The Hidden and Emerging Spaces of Rural Homelessness

Abstract

In this paper we explore key issues bound up with the existence of homelessness in rural England. Attention is directed to a variety of factors that combine to reduce the visibility or even deny the presence of homelessness in rural spaces. We suggest that the complexities of rural homelessness are such that it may only become visible in particular spaces; spaces that tend to be constructed as nonrural. The paper begins with a critical discussion of spatialised representations of homelessness and privileged constructions of rural spaces in England which together act to obscure visibilities of rural homelessness in a range of discursive environments. We then move on to examine the ways in which such representations and constructions impact on and connect with local experiences of rural homelessness by drawing on some key findings from recent research. Here we consider three main issues concerning visibilities and invisibilities of homelessness in rural spaces: first, visibilities accorded to certain manifestations of rural homelessness through discourses of official statistics; second, a series of invisibilities associated with localised representations and experiences of homelessness in rural areas; and, finally, the ways in which rural homelessness emerges and becomes obvious in spaces that may be described as nonrural.