Faces of Homelessness in the Asia Pacific

This book contributes to learning and scholarship in the area of homelessness, with a special focus on critical and international policy and practice. It will contribute to knowledge in the field of homelessness by offering critical analyses of state responses to the issue in the Asia Pacific, acknowledging diverse global and local social inequalities. As the book is interdisciplinary, it will also contribute knowledge to diverse disciplines, including social planning, geography, social and public policy, social work and homelessness, from countries in the Asia Pacific region. This book offers critical understandings of the problem of homelessness that recognise the role of social inequalities, such as along the lines of class, gender, race and ethnicity.

Dr Carole Zufferey has been researching social work, homelessness, home and housing since 2001. Prior to being an academic, she was a social work practitioner in the field homelessness. She worked as a social work practitioner in diverse practice contexts, in rural and urban locations since 1989 in Australia and the UK. She has extensive experience as a social work practitioner and researcher in the fields of home, homelessness and social work. She teaches advanced social work practice to undergraduate and postgraduate social work students and case management to social science students. Her current research projects include exploring intersectionality and social work responses to homelessness, examining notions of home and homelessness as they relate to cultural diversity, migration, gender, sexuality, age and class backgrounds as well as researching the impact of domestic violence on women’s housing, health and employment. She has published extensively, particularly in the field of social work and homelessness since 2004.

Dr Nilan Yu is a lecturer in social work at the University of South Australia. He has been involved in teaching and researching social work and social development since 1997. Before working as a social work academic, he was engaged in community development work in urban communities populated by informal settlers/squatters in the Philippines. His practice experience also includes work with Indigenous communities and rural/farming communities. He teaches human rights and community development, social research, and working with human service organisations to undergraduate and postgraduate social work students. His current research interests are in the areas of disability, migration and its intersections with disability, ageing and conceptions of home, critical practice and policy. His current research projects include exploring the experience of ageing amongst older migrants, particularly how this relates to their well-being and notions of home, and the protection of the welfare of overseas workers in the contexts of an increasingly globalised world. He has published in some of the top international journals in social work on social work practice, social welfare and social policy, disability and migration since 2006.