title: Supportive housing and surveillance.
abstract: Urban centres in the US, Britain and Canada have responded to identified visible 'social problems' such addiction, mental health and homelessness by providing some supportive housing for the urban poor and marginalized. While some critics have questioned what supportive housing specifically entails in terms of the built environment, what remains under explored, though a growing area of concern, is the relationship between surveillance and supportive housing for urban residents identified as having addiction and mental health problems - a gap addressed in this paper. Drawing upon qualitative ethnographic observational data we examine some of the measures of control and coercion that are encroaching into social housing primarily established for poor and marginalized people with addiction and mental health problems in the urban centre of Vancouver, Canada. We witnessed three modes of regulation and control, that vary widely, among the residencies observed: physical surveillance technologies; site-specific modes of coercion; police presence and staff surveillance, which all together impact the everyday lives of residents living in low-income and supportive housing. We argue that supportive housing has the potential to provide its intended commitment - safe and secure affordable housing. However, owing to an (over)emphasis on 'security', the supportive housing we observed were also sites of social control.
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 608-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6; Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia, 6303 NW Marine Dr., Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z1. Electronic address: jboyd@cfenet.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Jade
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boyd
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 608-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 608-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6.
authors.forename: Solanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 608-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6; Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, St. Paul's Hospital, 608-1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kerr
mesh_terms: D001955:British Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003068:Coercion; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D006798:Housing / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011203:Poverty; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D062487:Social Marginalization; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014505:Urban Population
keywords: Addiction and mental health; Policing; Social control; Supportive housing; Surveillance