Exploring the social problem of homelessness in Arctic urban settings

By Steven Arnfjord (associate professor, PhD, head of Ilisimatusarfik Centre for Arctic Welfare) & Kevin Perry (associate professor, PhD)

Two researchers from Ilisimatusarfik travelled from Nuuk (population app. 19.500) to Anchorage (population app. 298.000) in November 2022 to examine homelessness. In Nuuk, we are both involved in researching and working directly with vulnerable and homeless adults in a local outreach program in the form of a soup kitchen.

Before going any further, it is crucial to point out that the following is not a report romanticizing a trip funded via UArctic. Instead, the following report concerns a severe social problem in welfare societies.

Background

Over the previous decades, homelessness in Greenland and Alaska has increasingly become a cause of great concern amongst health and social care professionals. A forthcoming volume on: "Housing, Homelessness, and Social Policy in the Urban North" from the University of Toronto Press 2023 focuses exclusively on this topic.

The research literature identifies critical interconnections between hidden and visible homelessness. For example, the consequences of urbanization and centralisation in Northern towns reveal chronic housing shortages. Moreover, there is a total lack of affordable housing and plans to build such housing or alternatives.

The research literature on the matter distinguishes common themes in both countries:

• Chronic housing insecurity,
• An overrepresentation of indigenous peoples among the homeless (well, Greenland is an indigenous country),
• The significance of gendered experiences of homelessness,
• A lack of adequate, appropriate support and public housing provision for people experiencing mental health and or addiction issues.

Why Alaska & why Anchorage?

Inspired by reading about Alaska and Anchorage and homelessness and collaborating with authors in a forth coming book, we wanted to take a closer look at the service providers in a context with similar arctic weather conditions. First and foremost, we were curious to learn how homeless people use and utilise the public spaces around Anchorage. Secondly, we wanted to learn about the services dedicated to tackling homelessness to gain inspiration to take home to Nuuk. Finally, another aim was to connect with researchers at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) to share experiences and explore the possibilities of future collaborations.

We secured funding in late 2019 to travel to Anchorage and planned to travel in 2020. However, Covid-19 delayed our trip. So, in November 2022, we set off to Anchorage (via Iceland & Seattle) after the two years delay. It was a journey - not just a trip. The journey required many logistics and planning to meet relevant actors in Anchorage, such as homelessness networks and other local non-profits that work to combat homelessness. We also arranged to do some guest teaching while in Anchorage. In all this, the faculty at UAA was a great help.

Before leaving Nuuk, Diane Hirshberg (professor, director for ISER, & vice-president of UArctic) was instrumental in helping us getting relevant contacts in Anchorage. Diane contacted academics in various departments and set up meetings that generated more contacts and other meetings. For example, we connected with law professor Sharon Chamard and social work professor Tracey Burke. Tracey invited us to the social work faculty meeting and lunch, where we presented our research interests. During our time in Anchorage, Diane, Tracey, and Sharon spent much of their time driving us around to various locations.

Major Differences

Anchorage is a municipality on the Dena'ina homeland, and combined city-county government that covers almost 5.180 km2 and has a population of over 295.000. Nuuk is the capital city of Greenland and has about 19.618 inhabitants. Nuuk is also the largest town in Greenland and is part of Sermersooq municipality. The municipality has around 23.994 inhabitants. The other towns and settlements in the municipality lie scattered along the coast in both West and East Greenland. The municipality has a total area of 635.600 km2. While Anchorage and Nuuk similarly cover many square miles, the population is vastly different.

Some of the most striking differences between Anchorage and Nuuk concern social protection and welfare. These major differences stem from different ways of thinking, attitudes, and ideologies. In the USA, the system is a public-private mix, which relies a lot on programs funded by the government. However, it is private or non-profit actors who provide the different services. The system in the USA is a sharp contrast to the universal welfare system in Greenland. So, the major difference is that in Nuuk it is the public sector and supported by some religious organisations that try to tackle homelessness - whereas in the US, it is the private sector and a lot of religious based organisations that try to tackle homelessness with a combination of government and private funding.

In Nuuk, we are still learning and forming strategies to reduce homeless numbers. In Anchorage, there seems to be a general acceptance of the social problem around homelessness. There is also a vast network of very engaged non-profit network (NGOs) and faith-based organizations (FBOs) trying to bring social-, health-, and housing services to those in need.

The non-profit area is mainly operated by unqualified workers who receive some on-the-job training. One can only speculate about the reasons for employing unqualified staff. For example, could it be a recruitment strategy to keep the costs low, or could it be a general lack of available professional job seekers? Nevertheless, we have the impression that people are committed to their work and do the very best they can with the resources at their disposal.

We both agree that our journey to and from Anchorage has been invaluable. Experiencing homelessness and the various measures tackling homelessness in Anchorage give us different perspectives to compare with the situation in Nuuk. Furthermore, through the efforts by the faculty at UAA, we established field visits with different service providers, policymakers, and actors in the private and faith-led sectors. Learning about and exploring social problems like homelessness in Arctic urban settings is impossible without being physically present. It is possible to gain some knowledge online. However, it is crucial to be physically present to gain access and connect with on-the-ground service providers. Only then can you gain deep learning about the situation from their experiences and get through face-to-face interactions.

During this research trip, we built relationships with service providers, especially fellow scholars at the University of Arctic Alaska. Furthermore, the spot decision was to increase ICAW’s engagement in the UArctic Thematic Network on Social Work and the International Association of Social Science in the Arctic organization (IASSA), allowing us to reconnect and meet up again during the IASSA’s ICASS conference in Bodø, Norway, in 2024.

We are already working on smaller scientific outputs in an international collaborative journal - and we will introduce empirical findings from this research trip to our students at Ilisimatusarfik in the following academic year.

Also, every evening during the trip concluded with reflection talks about "what we learned that day", and "what caught our attention". These we all video recorded and will partly be part of two to three short videos about this trip.

Thanks to Diane Hirshberg and the faculty at the Department of Social Work for all their great help - and thanks to UArctic and the Greenlandic Research Council for the grant. Finally, thanks so much to all the engaged employees and management from the various organisations that gave up valuable time to interact with us - it is very much appreciated.