Espaces in/habitables. Pratiques, affects et récits de femmes entre un projet d’habitat solidaire pour femmes sans-abri et la ville (Bruxelles, 2017-2019)

Abstract

This article is based on the research I conducted about homeless women in Brussels, aimed at understanding how the various spatial dimensions of the city participate in the construction and deconstruction of power relations. Drawing on the ethnographic fieldwork I did between 2017 and 2019 with women living in a ‘solidary housing program for homeless women’, I analyse both the pragmatic and affective relationships to space of three women, between the ‘solidary’ housing and the city. In doing so, my aim is on the one hand, to give an account of a reality that is often un(der)recongnised and little explored. On the other hand, my purpose is to question the gendered nature of categories such as vulnerability and solidarity which have proven being ineffective in formulating housing proposals that are acceptable for the women themselves. In doing so, they end up reproducing and enhancing gendered inequalities and marginalisation processes.

Keywords

• women
• homeless
• relationship to space
• solidary housing
• Brussels