Epistemic (in)justice and the navigation of needs for people who are homeless

Problem/Objective: Social work research strives towards democracy in its commitment to identifying, hearing and sharing the perspectives of individuals and groups who are often the most marginalised and rarely considered in society. People who are homeless are a group marginalised within society, but this group are also on the fringes of how social workers construct their role in England. This paper reports on research with people experiencing homelessness in England and their perspectives on navigating and negotiating their needs for support in interaction with professionals, including social workers. In a challenge to the idea of social work as a democratic profession, the project identified significant concern amongst people who are homeless that they experienced profound silencing and felt treated as incapable of understanding their own needs and articulating them. As such, Miranda Fricker’s concept of ‘epistemic injustice’ is a helpful framework for understanding the ways in which professional help can undermine people’s voice. Conversely, this theory also assists with highlighting the professional approaches that are epistemically just and valued by people who are homeless in terms of taking the views, wishes and experiences of this marginalised group seriously.

Research questions/Hypotheses: The project considers how people who are homeless understand their needs and navigate and negotiate systems to address these needs. The concept of ‘epistemic injustice’ was employed as a theoretical framework for this study because existing research demonstrates the marginality of people who are homeless within social work practice in England.

Methods: Drawing on interview data from hostel residents (n=28) and professionals who support them (n=25), as well as observations (n=42) of keywork meetings and hostel team meetings, this presentation will draw attention to the ways in which people who are homeless felt their perspectives were silenced or under-valued, or alternatively acknowledged and facilitated.

Results: Findings highlight the professional and institutional barriers and facilitators for how people who are homeless are enabled to identify their own needs. Whilst the barriers related to risk-saturated, agency-centric and stigma-inducing interactions, people who were homeless valued facilitators including trauma-informed, practical and compassionate from workers who took time to build relationships and who understood homelessness. These approaches were difficult to achieve in resource constrained environment and in the face of complex engagement patterns, but commitment and care were key ingredients to enable the insight and involvement of this group.

The presentation fits with the overall conference theme in presenting the ways that social work professionals can hinder or facilitate involvement, agency and voice – hallmarks of democratic practice. It also links with conference sub-themes 1: Challenges and opportunities for social work research, practice, policy or education in contemporary contexts; 3: Exploring the impact and effectiveness of social work practice and 5: Theorizing social work and/or social work research

Keyword(s): Homelessness, Needs, Epistemic Injustice