[Blog] Homeless Encampments in Edmonton: An Individualized Symptom of Systemic Homelessness

What Are Encampments? 

“While they vary in size and structure, the term ‘encampment’ is used to refer to any area wherein an individual or a group of people live in homelessness together, often in tents or other temporary structures (also referred to as homeless camps, tent cities, homeless settlements, or informal settlements)” (Farha & Schwan, 2020). 

As the rates of people experiencing homelessness in Canada rise, so too do the rates of encampments (Farha & Schwan, 2020). Unfortunately, due to issues such as colonization and systemic injustices, some people are more likely to experience homelessness. Indigenous Peoples are significantly overrepresented in the homeless population in Canada, as well as young people aged 13-24 who account for about 20% of this population, one third of which identify as a LGBTQ2S+ (Homeless Hub, n.d.B). Despite the root causes of homelessness being large scale structural issues (Homeless Hub, n.d.A), the need for encampments is commonly misunderstood as resulting from individual shortcomings. A study which scanned Twitter for common discourses among tweets containing the word “homeless” found several stigmatizing themes including the notion that people experiencing homelessness are dirty, socially deviant, “scam artists”, violent, sexual predators, criminals, and deserve to be homeless due to addictions and laziness (Vitelli, R., 2021). This stigma is highly problematic and causes unjust and harmful responses to encampments, leading to further marginalization of people experiencing homelessness.  

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