CrimSL Speaker Series: Dr. Katharina Maier, University of Winnipeg

On these streets: A cross-provincial examination of homelessness and victimization in the time of toxic drug crises

Associate Professor Katharina Maier, Department of Criminal Justice
University of Winnipeg
Visiting Professor at U of T's CrimSL

This is a free event, however, registration is required.

Abstract

Social service agencies and other ‘helping’ institutions (e.g., shelters, soup kitchens, harm reduction services) are often spatially concentrated in inner-city neighbourhoods, creating what DeGiorgi (2017) refers to as “service ghettos” for the urban poor. Ideally, such neighbourhoods are places for the unhoused and marginalized to safely and conveniently access services. In this talk, Dr. Maier will discuss how unhoused and street-involved People Who Use Drugs move about and relate to such neighbourhoods and other urban spaces. She will discuss how the potential for victimization, concerns about drugs, need for survival, and encounters with police/security shape how marginalized people relate to different spaces, while reflecting on the implications of her findings for the provision of critical services for the urban poor.