Building the Evidence:
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“No Place Else to Go: Surveying the Human Rights Experiences of Encampment Residents in Ontario” is a seven-part report series.
“Building the Evidence: Survey Design, Data Collection, and Research Highlights” is the first in our series of reports. It outlines how we designed the survey and collected the data, and offers a brief overview of our research findings, which are discussed in more detail in subsequent reports.
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Introducing Pillar 4: Meaningful Participation
This pillar emphasizes the importance of meaningful participation by encampment residents in decisions that affect their lives, recognizing them as experts in their own circumstances, needs, and aspirations (Farha and Schwan, 2020). It affirms that people staying in encampments are more than their experience of homelessness: they are individuals with unique skills, interests, strengths, and goals. A human rights approach recognizes and respects the dignity, autonomy, and humanity of people staying in encampments by ensuring their voices are meaningfully included in the decisions that shape relevant policies and services (Flynn et al., 2022).
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To explore this pillar, we examined both opportunities for people staying in encampments to influence decisions that affected them and opportunities to engage in activities that recognized their strengths and supported their personal goals. Together, these questions help assess whether municipal responses recognize people experiencing homelessness as active participants in shaping their own lives, rather than simply recipients of services. Specifically, we asked participants about:
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Analyzing the Survey Findings
To connect the survey findings to the pillars of a human rights–based response, we developed a set of exploratory questions for each pillar. These questions guided our analysis by providing a framework for organizing and interpreting the survey findings.
Survey findings from this pillar were analyzed through the following exploratory questions:
Our analysis found that, although survey respondents identified many ways municipalities could improve their experiences, most people staying in encampments had no formal opportunities to provide input into decisions affecting their encampment or broader municipal policies. Participants also reported having limited agency in decisions about whether and how to access shelters and other support services.
- Do municipalities provide opportunities for people living in encampments to offer meaningful input into municipal actions concerning their space?
- Do municipalities provide opportunities for people living in encampments to provide meaningful input on how the municipality can best provide appropriate support?
- Does the municipality respect people’s right to make their own decisions about accessing shelter and support services? Do people have agency/choice regarding services and service use?
Our analysis found that, although survey respondents identified many ways municipalities could improve their experiences, most people staying in encampments had no formal opportunities to provide input into decisions affecting their encampment or broader municipal policies. Participants also reported having limited agency in decisions about whether and how to access shelters and other support services.
About This Summary
This summary offers a very brief overview of Pillar 4: Meaningful Participation. The full pillar report provides a more detailed analysis, using the exploratory questions as a framework for interpreting the survey findings and making recommendations. It expands on these initial findings by situating them in relation to relevant policy contexts, identifying patterns in the data, and offering more specific implications for practice and systems change.
Because there must always be music... |