Services and correction: Governance and legal geographies of supportive housing in Abbotsford, British Columbia

Supportive Housing has dramatically expanded in British Columbia over the past decade, serving as a major arm of the provincial subsidized housing apparatus. Housing more than twelve thousand people, these locations are run by non-profits using government funding. Supportive housing differs significantly from other rented housing; functionally, its residents are not entitled to basic tenancy protections such as privacy, freedom of movement, and prior notice to evictions. Working with the Abbotsford Drug War Survivors, this research investigates the experiences of residents in supportive housing, the relations which supportive housing policies create inside and outside their walls, and the ways these relations are contingent on the workings of law. I trace the ways that precariously housed individuals enter supportive housing, the challenges they encounter in this housing, and the sudden and discretionary evictions which most commonly end their housing tenure. Throughout these stages, I argue that supportive housing operates always alongside an understanding of precariously housed individuals as chronically in need of correction.