Community Safety,Housing Precariousness and Processes of Exclusion: An Institutional Ethnography from the Standpoints of Youth in an ‘Unsafe’ Urban Neighbourhood

Abstract

Using the alternative sociological approach, institutional ethnography, this article reveals how experiences growing up in social housing (re)produce conditions of oppression that exacerbate housing precariousness and other forms of exclusion. Data were generated through participant observation, textual analysis and in-depth qualitative interviews with Young People of Colour living in vulnerable urban neighbourhoods, designated as Neighbourhood Improvement Areas in Toronto, Canada. Findings reveal how discourse, policy and practice related to community safety comprise an institutional nexus, connecting policing with social housing. These intersectional institutional relations create conditions of continuous housing precarity; youth street involvement and homelessness; increased involvement in the youth criminal justice system; and a belief among economically marginalized Young People of Colour that the state does not care about their safety and inclusion.