Social work as social control

with Joshua Goldberg

We can learn a great deal from the state responses to Super InTent City (SIC). In contracting the Portland Hotel Society (PHS) in April 2016 to “manage” the camp after losing their first injunction application, the provincial government showed that when it is unable to use police against homeless people, it turns to social work for social control. Once forcible eviction was denied by the courts, the state sought to break SIC’s political power through the provision of social services. (…)

The Claim that Super InTent City is a failure doesn’t measure up

As the provincial government’s new injunction hearing approaches, a new headline has emerged in Victoria newspapers: Super InTent City has “failed.” But the measures government officials and anti-homeless groups have used to create the idea of the “failure” of Victoria’s Super InTent City (SIC) devalue the experiences and lives of its homeless residents. (…)

A grassroots reply to the City of Victoria’s “Sheltering Solutions” – The Needs of the Homeless in the Interests of the Housed

with Ashley Mollison

On September 16, the City of Victoria will host a “Sheltering Solutions” workshop for the general public to help identify temporary solutions to homelessness. We applaud the City for including accessibility measures to encourage participation from people with lived experience of homelessness (i.e., offering food, stipends for participation and childcare). However, we feel there is a larger question that needs to be asked: how should decisions about responding to homelessness be made and who should be making decisions about services for those who are homeless? (…)