COVID-19 and the (Extra)ordinariness of Crisis: Lessons from Homeless Migrants

Sanders, Charlotte Emily

doi:10.20897/jcasc/9322

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…The stories presented below highlight this slow violence but also register something else on the temporal dimension: the four individuals' weak structural positions, through which a number of factors build on each other and work together to trigger a swift, precipitous decline in circumstances, leading from a seemingly stable situation to sudden homelessness and destitution. Within our broader project on migrant homelessness during COVID-19, we were concerned with the ways that the discursive construction of COVID-19 as a 'crisis' invisibilised the presence of multiple crises already occurring, which, while exacerbated by the pandemic, were not necessarily produced by it (Sanders, 2020). Here, along similar lines, we argue that attending to the life story narratives of migrants experiencing homelessness refocuses attention from homelessness itself as the moment of crisis, and of abrupt violence and suffering, to the enduring conditions of precarity that engender it.…”

Section: Borders Race-making and Timementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through this research we advance scholarship that brings together two bodies of enquiry, on homelessness and migration. As others have elaborated, there is a clear connection in the UK context between the immigration policies that have shaped the ‘hostile environment’ 4 (Sanders, 2020) and vulnerability to destitution, particularly for those seeking asylum (see Allsopp et al, 2014; Dwyer and Brown, 2008). By focusing on the life story narratives of four individuals with different immigration statuses – spousal visa; European Economic Area (EEA) migrant status; refugee status; and asylum seeker – we aim to extend the reach of analysis beyond the experiences of asylum seekers in order to gain a stronger understanding of migrant experiences more broadly.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Enduring Borders: Precarity, Swift Falls and Stretched Time in the Lives of Migrants Experiencing Homelessness in the UK

Stewart

Sanders

2023

Sociology

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In this article, we draw attention to the border and border governance as key mechanisms of class and ‘race-making’ in the context of an increasingly hostile immigration environment. Focusing on the life story narratives of migrants experiencing homelessness, we extend the reach of analysis beyond the experiences of asylum seekers to gain a stronger understanding of migrant experiences more broadly. In our analysis, we reveal the temporal continuum of suffering endured, ranging from the ‘slow violence’ of the everyday, rooted in precarity and restricted access to the labour market and support services, to moments of rupture where there is a swift decline in circumstances, leading to homelessness. When, at last, the tempo of suffering slows again, these individuals are increasingly excluded from meaningful calendars of activity as they spend their time waiting, often in vain, for an outcome of a Home Office application or for the possibility of some longer-term accommodation.

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Section: Borders Race-making and Timementioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Enduring Borders: Precarity, Swift Falls and Stretched Time in the Lives of Migrants Experiencing Homelessness in the UK

Stewart

Sanders

2023

Sociology

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“…When COVID-19 reached the UK in early 2020, homeless migrants across the country were already in a state of crisis ( Sanders, 2020 ). The numbers of migrants experiencing or at risk of homelessness were both stark and increasing, yet migrant homelessness as a crisis remained largely invisible ( Crisis, 2019 ).…”

Section: Migrant Homelessness: the Crisis Before The Crisismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As we show, for numerous migrants, experiences of Everyone In reaffirmed a distrust of homelessness support. Rather than approaching the pandemic as a ‘crisis’ in the sense of a break in the normal, then, we consider it as ‘an amplification of something [already] in the works’ ( Berlant, 2011 , p. 10; see also Sanders, 2020 ). As such, we argue that Everyone In provides a key moment through which to conceptualise the complex politics of in/visibility as experienced by homeless migrants more broadly, a politics which emerges across and between issues of access, discomfort, suspicion and surveillance, and which illuminates the interrelation of immigration status, racialisation and class in the formation of migrant subjectivities regarding their exposure to harm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivated invisibility and migrants’ experiences of homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic

Stewart

Sanders

2022

The Sociological Review

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The UK government’s Everyone In scheme, announced in March 2020, required local authorities to temporarily house all homeless individuals in their area regardless of immigration status. In providing support through safe and secure accommodation, Everyone In also provided a crucial moment of visibility for migrants experiencing homelessness. Yet, just as it provided life-changing opportunities for some, the scheme was not straightforwardly a celebratory moment for migrants. It remained embedded within a wider context of immigration governance and social inequality in the UK, which has both invisibilised migrant homelessness as a crisis and hypervisibilised migrants as undeserving, suspicious or ‘illegal’ subjects. In this article, we explore life-story narratives co-produced with migrants across three urban contexts that capture their experiences of homelessness before and during the pandemic. In doing so, we introduce the notion of cultivated invisibility, referring to a habitual, deeply-ingrained mode of practice through which migrants respond to and navigate their experiences of being read as ‘Other’, in racialised or classed terms. It is developed through conditions of material scarcity and in the course of multiple engagements with racial capitalism’s various ‘faces of the state’ in an increasingly hostile environment for migrants. Cultivated invisibility involves staying on the move and blending into the crowd or avoiding it altogether but it also includes the experience of being unseen despite having come forward for help. Importantly, we demonstrate that cultivated invisibility becomes a cause of illegalisation, just as much as a response to it.

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“…In England alone, the most extreme forms of homelessness 2 have increased year on year since 2010 3 with the latest estimates standing at 280,000 people 4 . During the 2020 pandemic the UK government announced the ‘Everyone In’ scheme, housing around 29,000 rough sleepers in emergency accommodation 5 and guaranteed residential tenants protection from eviction during this period 6 . Both may have positively impacted homelessness statistics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing learning from public involvement with people experiencing homelessness to help shape new physiotherapy research: Utilizing a reflective model with an under‐served, vulnerable population

Dawes

Barron

Lee

2021

Health Expectations

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Introduction People experiencing homelessness (PEH) have poorer health than housed people but face barriers accessing care and being involved in research. As an often‐ignored group, their contribution to help shape research that is for and about them is essential, as it can strengthen the research proposal, in turn facilitating research and outcomes that are relevant to this vulnerable group. Methods Six people with experience of homelessness attended a PPI consultation aided by Pathway, a UK homeless peer advocacy charity, which coordinates an ‘Experts by Experience’ group. We present reflections on conducting PPI with PEH that informed the development of a physiotherapy research proposal. Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle guided reflections across four stages: (1) describing the PPI experience; (2) reviewing and reflecting on the PPI experience; (3) learning from the PPI experience; and (4) planning and trying out learning. Results Reflections highlighted the importance of: working closely with an advocacy organisation and leader to reach under‐served people; the diversity of experiences; using familiar venues, contingency and budget planning; flexibility and ‘allowing time; talking less; listening more’; planning for early and ongoing PPI, and the potential of mobile ‘one‐off’ PPI outreach models to reach vulnerable groups. Conclusion Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle aided team reflection on feedback from PEH, which helped refine and strengthen a physiotherapy research proposal. The project was unfunded. However, a reflective model helped maximize learning and impact including for future PPI and research. The novel application of Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle provided structure, facilitated reflection and enhanced individual and collective learning and may benefit capturing learning from PPI with other vulnerable populations. Patient or Public Contribution We highlight how a PPI consultation with people with experience of homelessness helped shape a funding proposal. Additionally, the reflections of the experts by experience team leader are included.

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COVID-19 and the (Extra)ordinariness of Crisis: Lessons from Homeless Migrants

Cited by 4 publications

References 4 publications

Enduring Borders: Precarity, Swift Falls and Stretched Time in the Lives of Migrants Experiencing Homelessness in the UK

Enduring Borders: Precarity, Swift Falls and Stretched Time in the Lives of Migrants Experiencing Homelessness in the UK

Cultivated invisibility and migrants’ experiences of homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic

Capturing learning from public involvement with people experiencing homelessness to help shape new physiotherapy research: Utilizing a reflective model with an under‐served, vulnerable population

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