Deviance as resistance: Class, race and homelessness Event as iCalendar

Shiloh Groot | University of Auckland

We are at an unprecedented point in Aotearoa New Zealand history. We are finally seeing the political will and a resourced commitment to responding to homelessness. However, the lack of focus on structural issues driving homelessness is short-sighted. Homelessness is not a neutral state, but rather one that is intimately interwoven with other experiences of being on the margins of society.

No nation is a blank historical slate, but we often treat Aotearoa New Zealand as if it were. Māori whānau are overrepresented in this group and therefore any approach working with providers to inform services will have a direct bearing on Māori. These are, after all, disparities caused largely by the Crown's own colonising, discriminatory and marginalising acts. Our work must disrupt the complacency that often comes with the comforts of being an academic and forge a stronger path towards realising core aspirations for Māori to live well, to leave improved legacies for future generations, and to remain distinctly Māori.

Shiloh Groot is a senior lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Auckland who works in the fields of Indigenous/Māori worldviews and communities, and homelessness and urban poverty. Shiloh is a long-standing member and former co-chair of the Tangata Whenua Caucus for the New Zealand Coalition to End Homelessness (NZCEH), where they have been asked to advice on the expansion of research strategies that will inform the development of national policy and service provision.

Nō Ngāti Uenukukōpako, nō Ngāti Pikiao a Shiloh Groot.