Children’s Experiences of Homelessness in Shelter Living

About the Project

Since 2022, the YWCA has partnered with Drs Rebecca Raby and Christine Tardif-Williams to conduct research into the lives and experiences of children who are homeless with their families and living in shelters or transitional housing. This is an underexplored area of research, despite its importance at a time of high levels of homelessness in the Niagara Region and across Canada.

To date, the project has three phases. Phase one involved over two years of participant observation and interaction with children in shelter living, between 2022 and 2025. Phase two, running from 2025-2027, is part of a larger Partnership Development Grant on “Mobilizing subjugated knowledges for a just and inclusive Niagara”. Phase two involves participant observation alongside interview with children and parents, with a specific focus on newcomer and racialized children. Phase three, beginning in 2026, expands the research that was started in 2022, focusing on children in a broader range of living circumstances and including interviews with children and parents.

Principal Investigators

Rebecca Raby, CHYS, Brock University

Christine Yvette Tardif-Williams, CHYS, Brock University

Four people pose in front of a tree inside a brightly lit atrium.

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Erika Alegria (PhD student, Child and Youth Studies, Brock University) – ongoing
Frederick Oppong (PhD student, Child and Youth Studies, Brock University) – ongoing
Luiza Mattos Jobim da Costa (Completed MA student, Critical Sociology, Brock University) – 2023-2025