Ending Homelessness: What is to Be Done

Vin Lyon-Callo

A Podcast Featuring Discussions with Academics, Activists, and Advocates. It is hard to imagine today but there was a time in the not too distant past without so many people living in camps, on the streets, or in shelters. How did today's conditions of homelessness being largely accepted as "just the way things" are come to be? Why is it that despite the well-meaning helping efforts and hundreds of millions of dollars spent over the last four decades homelessness remains widespread?  How has homelessness become as American as Apple Pie, Football, and Mass Shootings?   And, of course, it is not just the US as homelessness has become a normal part of the social landscape of nations across the globe. Can we imagine and enact different policies and practices that might prevent and end homelessness? Vin Lyon-Callo has been asking these questions in his research, teaching, and activism for the last four decades.  Through conversations and dialogue with activists, advocates, and academics, this podcast aims to explore how we got here and return our attention to the quest to end homelessness rather than simply manage people who are homeless or unhoused.

  1. 5 Oct

    Homelessness, Mental Health, and the Possibility of Thriving: Discussion with Carrie Anne Marshall

    Economic insecurity, housing insecurity, and emotional insecurity are rampant in North America today.  Are these interconnected or separate issues?  If we are to fully understand homelessness and housing challenges, don’t we need to consider the material and non-material conditions that help to produce and maintain homelessness in interconnected ways?  Do sentiments about who deserve housing or even to live well need to be considered?  What can be done?  Can homelessness be prevented? Can people thrive after homelessness? Is housing itself a solution?  I am thrilled to have Carrie Anne Marshall join me on the Ending Homelessness: What is to Be Done? podcast today to discuss work done with a range of colleagues that can help lend important insights to these questions. Professor Marshall is Director of the Social Justice in Mental Health Research Lab in the School of Occupational Therapy at Western University in Ontario and the Research Chair in Homelessness Prevention and Mental Health Equity there as well.   She is the co-author on multiple insightful research papers that we draw from in our discussion as well as the 2026 co-authored book “Bridging the Transition to Housing: A Homelessness Prevention Framework.  The conversation explores the interconnected issues of economic, housing, and emotional insecurity, particularly in the context of homelessness. It emphasizes the importance of social connections and community support in addressing these challenges. The conversation delves into the multifaceted challenges of homelessness, emphasizing the importance of community connection, a life with meaning, countering loneliness and boredom, the stigma faced by unhoused individuals, and the need for systemic change in addressing these issues. It highlights the experiences of both those affected by homelessness and the service providers working to support them, the possibilities of prevention of homelessness, and the hope for crafting communities and housing where people can thrive rather than just survive.

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A Podcast Featuring Discussions with Academics, Activists, and Advocates. It is hard to imagine today but there was a time in the not too distant past without so many people living in camps, on the streets, or in shelters. How did today's conditions of homelessness being largely accepted as "just the way things" are come to be? Why is it that despite the well-meaning helping efforts and hundreds of millions of dollars spent over the last four decades homelessness remains widespread?  How has homelessness become as American as Apple Pie, Football, and Mass Shootings?   And, of course, it is not just the US as homelessness has become a normal part of the social landscape of nations across the globe. Can we imagine and enact different policies and practices that might prevent and end homelessness? Vin Lyon-Callo has been asking these questions in his research, teaching, and activism for the last four decades.  Through conversations and dialogue with activists, advocates, and academics, this podcast aims to explore how we got here and return our attention to the quest to end homelessness rather than simply manage people who are homeless or unhoused.

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