A Discourse Analysis Of News Coverage Related To The Geographies Of Wealth And Inequality In The UK

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Introduction

Rural homelessness in the UK has long been an overlooked issue, unlike urban homelessness, it tends to be hidden. Since 2010 the number of people sleeping rough in largely rural areas has increased by 32% according to the Institute for Public Policy, warning its difficult to relieve or prevent rural homelessness compared to cities due to problems covering large areas, as well as lack of funding and specialist resources (Slawson, 2017). In 2015-2016, 6,270 households in England were considered homeless in 91 rural local authorities (Snelling, 2017). Homeless individuals in rural areas regularly sleep rough in camp sites within woodlands, disused barns or outhouses. Often there are little or no shelters and temporary accommodation available due to the rurality of some towns and villages. The amount of households considered homeless by local authorities is largely as a result of substantial shortages of affordable housing and tenures in rural areas (Snelling, 2017). Furthermore, the failure of local authorities to acknowledge the housing insecurities of rural people is intensified by the often overlooked and hidden nature of rural homelessness, further combined with the social and cultural construction of the rural idyll (Cloke et al., 2002). Homelessness, traditionally depicted to just occur in urban areas, is absent from people’s conceptions about rural life. Idyllic images of the countryside and nostalgic ideas about village communities portrayed as ‘the dream’ that allows people to escape from the stresses of urban life mask serious experiences of deprivation and ineqality to which rural communities are vulnerable to, in turn undermining discussion about rural homelessness within academic research and popular news (Satsangi et al., 2010).

Literature Review

Cloke and his colleagues have been the main authors to conduct and publish research on rural homelessness in the UK. A central paper in the discussion of rural homelessness is Cloke et al., (2001) The Geographies of Homelessness in Rural England which highlights the limited amount of research is focused on the local geographies of homelessness in rural areas. The majority of research on homelessness has been conducted in the US and Canada which mainly concerns movements and understandings of homeless people within urban areas. Cloke et al., (2001) suggests the limited research on rural homelessness may be due to local homelessness statistics not being readily available to academic researchers, therefore research has broadly focused on aspatial areas of changing homelessness policy contexts (Burrows et al., 1997, Hutson and Clapham, 1999), particularly on homeless groups such as young persons (Hutson and Lidiard, 1994). Although these studies have supplied imperative material on dynamic scales and profiles of policy responses to homelessness in the UK, they fail to address the range of local circumstances in which homelessness takes place and is experienced in rural areas (Cloke et al, 2001). The limited academic research on rural homelessness is exacerbated by policy decisions of homelessness accustomed to governmental initiatives intended to reduce homelessness, social exclusion and poverty have largely been outlined by certain urban spatial foci. Therefore, since rural components of homelessness have been unnoticed in both academic discourses and fundamental policies, public consciousness about the nature of rural homelessness is limited or absent (Cloke et al, 2010).

In response to the absence of academic research and the public facade that constructs the countryside socially as a space where homelessness does not exist (Cloke et al, 2000), this project through discourse analysis aims to analyse how the problem of rural homelessness in the UK is represented within new articles, challenging popular discourses on homelessness in relation to the overarching ideas about the rural idyll masking rural homelessness.

Methodology

This project has employed discourse analysis to examine eight different articles regarding rural homelessness from The Guardian newspaper. When searching for my sample of suitable news articles, I searched the term ‘rural homelessness in the UK’ into Google News and found only a limited number of articles which focused on rural homelessness. In this search, I found The Guardian had published the most articles on the topic compared to other news brands. The Guardian is known for publishing emotive articles and is one of the most read and trusted brands of newspaper in the UK (Waterson, 2018). Therefore, this was an appropriate and fair choice of newspaper to conduct my discourse analysis, particularly as The Guardian uses emotive wording which could be significant in analysing representations of rural homelessness in their articles. In order to systematically and fairly select my samples, I used Google Trends to see if there was an upsurge in articles published on rural homelessness over the last 10 years. I discovered during the winter months in 2018 (January, February, November and December) several articles were published on rural homelessness. This could be due to the time of year, there is often more attention and recognition of the homeless in the news as the cold weather makes conditions dangerous for individuals. I also found that July 2017 also had an upsurge of articles published. I believe this upsurge was by cause of the 2017 Homeless Reduction Act 2017 along with the IPPR releasing their report ‘Right to home? Rethinking homelessness in rural communities’ in July 2017, publishing figures and recommendations on the crisis. Using this date range, I was able to select my eight articles, five are from the winter months in 2018 and three from July 2017. Once I had obtained my sample, I coded the articles in order to identify any themes that recurred throughout my sample (shown in Table 1), which therefore formed the discussion in this project.

Discussion

This analysis reveals different representations of the rural homeless within the sample. A reoccurring theme in several of the articles addressed spatialised discourses as a reason for the increasing number of rough sleepers since 2010. Services and local councils are unable to offer their support due to the vast, difficult location of some of the homeless individuals. Another emerging theme was the misconceptions regarding rural homelessness, masked by ideas of the idyllic rural, consequently exacerbated by policy decisions, unaffordable housing and local councils not adequately addressing the issue. The following section will examine these patterns of representation and how the chosen news articles construct popular understanding of rural homelessness to the public.

Many of the articles featured several real-life stories of homeless individuals, describing how they became homeless and the difficult living conditions they now experiences: “Patrick Button clambers down a muddy ditch and into a clump of trees between a playing field and the busy Chippenham bypass. It’s the kind of place you wouldn’t notice, never mind call home…… Button worked as a carer and shared a two-bedroom home with a long-term partner. When she died suddenly, he lost the house, and within weeks he found himself shifting a rotting badger’s carcass to make room for his tent on the outskirts of the Wiltshire town” (Booth, 2018).

“Nicholas Shipton, 53, once owned three houses and had his own landscape gardening business…But when his wife left him, he says he went off the rails. He found an abandoned factory, sleeping on some car seats inside: “It had a roof but it was horrible. I used to hide there every day, then go out and steal things to eat” (Noor, 2018).

Describing in detail the location where the individuals sleep and highlighting the wider context of the rurality of the area enables the reader to envisage the harsh conditions individuals must live in, representing them as vulnerable and exposed in these open areas. Furthermore, using the real names of individuals and explaining the reason why they’re homeless adds an emotive dimension to their stories, consequently making the reader feel sympathy towards them. This vulnerable depiction is further reinforced by the article displaying photographs of individuals in their living conditions. For example, Booth’s (2018) article Down and out in Chippenham: Britiain’s hidden rural homelessness, displays a photograph at the top of the article of Patrick Button siting in a wooded area where his tent was burned down. Therefore, generally these articles represent the homeless as victims. As referenced, aspects of these articles tend to highlight the circumstances of the homeless individual, which portray rural homelessness as embedded in personal misfortunes or failings e.g. family break-ups. As Truong (2012) indicates, this contends popular belief when news articles focus on the personal characteristics and behaviours, specifically ‘deviancy’. However, this discourse leads the reader to believe the accountability for homelessness is likely positioned on homeless people themselves rather than structural causes.

With that said, personal circumstances do not explain the causes or effects of rural homelessness in terms of social inequality. Other sections of the articles represent homeless individuals as a product of geographical disadvantages compounded by structural disadvantages within local authorities and governmental policies, in turn also depicting them as victims. These articles highlighted spatialised discourses of rural homelessness, repeatedly using terms such as ‘hidden’, ‘unseen’, ‘tucked away’. Although the definition of these terms implies the rural homeless individuals are purposely not seen, it symbolises a form of social exclusion and challenges popular discourses about homelessness only occurring in urban areas. The terms were often expressed in association with support services provided by councils struggling to access the homeless due to vast and remote locations “Geography is a massive issue” (Noor, 2018). Current polices are failing to address the needs of individuals in rural areas which is supported by statistics from the recent 2017 report from the IPPR. This discussion within the articles suggests its structural causes are accountable for the increase in rural homelessness. Almost all the articles analysed in this project quoted statistics about the extent of rural homelessness, largely asserting the large increase in rural homelessness: “IPPR thinktank shows a 42% rise in rough sleeping in England’s 91 predominantly rural local authorities between 2010, when there were 397 rough sleepers, and 2016, when there were 565” (Noor, 2018).

Although quoting stats is an informative way of portraying the severity of rural homelessness, readers may feel far removed from the issues and extent of the poverty individuals face in rural areas. Statistics are not always impactful compared to describing individual stories and using photographs as there is no human aspect tied to them to make them relatable (Street Spirit, 2015), therefore readers do not grasp rural homelessness on a personal, emotive level. Booths (2018) article also explains how local councils often underestimate their figures of the number of rough sleepers in their area, unlike homelessness in urban areas, within the countryside the “homeless are elusive” making it hard for authorities to adequately count. Subsequently, this incorrect data will be given to central government and use to assist policy decisions. Cloke et al., (2000) contends that the sheer visibility of rural homelessness dominates government initiatives and does not address the issue correctly.

This reduced visibility becomes contrasted with issues of idyllised constructions of rurality. Several articles either at the beginning or within the article somewhat described the countryside in the context of the rural idyll. These descriptions were also reinforced by landscape images of the countryside.

“From this vantage point the eye travels west up the deep Swaledale valley, with the late-afternoon sun falling on woodland and fields of sheep…. Along the valley floor there are occasional glints of the meanders of the river Swale itself and, in among the valley folds, villages and farms and hamlets, like outcrops of local stone” (Adams, 2017).

“Take a drive through the Mendip hills in Somerset and you’ll come across some beautiful countryside sights: fresh mist rolling over green hills dotted with welly-clad dog walkers” (Noor, 2018).

Peoples impressions of charming, picturesque representations of rural areas combined with the reduce visibility leads to the denial of the presence of homelessness. As Cloke et al., (2002) highlights, homelessness is thus depicted external to the countryside. The purity of the rural space is linked to the broader cultural construction of rurality that comprises ‘naturalness’ (p:79) as a location for unorthodox or idyllic lifestyles. Therefore, homeless individuals are composed to not relate to or belong in this space, which in turn forms a major cultural prompt within public consciousness and the media to recognise rural homelessness as valid part and concerning issue in their discourses.

Conclusion

To conclude, the hidden visibility of rural homelessness is largely the reason for the absence of the topic in news articles and within public consciousness which has consequently meant it is a problem that is not taken seriously. This absence if further distorted by notions of the rural idyll masking the reality and problems surrounding rural homelessness. Many of the articles focused on spatialised discourses, leading to the assumption that services are unable to give the support to the homeless. There is an awareness within local councils but mainly within local charities and churches helping homeless individuals on a day to day basis. Clearly more research needs to be implemented within academia along with local councils carrying out thorough searches and counts to be more aware of the extent of rural homelessness. In turn governmental policies and initiatives can adequately prevent and lower the rates of rural homelessness.

News sources

Adams, T. (2017) Countryside in crisis: why rural Britain needs a new deal. The Guardian. Last accessed: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/15/countryside-crisis-rural-britain-north-yorkshire (Last accessed 3/3/2019).
Booth, R. (2018) Down and out in Chippenham: Britain’s hidden rural homeless. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/dec/14/down-and-out-in-chippenham-britains-hidden-rural-homeless (Last accessed 6/3/2019).
Booth, R. (2018) Rise in homelessness not result of our policies, says housing secretary. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/18/rising-homelessness-is-not-due-to-tory-policies-says-james-brokenshire (Last accessed 3/3/2018).
Jones, S. (2017) Rural Wales ‘perfect storm’ will lead to rising homelessness. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2013/jan/24/rural-wales-perfect-storm-housing-homelessness (Last accessed 4/3/2019).
Noor, S. (2018) What’s behind the quiet rise of homelessness in the countryside? The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/jan/10/rural-idyll-homelessness-hits-the-countryside (Last accessed 6/3/2019).
Pepinster, C. (2018) How rural vicars became the last social workers in the countryside. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/07/pepinster-poverty-rural-poor-herefordshire-priests-church-of-england-society (Last accessed 4/3/2019).
Slawson, N. (2017) Rural homelessness ‘hidden crisis’ needs attention, says thinkthank. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global/2017/jul/10/rural-homelessness-hidden-crisis-needs-attention-says-thinktank (Last accessed 6/3/2019).
Snelling, C. (2018) We need a national strategy to tackle rural homelessness. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2018/jan/10/national-strategy-tackle-rural-homelessness- (Last accessed 4/3/2019).

References

Burrows, R. (1997) The social distribution of the experience of homelessness. In: Burrows, R., Pearce, N., and Quilgards, D. (eds.) Homelessness and Social Policy. London: Routledge.
Cloke, P. and Widdowfield, R. (2000) The Hidden and Emerging Spaces of Rural Homelessness. Environment and Planning, 32, 77-99. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1068/a3242 (Last accessed 6/3/2019).
Cloke, P., Milbourne, P. and Widdowfield, R. (2002) Rural Homelessness: Issues, Experiences and Policy Responses. Bristol: Policy Press.
Cloke, P., Milbourne, P. and Widdowfield, R. (2010) The Geographies of Homelessness in Rural England. Regional Studies, 35, (1), 23-27. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00343400120025655?needAccess=true (Last accessed 3/3/2019).
Hutson, S. and Clapham, D. (1999) (eds.) Homelessness: Public Policies and Private Troubles. London: Cassell.
Hutson, S. and Liddiard, M. (1994) Youth Homelessness: The Construction of a Social Issue. London: Macmillan.
Satsangi, M., Gallent, N. and Bevan, M. (2010) The rural housing question: communities and planning in Britain’s countrysides. Bristol: Policy Press.
[bookmark: _Hlk2800970]Snelling, C. (2017) Right to home?: Rethinking homelessness in rural communities, IPPR. http://www.ippr.org/publications/right-to-home (Last accessed 5/3/2019)
Street Spirit. (2015) How homelessness is distorted in the media. Available at: http://www.thestreetspirit.org/how-homelessness-is-distorted-in-the-media/ (Last accessed 6/3/2019)
Truong, S. V. (2012) ‘Please Do Not Feed the Homeless:’ The Role of Stereotyping and Media Framing on the Criminalization of Homelessness, unpublished PhD thesis, University of California. Available at: https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt9jv4v5nw/qt9jv4v5nw.pdf?t=mhga2e (Last accessed 5/3/2019).
Waterson, J. (2018) Guardian named UK’s most trusted newspaper. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/oct/31/guardian-rated-most-trusted-newspaper-brand-in-uk-study (Last accessed 4/3/2019).

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