Decommodifying People, Places and Planet

 

With the acceptance of a ‘growth at all costs’ mindset, the fulfillment of basic human needs has been made contingent on individuals’ contributions to a profoundly unfair economy. Similarly, the planet has been recast as an economic entity that is only valuable insofar as it generates profit, disregarding its inherent value as the source of all life. As such, true eradication of both homelessness and poverty necessitates breaking the cycle perpetuated by the insufficient and incomplete framework we currently approach these issues with. A more nuanced understanding of the experiences of individuals and families in these contexts is necessary to inform effective policymaking and community engagement. Homelessness and displacement should not be seen as a personal failure but rather as the structural failure and human rights violation that they are. Social justice for all requires a paradigm shift which de-commodifies people, place, and planet, and which orients development to the full realization of human rights, regardless of one’s socioeconomic status or the extractive potential/climate vulnerability of the place they call home. It requires a new frame which exposes not just the individual injustices of homelessness, but also the broader systems which engender, foster, and profit from the unequal and unsustainable status quo in both the Global North and the Global South. When social justice is prioritized, human rights are upheld, sustainable and fair development is advanced, and widespread systemic inequalities like poverty and homelessness are addressed.