What has the COVID-19 pandemic meant for the homeless, people in breadlines, and the clients of low-threshold services? We received funding from the European Social Fund to answer this question with the University of Helsinki, Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (DIAK), and the Sininauha Association of Pori.
The sub-project conducted at Tampere University focuses on homelessness. We are interested in the daily lives of people experiencing and at risk of homelessness and the employees working with them during and after the pandemic. People in need of support to find housing and to be able to live in housing are not one specific group, which is why we approach this research task from the perspective of the relational agency of the interacting parties. This perspective enables the examination of possibilities for action and intersectionality, ie the uneven and stratified intersections of power that affect people’s social position. We will explore the resilience of the people in the target group and the systems providing aid; how does resilience or resistance, functional capacity and adaptation to health threats emerge and change during the pandemic? As well as generating new knowledge, our task is to assess the recognition of the right to care and the equal treatment and inclusion of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness from the social justice perspective. KoMa is closely linked to the previous studies by the Margi research group, see more details at https://research.tuni.fi/margi/
The homelessness sub-project is conducted by Suvi Raitakari (principal investigator of the sub-project), Marja Hekkala, Henna Takala, Mikko Ilmoniemi, Jenni Mäki, Kirsi Juhila, Johanna Ranta and Leena Rusi.
At the University of Helsinki, the focus is on exploring what COVID-19 has meant for communities and the sense of community and inclusion in low-threshold service settings. In the sub-project conducted by DIAK, the focus is on breadlines and gathering information about the situation of food-insecure people. The Sininauha Association of Pori is developing outreach work and setting up a new low-threshold service point while providing opportunities for data collection.
Photo from Pexels/Kaique Rocha
