Mid-sized cities (populations 50,000-500,000) face unique challenges in understanding and responding to homelessness, given the increasing visibility of homelessness, and the demand by community members to ‘do something’ to maintain smaller suburban identities. As a result, mid-sized cities struggle to develop evidence-informed policies and practices that are appropriate for their resource and contexts. Often in these situations, law enforcement is called to manage the optics of homelessness, particularly in commercial areas. These interventions lead to temporary band-aid solutions that further marginalize and exclude people experiencing homelessness and further exacerbate systemic problems that criminalize poverty.
This research examines issues surrounding homelessness and public safety in a mid-size urban community in British Columbia, Canada. This community was selected as a case study site due to its size (just under 100,000 people) and the substantial media attention the community drew around the increasing visibility and heightened politicized nature of the issue of homelessness.
In total, we spoke to 54 people across the three stakeholder groups:
- 18 people with lived experience of homelessness
- 14 other community representatives
- 16 police and bylaw officers
Based on the evidence provided in this research, we offer nine opportunities for change. Each of these opportunities calls on all stakeholders in mid-sized cities to build their community resiliency – that is, taking collective responsibility for the inequities groups, such as people experiencing homelessness, face – and building community capacity to withstand and overcome stressors and challenges and to learn from past stressors in order to strengthen future efforts in accordance with the human rights of all people, and with compassion, empowerment and positivity.
Read our blog: “They’re Not From Here”: Homelessness in Mid-Sized Cities
Note: This report is part of the NIMBY to Neighbours project. To learn more about the project, click here.
