Understanding public attitudes and perceptions towards homelessness: a requisite frontier to reduce homelessness

Canadian urban communities are continually being challenged to respond to the growing homelessness problem. While considerable Canadian research has been conducted regarding causes and solutions, an empirical void exists when it comes to Canadian attitudes and perceptions towards homelessness. Based on the premise that public opinions can influence how we think about social problems and influence and predict our behavior towards them, this study examined the attitudes and perceptions of 111 University of the Fraser Valley undergraduate students’ towards homelessness. Participants were recruited from four undergraduate classes across three faculties of study, and they completed 24 survey questions. Survey results highlighted misinformation and stigmas about homelessness amongst participants. Respondents had a high level of awareness of the causes of homelessness and expressed sympathy for this population. Less support was found for having housing initiatives in their neighborhood, and much less support when it came to paying more in taxes. Most respondents were not aware of what Housing First was, or the fiscal benefit of investing in reducing homelessness. Moving forward, there is a need to foster a sense of community ownership for reducing homelessness. Community-based research may be needed to identify what people’s attitudes and perceptions are towards homelessness, followed by more broad examination of why people have the attitudes they do, and the subsequent development of strategies to educate and garner support for strategies and policies to reduce homelessness.