identifying ways of changing ‘how business is done’ • Work that quantifies the scope of the problem • Publication and dissemination of research findings • Publications, media releases

6. Tensions for researchers and funders • Goal of ‘ending homelessness’ is the ultimate goal – but impossible when the focus is solely on housing/homelessness • Need for evidence based policy Vs need for timely research • Appetite for a single model Vs individual solutions • Expectations about outcomes of research and initiatives • Pressure to deliver • Conceptual Vs ‘administrative’ research • Focus on structures Vs individual characteristics • More emphasis on collaboration in an increasingly competitive environment • Type of research – qualitative or quantitative

7. Has homelessness research become more politicised? • There has been ‘a loose consensus’ about a culturally relative and inclusive definition of homelessness – homelessness was a relatively uncontested concept • ABS review of definition and methodology for counting homelessness represents a break from this consensus and signals a deeper contest over control of the agenda • Public, political commitments to achieve specified outcomes mean government is exposed • Commitment of significant funding means that governments must be accountable to the electorate • Now both a high visibility political and a policy issue

8. Impacts of politicisation of homelessness on research • Commitment of funds and resources • National Homelessness Research Agenda established • Influences the direction of research undertaken • Constraint or channelling of research interests • Increased competition for funding • Concerns about independence and rigour of research • Grant capture

9. The shared goal? • Politicians, policy makers and researchers share similar goals: ending homelessness and improving the lives of people who experience homelessness • To do this, we need to broaden our understanding of homelessness research (for example, by looking more closely at some of the structural issues linked with homelessness) • We need to bring to centre stage as research partners those with lived experience and knowledge • We need research that looks at the processes of inclusion and exclusion, and how policy maintains or challenges social exclusion

10. The final word ‘…it is important that future research in this area should be vigilant over the need to identify the complex patterns to the processes involved in the social construction of homelessness’ Keith Jacobs, Jim Kemeny and Tony Manzi (1999) ‘The Struggle to define homelessness’in Homelessness: Public Policies and Private Troubles. London, Cassell ‘The homeless being from whom I now avert my eyes as I pass by…is a human being, and hence myself, and yourself in another guise. For this uneasiness, I have been blaming them. But now I am grateful to them for what they have given me: their existence has brought home who weare’ Robert Ginsberg (1999) ‘Meditations on homelessness and being at home: in the form of a dialogue’ in The Ethics of Homelessness. Amsterdam, Rodopi