Interviews with Staff in Homelessness Sector During the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2022

The research, entitled Homelessness during COVID-19: Homeless Migrants in a Global Crisis, took a biographical life story approach to understand the experiences of 43 non-UK nationals who experienced homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first phase of the project, and in order to gain insight into the homelessness sector, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 37 people across nine homelessness organisations. The focus of the interviews was on migrant homelessness before and during the pandemic. Due to ethical reasons, we are not able to upload data from the life story interviews that we conducted with migrants experiencing homelessness. However, the data from the semi-structured interviews with staff in the homelessness sector that we have submitted to the UK Data Service helped us to frame our research and provided much-needed contextual information during the pandemic.<p>People experiencing homelessness are disproportionately impacted by coronavirus. Despite government efforts to place rough sleepers in hotels to contain the spread of the disease, many migrants sleeping rough with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) have been left behind at the height of a global pandemic. This project, involving researchers from University of Portsmouth, University of Sussex and St Mungo's, the homeless charity, will produce an 18-month qualitative-based study of migrant homelessness framed by the wider global and national context. Working with two of St Mungo's migrant services, Street Legal, St Mungo's legal team and Routes Home, a service supporting people sleeping rough from outside of the UK, a particular focus of the study will be the experience of non-UK nationals and their attempts, during the crisis, to resolve their immigration status. Many of these migrants are at the sharpest end of homelessness: almost 1,000 rough sleepers housed in emergency accommodation in London have NRPF (Heath, 2020).

Most migrant homeless clients are faced with multiple everyday challenges; they experience the hostility and aggression directed toward homeless people, compounded with often intense experiences of racism. Migrant homeless clients are also likely to be afraid of 'authorities' for various reasons including fear of deportation by the Home Office and personal histories of violent persecution by state actors in their original countries of belonging. During the pandemic, increased numbers of police on the streets have created high anxiety for refugees/asylum seekers and destitute migrants who report being retriggered with PTSD symptoms, with no access to NHS mental health services that are now delivered primarily remotely and are restricted access except to those patients who have access to free or cheap wifi, or unlimited phone credit (Munt 2020). A cultural miasma of fear and anxiety due to pandemic can affect such vulnerable minority groups particularly forcefully, with public attitudes generating direct aggression toward perceived 'outsiders' as harbingers of disease. Historically, the discourse of the 'stranger' (Ahmed 1991) or foreigner as bringer of disease has been well recognised within cultural sociology (Munt 2007), and as cultural suspicion grows under such conditions, feelings of alienation and estrangement amongst vulnerable groups intensifies.

The project will innovate by examining the biographical and life history narratives of St Mungo's clients in London in relation to their experiences of homelessness during the coronavirus crisis. Alongside semi-structured interviews, we will use participatory research methods including peer research, autoethnographic diaries, mobile phone photo-ethnographies and life history narratives in order to capture the rich and emotive narratives of those experiencing crisis. In doing so, we will examine the intersection of personal histories, complex global processes and the dynamics of the particular situation (Stewart, 2012, 2013). Researching vulnerable groups requires ethical sensitivity. It carries the danger of risking more disappointment among the respondents and exacerbating intense feelings of loneliness and isolation. To avoid this, and to make a positive intervention, we will seek to engage clients with services and support as part of the research project. Based on its findings, and working with St Mungo's partners, the project will make recommendations for measures that can be taken across the UK and elsewhere to support the homeless, particularly those most vulnerable, during times of crisis.</p>

本研究题为《新冠疫情期间的无家可归问题：全球危机中的无家可归移民》，采用传记式生命叙事研究方法，旨在探究43名在新冠疫情期间经历无家可归的非英国国籍人士的生存体验。本项目第一阶段为深入了解无家可归服务领域现状，我们与9家无家可归者救助机构的37名工作人员开展了半结构化访谈，访谈核心聚焦疫情前后的移民无家可归问题。出于伦理考量，我们无法上传针对无家可归移民开展的生命叙事访谈数据。但我们提交至英国数据服务中心（UK Data Service）的无家可归服务领域工作人员半结构化访谈数据，为本次研究搭建了分析框架，并为疫情期间的研究提供了亟需的背景信息。

无家可归群体受新冠疫情的冲击远超普通人群。尽管英国政府曾推动将露宿者安置至酒店以遏制病毒传播，但在全球疫情最严峻的时期，众多拥有无公共资金求助权（No Recourse to Public Funds, NRPF）的露宿移民被排除在救助之外。本项目由朴茨茅斯大学、萨塞克斯大学以及无家可归者慈善机构圣芒戈（St Mungo's）的研究人员共同参与，将开展一项为期18个月的质性研究，聚焦移民无家可归问题，研究框架依托更广泛的全球与国家语境。我们将与圣芒戈旗下的两项移民服务项目——街道法律（Street Legal，圣芒戈法务团队）以及支持英国以外国家露宿者的「返乡之路」（Routes Home）开展合作。本次研究的核心关注对象为非英国国籍人士，以及他们在危机期间解决移民身份的尝试。这类移民大多处于无家可归问题的最前沿：伦敦紧急住宿场所中近千名露宿者均持有无公共资金求助权身份（Heath, 2020）。

多数无家可归的移民服务对象面临多重日常困境：他们不仅承受针对无家可归群体的敌意与攻击，还往往伴随着强烈的种族主义经历。同时，出于多种原因，这些移民往往对「官方机构」心存畏惧——包括担心被英国内政部（Home Office）驱逐出境，以及在原居住国曾遭受国家行为者的暴力迫害。疫情期间，街头警力增加令难民/寻求庇护者以及赤贫移民陷入高度焦虑，他们报告称创伤后应激障碍（Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD）症状被再度触发，而当前英国国民保健署（NHS）的心理健康服务主要以远程方式提供，且仅对能获取免费/廉价Wi-Fi或拥有无限额手机话费的患者开放，此类群体难以获得相关服务（Munt 2020）。疫情带来的恐惧与焦虑形成的文化阴霾，对这类脆弱的少数群体冲击尤为强烈，公众对被视为「疾病携带者」的「外来者」的直接攻击情绪加剧。文化社会学领域早已对「陌生人」（Ahmed 1991）或「外来者作为疾病传播者」的话语有充分研究（Munt 2007），而在这类情境下，文化猜忌愈演愈烈，脆弱群体的疏离感与被隔绝感也随之加剧。

本项目将通过探究伦敦圣芒戈服务对象的传记与生命史叙事，分析其在新冠疫情期间的无家可归体验，实现研究创新。除半结构化访谈外，我们还将采用同伴研究、自民族志日记、手机摄影民族志以及生命史叙事等参与式研究方法，以捕捉经历危机群体丰富且饱含情感的叙事。借此，我们将考察个人经历、复杂全球进程与特定情境动态之间的交互关系（Stewart, 2012, 2013）。针对脆弱群体的研究需要高度的伦理敏感性，此类研究存在让受访者进一步失望、加剧其孤独与隔绝感的风险。为规避这一问题并开展积极干预，我们将在研究过程中协助服务对象对接相关服务与支持。基于研究发现，本项目将与圣芒戈的合作方携手，为英国乃至全球范围内的危机时期无家可归群体，尤其是最脆弱的群体，提出可行的支持措施建议。