Homelessness and identity: a critical review of the literature and theory

Within the news media and literature, alike, people experiencing homelessness are often categorised into various stereotypes revolving around their lack of abode. In such a practice a ‘homeless identity’ becomes the defining feature of a person’s character. Very few theoretical studies have critically addressed this discursive construction and its implications. This paper contributes to the few existing debates around the 'homeless identity' by arguing that such constructions are binding and misguided.The term, 'homeless identity' is socially constructed through various discourses and consists of an amalgam of stereotypes. In such a practice, a ‘homeless identity’ becomes the defining feature of a person’s character, overshadowing all other axes of identity. One effect of this oversight in terms of gender, has been the construction of a defined homeless person as quintessentially male. But dominant masculine discourses are 'demobilising to those who cannot recognise themselves within them'. In other words, both statutory and academic masculinist discourses of homelessness are not fitting to all women, which leads to a sense of passivity and inability in homeless women to do anything about their situation.