THE CASTLEGAR STUDY ON HOMELESSNESS AND LABOUR MOBILITY
Intersection
What would it look like if all of the people who are marginalized; the homeless, the impoverished, the traumatized, those with diverse abilities, those with mental health issues, the youth and the aged; what would it look like if all could participate in society with dignity?
We have dared to suppose that Castlegar could be a model of prosperity, if we had a means of making that happen.
Because this issue is truly the intersection of social policy and economics.
We can make this work.
Labour Mobility in a Rural Setting
Results
Major Findings:
- labour mobility is sensitive to social needs, and therefore to perceptions of risk and economic downturn. This sensitivity appears to be reciprocal in action, and central to productivity.
- Productivity is a mechanism by which economic depression is mediated. This also seems to be a reciprocal relationship.
- Housing shortages play a central role in labour mobility.
- Housing and labour mobility are strongly influenced by local and regional policies.
- Policies are reciprocally influenced by perceptions of community dialogues, but not equally so.
- Perceptions of community dialogues tend to be mediated and moderated by the media, but also by dialogues within the community.
- There appears to be a multi-level interaction between national, provincial, and local dialogues.
Recommendations:
- That each community foster and promote a community-centric culture. This idea replaces the out-dated ‘every man for himself’ narrative that still pervades Canadian culture.
- That each community should alter dialogues of homelessness and poverty to dialogues of productivity and labour mobility. Removing the stigma makes these pervasive issues into what amount to problem-solving exercises.
- That each community resolve the housing crisis by creating a more fluid and sustainable inventory of rentals and market housing.
- That the research community in general should conduct further inquiries into the global aspects of dialogue in terms of how they impact local economies.
