“No Place Like Home?”

Abstract

The concept of “home” is subject to individual interpretations; a “home” may be conceived of as a physical space, such as a building/house, a geographical space such as a street, a town or a community, or a place where meaningful social relationships and/or kinship are fostered. Consider, then, what would happen to our understandings of “home” if seen from the perspectives of young people that are “home-less” and estranged from their families and kin groups, sometimes due to their sexual orientation. This article presents results from a research project conducted together with Kentish homelessness charity Porchlight. The aim of the research is to formulate an understanding of the lived realities of homeless LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) youth (ages 16–25). Young people who identify as LGB or T are often victims of hate crime, bullying, harassment, violence, oppression, discrimination, and social exclusion in the home, in schools, and in the community at large. In many cases, these factors can contribute to alienation from the family home and subsequently result in homelessness. Here, I look specifically at how young people experience home and homelessness in relation to kin and social relationships, and drawing from anthropological literature on “the house”, “home”, kinship and “liminality”, I consider how these concepts can better inform our understanding of LGBT youth homelessness.     

Homelessness in Ottawa County Michigan: The “Gap” Population

Abstract

Homelessness has gained increasing attention since the 1980s in the United States. And the numbers of individuals and families experiencing homelessness are growing, with a 20,000 person, or 3% increase, from 2008 through 2009 (“State of Homelessness,” 2011). In spite of persistent investigation and activism on how to prevent and end homelessness, there is not agreement on what causes homelessness or how to stop it (McNamara, 2009). What is apparent, however, is that the homeless population is not homogenous. Therefore, the standard models of service, whether from governmental or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), end up neglecting the needs of portions of the population of people who face homelessness. Governmental and non-governmental service providers have recognized the existence of the unique sub-populations of people who are homeless and are attempting to understand and meet the needs of people outside the prevailing understanding of homelessness. This project works with a collaborative of such service providers through a multiple methodological approach to generate better understanding on the two key areas necessary to create models of service for people who are in the “gap” subsector of the homeless population. First, investigation was undertake to learn systematically who is included in the “gap” population among the homeless community, or, in other words, what traits those who continue to cycle in and out of homelessness, and thus are part of this “gap” population, share. Secondly, the project explores what organizations are currently serving these people, and how are they doing so. In other words, this project also ask what are the trends or practices that exist nationally and locally for serving people who fall into this category of homelessness? Findings suggest central traits including mental illness, substance abuse and a history of incarceration as factors spanning members of the “gap” population. Though there are caveats and practices to be avoided, these people are surviving or even thriving through the service primarily of faith-based non-governmental organizations, unfettered by the policy and funding constraints of governmental entities.     

Psychologists’ roles in ending homelessness

Homelessness in the U.S. remains a pernicious social problem despite national coordinated efforts to end it. Psychologists are well positioned to address homelessness through direct service, advocacy, research, and policy work. Results of a survey of psychologist members (n?=?197) and student members (n?=?209) of the American Psychological Association highlighted activities they engaged in related to helping people who experience housing instability and showed psychologists are more compassionate toward those who experience homelessness than is the general public. Respondents suggested a number of factors that would encourage their greater involvement with homelessness issues including receiving more focused training, increased funding for services, and simply being asked by someone to help. Given the continued problem of homelessness, psychologists can play an important role in supporting those who are in this situation. Suggestions for increasing training and engagement of psychologists are discussed.     

Precarious social inclusion: chronic homelessness and impaired decision-making capacity

This paper presents findings from an online survey of practitioners working in the homelessness sector in Australia, that explored practitioner perspectives of policy and service delivery to people with impaired decision-making capacity who experience chronic homelessness. This paper identifies from the research that unrealistic, inflexible and conditional policy, program and service responses from both the public and community sectors restrict positive outcomes for people with impaired decision-making capacity who are chronically homeless. These are significantly affected by sectoral silos whereby service types could not coordinate to facilitate adequate support. Supportive practices constructed of unconditional, flexible and wrap around support are needed along with “no exclusion” eligibility criteria for access to services. New approaches are needed in developing policy and delivering human services to people with impaired decision-making capacity that redress chronic homelessness, and enhance the prosperity of social inclusion for this vulnerable group of people.     

Working with Homeless Populations to Increase Access to Services: A Social Service Providers’ Perspective Through the Lens of Stereotyping and Stigma

Through the lens of stereotyping and stigma, this article examines discrimination and prejudice toward homeless families from the perspective of social service providers. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with practitioners. A critical social work practice perspective is used to provide a framework for understanding how social worker knowledge about discrimination and prejudice informs the ways in which the workers engage with clients, build capacities, and advocate for clients in an anti-oppressive manner. The themes found in this study include: a) providers’ awareness of bias, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination; b) providers’ use of a range of strategies to work with people experiencing homelessness; c) providers’ ideas about strategies that organizations can implement for service provision; and) providers’ belief that additional advocacy and policy are needed in relationship to people experiencing homelessness.     

On the Edge of Homelessness: Rural Poverty and Housing Insecurity1

Abstract Homelessness in rural America is a problem hardly recognized, little understood, and only minimally studied by rural sociologists. This article, based on long-term field research in upstate New York, sets the problem of rural homelessness in context, explains the increase in rural poverty that puts more people at risk of homelessness, and examines some trends in rural housing that reduce the ability of poorer residents to secure adequate shelter. The nature of housing insecurity and the strategies poor rural people use to keep themselves from becoming literally homeless are noted. Interviews and questionnaires conducted among insecurely-housed low-income people and interviews and records supplied by agencies and institutions serving the poor provide the information on which arguments are based. The conclusion is that the definition of homelessness should be broadened for rural usage to encompass poor people on the edge of or at high risk of homelessness; also, programs to assist the homeless and prevent homelessness must be appropriate for rural situations.     

Pet ownership and homelessness: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

Between 5 and 25% of people experiencing homelessness have pets. Pet ownership can have a range of impacts in the lives of people experiencing homelessness, which may mitigate or further complicate the many adversities they face. However, there is a need to better understand the benefits and challenges associated with pet ownership to determine how this group can be best supported. Accordingly, a scoping review was conducted using PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar to address the question: What are the effects of pet ownership on people experiencing homelessness? All of the 18 reviewed studies used either qualitative or cross-sectional research designs. Three domains have been principally examined in relation to pet ownership and homelessness: (1) psychological health and purpose; (2) social support and connection; and (3) access to housing, employment, and service use. Physical health, violence, and crime were less frequently studied. Although the findings offer further support that there are both benefits and liabilities to pet ownership for people experiencing homelessness, there is a critical need for more rigorous research, including longitudinal and intervention studies. Recommendations for developing more pet-friendly services and using a strengths-based approach that considers animal companionship when working with people experiencing housing instability are also discussed.     

Reframing risk for transgender and gender-expansive young people experiencing homelessness

This article expands conceptualizations of homelessness among transgender and gender-expansive young people beyond those associated solely with risk and victimization. Participants were 27 New York City–based transgender and gender-expansive young people (between the ages of 18 and 25) with histories of homelessness. This exploratory inquiry utilized semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 60 minutes. Participants shared another side of their homeless experiences that challenge the risk paradigm, describing their homes as primary sites of risk, from which they were fortunate to escape. Once homeless, they described finding a community of which they felt a part, accessing information they needed, and developing skills of which they were proud. The findings from this study have the potential to guide practice, policy, and research and to inform prevention and intervention strategies for transgender and gender-expansive young people experiencing homelessness.     

Homelessness in Sweden–discussion,patterns, and causes

In a number of countries in Western Europe and in North America homelessness has come to the fore once again over the last 15-20 years, a fact to which many books and surveys bear witness. In a number of countries, organizations have been formed both for and by the homeless.¹Newspapers sold on the street to promote the cause of the homeless are becoming an increasingly common sight.²Despite this trend there is at present still no generally acknowledged explanation of the cause of homelessness and we do not know whether the causes are the same in the social democratic European welfare states, in the USA and Canada, or in countries with a poorly developed welfare system. Nor do we know whether homelessness for the individual is a short-term or permanent state. This article highlights Swedish homelessness. It is based on the results of a research project which I ran from 1993 to 1998.³The article has three objectives. First, I wish to provide a brief presentation of the issue of Swedish homelessness using, among other things, a study of how the media have dealt with the issue. Secondly, I wish to discuss the pattern of homelessness in Sweden and provide an explanation of why the length of homelessness varies. Thirdly, I wish to highlight the question of how we explain why people can be homeless in a country where social welfare and housing policies have, decade after decade, been directed at eradicating housing problems. The last two questions were highlighted in a case study conducted by me in Malmö, the country's third largest city.     

A habitus of instability: youth homelessness and instability

This research introduces the concept of a habitus of insecurity to account for the lives of homeless young people. It outlines how conditions of existence are internalised and how homeless young people come to expect and in turn recreate instability in their lives. This research addresses the internalisation and naturalisation of experiences of instability, insecurity and marginalisation and how people can come to subjectively aspire to what they are socialised to see as objectively probable or ‘for the likes of them'. The research draws on ethnographic research and participant observation to examine the complex lives of homeless young people and how they are shaped by instability and insecurity inculcated before, during and after experiences of homelessness. This research highlights that people should not be defined merely by their experiences of homelessness of housing status, but by the complex array of conditions that shape their lives.     

Conditional Families and Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,Transgender, and Queer Youth Homelessness: Gender,Sexuality, Family Instability,and Rejection

Existing research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth homelessness identifies family rejection as a main pathway into homelessness for the youth. This finding, however, can depict people of color or poor people as more prejudiced than White, middle‐class families. In this 18‐month ethnographic study, the author complicates this rejection paradigm through documenting the narratives of 40 LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness. The author examines how poverty and family instability shaped the conditions that the youth perceived as their being rejected because of their gender and sexuality. This rejection generated strained familial ties within families wherein the ties were already fragile. Likewise, the author shows how being gender expansive marked many youth's experiences of familial abuse and strain. This study proposes the concept of conditional families to capture the social processes of how poverty and family instability shape experiences of gender, sexuality, and rejection for some LGBTQ youth.     

Studies of resilience among youth experiencing homelessness: A systematic review

This article systematically reviews studies exploring resilience among youth experiencing homelessness. We searched eight databases, and 21 articles fit the inclusion criteria and represented four methodologies: qualitative (n = 7, 33.3%), survey and secondary data analysis (n = 8, 38.1%), quantitative (n = 4, 19.1%), and mixed-method (n = 2, 9.5%) designs. Studies indicate that youth experiencing homelessness rely on informal social networks for survival, and that spirituality, mental health, and creativity are associated with enhanced coping. More experimental and intervention studies are necessary to support evidence-based resilience practices. Additionally, researchers need to exercise more self-awareness about how stereotypical pejorative paradigms may constrain innovative, strengths-based scholarship.     

Social Communities and Homelessness: A Broader Concept Analysis of Social Relationships and Homelessness

Pathways to and from homelessness were examined from the perspective of people who were both employed and homeless in Calgary, Alberta. Based on data collected through semi-structured open-end interviews (n = 61) with employed homeless people (N estimated at 2,400), we found that respondents identified aspects of five predominant social relationships that had the greatest impact on their present homeless situation: relationships with friends and family, acquaintances in shared accommodation, landlords and employers, other homeless people, and the social service delivery system. The findings provide a model for beginning to understand the complex social communities in which homelessness exists. Further research needs to explore the relationship between service providers and individuals' other social relationships and the role those can play in finding a pathway from homelessness.     

Evaluating the heterogeneity of street life and homelessness in adolescent research

Researchers of homelessness have been careful to delineate the heterogeneity of adolescent homelessness and street involvement when defining and differentiating street life experiences around the globe. Understanding these experiences poses challenges to researchers as adolescents across these locations come to the street at various stages of transition and homelessness yet share similarities. In this article, we review homeless research to understand both the heterogeneous characteristics and experiences adolescents have when they become involved in street life and homelessness around the world, as well as the similarities and differences they globally share. We review and compare general definitions of street life and homelessness presented in observations of young people on the street in the developed and developing worlds. We then explore interrelated characteristics outlined by researchers across these studies and locations, namely, the homeless status of street life participants and their socialization to street life as well as their network affiliations. Although this collected body of work reveals a complex heterogeneity of street involvement among all those that participate, it also shows how the young and street involved around the globe share these commonalities with one another which challenges the frameworks and classifications that guide contemporary global research among the homeless.     

Identity and everyday experiences of homelessness: Some implications for social work

It is important for the complexities of homelessness to be considered when constructing policy or practice relating to people who are without safe and stable accommodation. These complexities can be loosely categorised around the definitions, causes and experiences of homelessness. While definitions and causes are topics of current debates, study of the lived-experiences of homelessness remains an area that is largely under-researched. This paper explores some of the implications for social work and social workers when the individual's understanding and experience of her/his identity as a ‘homeless person’ and consequent relationships with service providers are not factored into policy and practice. This article draws on the findings of a study of homeless adults in inner city Adelaide to illustrate the author's arguments. It outlines the importance of listening to service users' perspectives in order to assess whether dominant constructions of social work, homelessness and ‘homeless people’ are meeting the needs of and improving outcomes for individual clients. More broadly, it is hoped that making these perspectives visible will assist in the development of ‘client-focused’ practice and policy.     

Overcoming Barriers to Homeless Delivery Services: A Community Response

Homelessness is one of the most pressing social problems today. The Institute of Medicine defines the problem as a failure in the support systems created to prevent the problem and a tighter housing market. The assumption is that the support system should help to prevent the occurrence of homelessness. The Eastern Fairfield County area performed a study to look at the relationship between those services serving people who are homeless and near homeless to determine the availability, accessibility, and adequacy of services for homeless people. The study identified several barriers in the service delivery system. A strategy was then developed to address these barriers. This paper shows how a research process can facilitate a community response to a social problem. The paper presents the steps that were taken so other communities may replicate the process.     

Social Capital for Vulnerable Groups: Insight from Employed People Experiencing Homelessness

Abstract

Social capital is a term that has evolved within the social sciences, and has been presented as a mediating factor in how people experience the social environment. In 2008 and 2009 we conducted one-to-one interviews with 61 people experiencing homelessness in an effort to investigate the concept of “pathways” from homelessness. Our findings show that social capital was not just about making positive friends or improving social relationships. Instead, personal issues of identity, self-esteem, and individualization were contributing factors to developing social capital; and social service agency practices could contribute to how these are experienced. Further areas of research are discussed along with the application of research findings to other vulnerable populations.     

Homeless identities: enacted and ascribed

Homelessness has been a perennial concern for sociologists. It is a confronting phenomenon that can challenge western notions of home, a discrete family unit and the ascetics and order of public space. To be without a home and to reside in public places illustrates both an intriguing way of living and some fundamental inadequacies in the functioning of society. Much homelessness research has had the consequence of isolating the 'homeless person' as distinct category or indeed type of individual. They are ascribed with homeless identities. The homeless identity is not simply presented as one dimensional and defining, but this imposed and ill-fitting identity is rarely informed by a close and long-term engagement with the individuals it is supposed to say something about. Drawing on a recent Australian ethnographic study with people literally without shelter, this article aims to contribute to understandings of people who are homeless by outlining some nuanced and diverse aspects of their identities. It argues that people can and do express agency in the way they enact elements of the self, and the experience of homelessness is simultaneously important and unimportant to understand this. Further, the article suggests that what is presumably known about the homeless identity is influenced by day-to-day lives that are on public display.     

Characteristics of Homeless Jail Inmates: Implications for Social Work

This study set out to validate the hypothesis (belief) that homeless people were likely to commit minor offenses as solutions to their conditions. Jails, and maybe prisons, would provide three meals a day, a place to sleep, and minimal health care-especially during the winter months. Instead, the data did not support the hypothesis. Contrary to the reported practices of some homeless people in Colorado who are described as committing non-serious but timed offenses to go to jail, it found a homeless population in jail who give a literal interpretation to the political phrase “the invisible people.” They were not in jail because they were homeless, but instead they were in jail for serious crimes (murder, rape, drugs, robbery) and their homelessness was a side fact Since it was not likely that this group would seek to address or resolve their homelessness, it was recommended that jail social workers identify their needs to them, track them into social welfare networks, with a designated contact person, prior to their release.