Research Summary
Canada is facing a national housing and homelessness crisis, and many of those affected are young people. Some of these youth are growing up in poverty and without access to stable housing. In fact, from 2020 to 2022, child poverty rates increased by nearly 5%. As Canada Research Chair in Community-Partnered Social Justice, Dr. Naomi Nichols is generating new knowledge about social inequality, with a particular focus on how to create socially just outcomes for children, youth and families.
Nichols and her research team are conducting a city-wide institutional ethnographic investigation in Peterborough, Ontario to understand how residents experience the shifting dynamics of privilege and marginalization. They are focusing on four connected areas: housing, income and food insecurity; felt insecurity in shared public spaces; public health precarity; and shifting population dynamics. Their findings will provide the knowledge needed to address changing patterns of inequality and insecurity in Canadian cities.