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  • Published: 22 August 2017

Social conditions of becoming homelessness: qualitative analysis of life stories of homeless peoples

  • Mzwandile A. Mabhala   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1350-7065 1 , 3 ,
  • Asmait Yohannes 2 &
  • Mariska Griffith 1  

International Journal for Equity in Health volume  16 , Article number:  150 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

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It is increasingly acknowledged that homelessness is a more complex social and public health phenomenon than the absence of a place to live. This view signifies a paradigm shift, from the definition of homelessness in terms of the absence of permanent accommodation, with its focus on pathways out of homelessness through the acquisition and maintenance of permanent housing, to understanding the social context of homelessness and social interventions to prevent it.

However, despite evidence of the association between homelessness and social factors, there is very little research that examines the wider social context within which homelessness occurs from the perspective of homeless people themselves. This study aims to examine the stories of homeless people to gain understanding of the social conditions under which homelessness occurs, in order to propose a theoretical explanation for it.

Twenty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with homeless people in three centres for homeless people in Cheshire North West of England.

The analysis revealed that becoming homeless is a process characterised by a progressive waning of resilience capacity to cope with life challenges created by series of adverse incidents in one’s life. The data show that final stage in the process of becoming homeless is complete collapse of relationships with those close to them. Most prominent pattern of behaviours participants often describe as main causes of breakdown of their relationships are:

engaging in maladaptive behavioural lifestyle including taking drugs and/or excessive alcohol drinking

Being in trouble with people in authorities.

Homeless people describe the immediate behavioural causes of homelessness, however, the analysis revealed the social and economic conditions within which homelessness occurred. The participants’ descriptions of the social conditions in which were raised and their references to maladaptive behaviours which led to them becoming homeless, led us to conclude that they believe that their social condition affected their life chances: that these conditions were responsible for their low quality of social connections, poor educational attainment, insecure employment and other reduced life opportunities available to them.

It is increasingly acknowledged that homelessness is a more complex social and public health phenomenon than the absence of a place to live. This view signifies a paradigm shift, from the definition of homelessness in terms of the absence of permanent accommodation [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ], with its focus on pathways out of homelessness through the acquisition and maintenance of permanent housing [ 6 ], to understanding the social context of homelessness and social interventions to prevent it [ 6 ].

Several studies explain the link between social factors and homelessness [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. The most common social explanations centre on seven distinct domains of deprivation: income; employment; health and disability; education, skills and training; crime; barriers to housing and social support services; and living environment [ 11 ]. Of all forms, income deprivation has been reported as having the highest risk factors associated with homelessness [ 7 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]: studies indicate that people from the most deprived backgrounds are disproportionately represented amongst the homeless [ 7 , 13 ]. This population group experiences clusters of multiple adverse health, economic and social conditions such as alcohol and drug misuse, lack of affordable housing and crime [ 10 , 12 , 15 ]. Studies consistently show an association between risk of homelessness and clusters of poverty, low levels of education, unemployment or poor employment, and lack of social and community support [ 7 , 10 , 13 , 16 ].

Studies in different countries throughout the world have found that while the visible form of homelessness becomes evident when people reach adulthood, a large proportion of homeless people have had extreme social disadvantage and traumatic experiences in childhood including poverty, shortage of social housing stocks, disrupted schooling, lack of social and psychological support, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, neglect, dysfunctional family environments, and unstable family structures, all of which increase the likelihood of homelessness [ 10 , 13 , 14 ].

Furthermore, a large body of evidence suggests that people exposed to diverse social disadvantages at an early age are less likely to adapt successfully compared to people without such exposure [ 9 , 10 , 13 , 17 ], being more susceptible to adopting maladaptive coping behaviours such as theft, trading sex for money, and selling or using drugs and alcohol [ 7 , 9 , 18 , 19 ]. Studies show that these adverse childhood experiences tend to cluster together, and that the number of adverse experiences may be more predictive of negative adult outcomes than particular categories of events [ 17 , 20 ]. The evidence suggests that some clusters are more predictive of homelessness than others [ 7 , 12 ]: a cluster of childhood problems including mental health and behavioural disorders, poor school performance, a history of foster care, and disrupted family structure was most associated with adult criminal activities, adult substance use, unemployment and subsequent homelessness [ 12 , 17 , 21 ]. However, despite evidence of the association between homelessness and social factors, there is very little research that examines the wider social context within which homelessness occurs from the perspective of homeless people themselves.

This paper adopted Anderson and Christian’s [ 18 ] definition, which sees homelessness as a ‘function of gaining access to adequate, affordable housing, and any necessary social support needed to ensure the success of the tenancy’. Based on our synthesis of the evidence, this paper proposes that homelessness is a progressive process that begins at childhood and manifests itself at adulthood, one characterised by loss of the personal resources essential for successful adaptation. We adopted the definition of personal resources used by DeForge et al. ([ 7 ], p. 223), which is ‘those entities that either are centrally valued in their own right (e.g. self-esteem, close attachment, health and inner peace) or act as a means to obtain centrally valued ends (e.g. money, social support and credit)’. We propose that the new paradigm focusing on social explanations of homelessness has the potential to inform social interventions to reduce it.

In this study, we examine the stories of homeless people to gain understanding of the conditions under which homelessness occurs, in order to propose a theoretical explanation for it.

The design of this study was philosophically influenced by constructivist grounded theory (CGT). The aspect of CGT that made it appropriate for this study is its fundamental ontological belief in multiple realities constructed through the experience and understanding of different participants’ perspectives, and generated from their different demographic, social, cultural and political backgrounds [ 22 ]. The researchers’ resulting theoretical explanation constitutes their interpretation of the meanings that participants ascribe to their own situations and actions in their contexts [ 22 ].

The stages of data collection and analysis drew heavily on other variants of grounded theory, including those of Glaser [ 23 ] and Corbin and Strauss [ 24 ].

Setting and sampling strategy

The settings for this study were three centres for homeless people in two cities (Chester and Crewe) in Cheshire, UK. Two sampling strategies were used in this study: purposive and theoretical. The study started with purposive sampling and in-depth one-to-one semi-structured interviews with eight homeless people to generate themes for further exploration.

One of the main considerations for the recruitment strategy was to ensure that the process complies with the ethical principles of voluntary participation and equal opportunity to participate. To achieve this, an email was sent to all the known homeless centres in the Cheshire and Merseyside region, inviting them to participate. Three centres agreed to participate, all of them in Cheshire – two in Chester and one in Crewe.

Chester is the most affluent city in Cheshire and Merseyside, and therefore might not be expected to be considered for a homelessness project. The reasons for including it were: first, it was a natural choice, since the organisations that funded the project and the one that led the research project were based in Chester; second, despite its affluence, there is visible evidence of homelessness in the streets of Chester; and third, it has several local authority and charity-funded facilities for homeless people.

The principal investigator spent 1 day a week for 2 months in three participating centres, during that time oral presentation of study was given to all users of the centre and invited all the participants to participate and written participants information sheet was provided to those who wished to participate. During that time the principal investigator learned that the majority of homeless people that we were working with in Chester were not local. They told us that they came to Chester because there was no provision for homeless people in their former towns.

To help potential participants make a self-assessment of their suitability to participate without unfairly depriving others of the opportunity, participants information sheet outline criteria that potential participants had to meet: consistent with Economic and Social Research Council’s Research Ethics Guidebook [ 25 ], at the time of consenting to and commencing the interview, the participant must appear to be under no influence of alcohol or drugs, have a capacity to consent as stipulated in England and Wales Mental Capacity Act 2005 [ 26 ], be able to speak English, and be free from physical pain or discomfort.

As categories emerged from the data analysis, theoretical sampling was used to refine undeveloped categories in accordance with Strauss and Corbin’s [ 27 ] recommendations. In total 26 semi-structured interviews were carried out. Theoretical sampling involved review of memos or raw data, looking for data that might have been overlooked [ 27 , 28 ], and returning to key participants asking them to give more information on categories that seemed central to the emerging theory [ 27 , 28 ].

The sample comprised of 22 male and 4 female, the youndgest participant was 18 the eldest was 74 years, the mean age was 38.6 years. Table 1 illustrates participant’s education history, childhood living arrangements, brief participants family and social history, emotional and physical health, the onset of and trigger for homelessness.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Chester. The centre managers granted access once ethical approval had been obtained, and after their review of the study design and other research material, and of the participant information sheet which included a letter of invitation highlighting that participation was voluntary.

Data analysis

In this study data collection and analysis occurred simultaneously. Analysis drew on Glaser’s [ 23 ] grounded theory processes of open coding, use of the constant comparative method, and the iterative process of data collection and data analysis to develop theoretical explanation of homelessness.

The process began by reading the text line-by-line identifying and open coding the significant incidents in the data that required further investigation. The findings from the initial stage of analysis are published in Mabhala [ 29 ]. The the second stage the data were organised into three themes that were considered significant in becoming homeless (see Fig. 1 ):

Engaging in maladaptive behaviour

Being in trouble with the authorities.

Being in abusive environments.

Social explanation of becoming homeless. Legend: Fig. 1 illustrates the process of becoming homeless

The key questions that we asked as we continued to interrogate the data were: What category does this incident indicate? What is actually happening in the data? What is the main concern being faced by the participants? Interrogation of the data revealed that participants were describing the process of becoming homeless.

The comparative analysis involved three processes described by Glaser ([ 23 ], p. 58–60): each incident in the data was compared with incidents from both the same participant and other participants, looking for similarities and differences. Significant incidents were coded or given labels that represented what they stood for, and similarly coded or labeled when they were judged to be about the same topic, theme or concept.

After a period of interrogation of the data, it was decided that the two categories - destabilising behaviour, and waning ofcapacity for resilience were sufficiently conceptual to be used as theoretical categories around which subcategories could be grouped (Fig. 1 ).

Once the major categories had been developed, the next step consisted of a combination of theoretical comparison and theoretical sampling. The emerging categories were theoretically compared with the existing literature. Once this was achieved, the next step was filling in and refining the poorly defined categories. The process continued until theoretical sufficiency was achieved.

Figure 1 illustrates the process of becoming homeless. The analysis revealed that becoming homeless is a process characterised by a progressive waning of resilience created by a series of adverse incidents in one’s life. Amongst the frequently cited incidents were being in an abusive environment and losing a significant person in one’s life. However, being in an abusive environment emerged from this and previously published studies as a major theme; therefore, we decided to analyse it in more detail.

The data further show that the final stage in the process of becoming homeless is a complete collapse of relationships with those with whom they live. The most prominent behaviours described by the participants as being a main cause of breakdown are:

Engaging in maladaptive behaviour: substance misuse, alcoholism, self-harm and disruptive behaviours

Being in trouble with the authorities: theft, burglary, arson, criminal offenses and convictions

The interrogation of data in relation to the conditions within which these behaviours occurred revealed that participants believed that their social contexts influenced their life chance, their engagement with social institution such as education and social services and in turn their ability to acquire and maintain home. Our experiences have also shown that homeless people readily express the view that behavioural lifestyle factors such as substance misuse and engaging in criminal activities are the causes of becoming homeless. However, when we spent time talking about their lives within the context of their status as homeless people, we began to uncover incidents in their lives that appeared to have weakened their capacity to constructively engage in relationships, engage with social institutions to make use of social goods [ 29 , 30 , 31 ] and maturely deal with societal demands.

Being in abusive environments

Several participants explicitly stated that their childhood experiences and damage that occurred to them as children had major influences on their ability to negotiate their way through the education system, gain and sustain employment, make appropriate choices of social networks, and form and maintain healthy relationships as adults.

It appears that childhood experiences remain resonant in the minds of homeless participants, who perceive that these have had bearing on their homelessness. Their influence is best articulated in the extracts below. When participants were asked to tell their stories of what led to them becoming homeless, some of their opening lines were:

What basically happened, is that I had a childhood of so much persistent, consistent abuse from my mother and what was my stepfather. Literally consistent, we went around with my mother one Sunday where a friend had asked us to stay for dinner and mother took the invitation up because it saved her from getting off her ass basically and do anything. I came away from that dinner genuinely believing that the children in that house weren’t loved and cared for, because they were not being hit, there was no shouting, no door slamming. [Marco]

It appears that Marco internalised the incidents of abuse, characterised by shouting, door slamming and beating as normal behaviour. He goes on to intimate how the internalised abusive behaviour affected his interaction with his employers.

‘…but consistently being put down, consistently being told I was thick, I started taking jobs and having employers effing and blinding at me. One employer actually used a “c” word ending in “t” at me quite frequently and I thought it was acceptable, which obviously now I know it’s not. So I am taking on one job after another that, how can I put it? That no one else would do basically. I was so desperate to work and earn my own money. [Marco]

Similarly, David makes a connection between his childhood experience and his homelessness. When he was asked to tell his life story leading to becoming homeless, his opening line was:

I think it [homelessness] started off when I was a child. I was neglected by my mum. I was physically and mentally abused by my mum. I got put into foster care, when I left foster care I was put in the hostel, from there I turn into alcoholic. Then I was homeless all the time because I got kicked out of the hostels, because you are not allowed to drink in the hostel. [David]

David and Marco’s experiences are similar to those of many participants. The youngest participant in this study, Clarke, had fresh memories of his abusive environment under his stepdad:

I wouldn't want to go back home if I had a choice to, because before I got kicked out me stepdad was like hitting me. I wouldn't want to go back to put up with that again. [I didn't tell anyone] because I was scared of telling someone and that someone telling me stepdad that I've told other people. ‘[Be] cause he might have just started doing again because I told people. It might have gotten him into trouble. [Clarke]

In some cases, participants expressed the beliefs that their abusive experience not only deprived them life opportunities but also opportunities to have families of their own. As Tom and Marie explain:

We were getting done for child neglect because one of our child has a disorder that means she bruise very easily. They all our four kids into care, social workers said because we had a bad childhood ourselves because I was abused by my father as well, they felt that we will fail our children because we were failed by our parents. We weren’t given any chance [Tom and Marie]

Norma, described the removal of her child to care and her maladaptive behaviour of excessive alcohol use in the same context as her experience of sexual abuse by her father.

I had two little boys with me and got took off from me and put into care. I got sexually abused by my father when I was six. So we were put into care. He abused me when I was five and raped me when I was six. Then we went into care all of us I have four brothers and four sisters. My dad did eighteen months for sexually abusing me and my sister. I thought it was normal as well I thought that is what dads do [Norma]

The analysis of participants in this study appears to suggest that social condition one is raised influence the choice of social connections and life partner. Some participants who have had experience of abuse as children had partner who had similar experience as children Tom and Marie, Lee, David and his partners all had partners who experienced child abuse as children.

Tom and Marie is a couple we interviewed together. They met in hostel for homeless people they have got four children. All four children have been removed from them and placed into care. They sleep rough along the canal. They explained:

We have been together for seven years we had a house and children social services removed children from us, we fell within bedroom tax. …we received an eviction order …on the 26th and the eviction date was the 27th while we were in family court fighting for our children. …because of my mental health …they were refusing to help us.
Our children have been adopted now. The adoption was done without our permission we didn’t agree to it because we wanted our children home because we felt we were unfairly treated and I [Marie] was left out in all this and they pin it all on you [Tom] didn’t they yeah, my [Tom] history that I was in care didn’t help.

Tom went on to talk about the condition under which he was raised:

I was abandoned by my mother when I was 12 I was then put into care; I was placed with my dad when I was 13 who physically abused me then sent back to care. [Tom].

David’s story provides another example of how social condition one is raised influence the choice of social connections and life partner. David has two children from two different women, both women grew up in care. Lisa one of David’s child mother is a second generation of children in care, her mother was raised in care too.

I drink to deal with problems. As I say I’ve got two kids with my girlfriend Kyleigh, but I got another lad with Lisa, he was taken off me by social services and put on for adoption ten years ago and that really what started it; to deal with that. Basically, because I was young, and I had been in care and the way I had been treated by my mum. Basically laid on me in the same score as my mum and because his mum [Lisa] was in care as well. So they treated us like that, which was just wrong. [David]

In this study, most participants identified alcohol or drugs and crime as the cause of relationships breakdown. However, the language they used indicates that these were secondary reasons rather than primary reasons for their homelessness. The typical question that MA and MG asked the interview participants was “tell us how did you become homeless”? Typically, participants cited different maladaptive behaviours to explain how they became homeless.

Alvin’s story is typical of:

Basically I started off as a bricklayer, … when the recession hit, there was an abundance of bricklayers so the prices went down in the bricklaying so basically with me having two young children and the only breadwinner in the family... so I had to kinda look for factory work and so I managed to get a job… somewhere else…. It was shift work like four 12 hour days, four 12 hour nights and six [days] off and stuff like that, you know, real hard shifts. My shift was starting Friday night and I’ll do Friday night, Saturday night to Monday night and then I was off Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but I’d treat that like me weekend you know because I’ve worked all weekend. Then… so I’d have a drink then and stuff like that, you know. 7 o’ clock on a Monday morning not really the time to be drinking, but I used to treat it like me weekend. So we argued, me and my ex-missus [wife], a little bit and in the end we split up so moved back to me mum's, but kept on with me job, I was at me mum’s for possibly about five years and but gradually the drinking got worse and worse, really bad. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. … I used to drink to get rid of the anxiety and also to numb the pain of the breakup of me marriage really, you know it wasn’t good, you know. One thing led to another and I just couldn’t stop me alcohol. I mean I’ve done drugs you know, I was into the rave scene and I’ve never done hard drugs like heroin or... I smoke cannabis and I use cocaine, and I used to go for a pint with me mates and that. It all came to a head about November/December time, you know it was like I either stop drinking or I had to move out of me mum's. I lost me job in the January through being over the limit in work from the night before uum so one thing led to another and I just had to leave. [Alvin]

Similarly, Gary identified alcohol as the main cause of his relationship breakdown. However, when one listens to the full story alcohol appears to be a manifestation of other issues, including financial insecurities and insecure attachment etc.

It [the process of becoming homeless] mainly started with the breakdown of the relationship with me partner. I was with her for 15 years and we always had somewhere to live but we didn't have kids till about 13 years into the relationship. The last two years when the kids come along, I had an injury to me ankle which stopped me from working. I was at home all day everyday. …I was drinking because I was bored. I started drinking a lot ‘cause I couldn't move bout the house. It was a really bad injury I had to me ankle. Um, and one day me and me partner were having this argument and I turned round and saw my little boy just stood there stiff as a board just staring, looking at us. And from that day on I just said to me partner that I'll move out, ‘cause I didn't want me little boy to be seeing this all the time. [Gary]

In both cases Gary and Alvin indicate that changes in their employment status created conditions that promoted alcohol dependency, though both explained that they drank alcohol before the changes in their employment status occurred and the breakdown of relationships. Both intimated that that their job commitment limited the amount of time available to drink alcohol. As Gary explained, it is the frequency and amount of alcohol drinking that changed as a result of change in their employment status:

I used to have a bit of a drink, but it wasn’t a problem because I used to get up in the morning and go out to work and enjoy a couple of beers every evening after a day’s work. Um, but then when I wasn't working I was drinking, and it just snowballed out, you know snowball effect, having four cans every evening and then it went from there. I was drinking more ‘cause I was depressed. I was very active before and then I became like non-active, not being able to do anything and in a lot of pain as well. [Gary]

Furthermore, although the participants claim that drinking alcohol was not a problem until their employment circumstances changed, one gets a sense that alcohol was partly responsible for creating conditions that resulted in the loss of their jobs. In Gary’s case, for example, alcohol increased his vulnerability to the assault and injuries that cost him his job:

I got assaulted, kicked down a flight of stairs. I landed on me back on the bottom of the stairs, but me heel hit the stairs as it was still going up if you know what I mean. Smashed me heel, fractured me heel… So, by the time I got to the hospital and they x-rayed it they wasn't even able to operate ‘cause it was in that many pieces, they weren't even able to pin it if you know what I mean. [Gary]

Alvin, of the other hand, explained that:

I lost my job in the January through being over the limit in work from the night before, uum so one thing led to another and I just had to leave. [Alvin]

In all cases participants appear to construct marriage breakdown as an exacerbating factor for their alcohol dependence. Danny, for example, constructed marriage breakdown as a condition that created his alcohol dependence and alcohol dependence as a cause of breakdown of his relationship with his parents. He explains:

I left school when I was 16. Straight away I got married, had children. I have three children and marriage was fine. Umm, I was married for 17 years. As the marriage broke up I turned to alcohol and it really, really got out of control. I moved in with my parents... It was unfair for them to put up with me; you know um in which I became... I ended up on the streets, this was about when I was 30, 31, something like that and ever since it's just been a real struggle to get some permanent accommodation. [Danny]

Danny goes on to explain:

Yes [I drank alcohol before marriage broke down but] not very heavily, just like a sociable drink after work. I'd call into like the local pub and have a few pints and it was controlled. My drinking habit was controlled then. I did go back to my parents after my marriage break up, yes. I was drinking quite heavily then. I suppose it was a form of release, you know, in terms of the alcohol which I wish I'd never had now. When I did start drinking heavy at me parents’ house, I was getting in trouble with the police being drunk and disorderly. That was unfair on them. [Danny]

The data in this study indicate that homelessness occurs when the relationships collapse, irrespective of the nature of the relationship. There were several cases where lifestyle behaviour led to a relationship collapse between child and parents or legal guardians.

In the next excerpt, Emily outlines the incidents: smoking weed, doing crack and heroin, and drinking alcohol. She also uses the words ‘because’, ‘when’ and ‘obviously’, which provide clues about the precipitating condition for her behaviours “spending long time with people who take drugs”.

I've got ADHD like, so obviously my mum kicked me out when I was 17 and then like I went to **Beswick** and stuff like that. My mum in the end just let me do what I wanted to do, ‘cause she couldn't cope anymore. …I mean I tried to run away from home before that, but she'd always like come after me in like her nightie and pyjamas and all that. But in the end she just washed her hands of me . [Emily]

Emily presented a complex factors that made it difficult for her mother to live with her. These included her mother struggle with raising four kids as a single parent, Emily’s mental health (ADHD], alcohol and drug use. She goes on to explain that:

Ummm, well the reason I got kicked out of my hostel was ‘cause of me drinking, so I'd get notice to quit every month, then I’d have a meeting with the main boss and then they'd overturn it and this went on every month for about six months. Also, it was me behaviour as well, but obviously drink makes you do stuff you don't normally do and all that shit. I lived here for six months, got kicked out because I jumped out the window and broke me foot. I was on the streets for six months and then they gave me a second chance and I've been here a year now. So that's it basically. [Emily]

There were several stories of being evicted from accommodation due to excessive use of alcohol. One of those is David:

I got put into foster care. When I left foster care I was put in the hostel, from there I turn into alcoholic. Then I was homeless all the time because I got kicked out of the hostels, because you are not allowed to drink in the hostel. It’s been going on now for about… I was thirty-one on Wednesday, so it’s been going on for about thirteen years, homeless on and off. Otherwise if not having shoplifted for food and then go to jail, and when I don’t drink I have lot of seizures and I end up in the hospital. Every time I end up on the street. I trained as a chef, I have not qualified yet, because of alcohol addiction, it didn’t go very well. I did couple of jobs in restaurants and diners, I got caught taking a drink. [David]

Contrary to the other incidents where alcohol was a factor that led to homelessness, Barry’s description of his story appears to suggest that the reason he had to leave his parents’ home was his parents’ perception that his sexuality brought shame to the family:

When I came out they I’m gay, my mum and dad said you can’t live here anymore. I lived in a wonderful place called Nordic... but fortunately, mum and dad ran a pub called […] [and] one of the next door neighbours lived in a mansion. His name was [….] [and] when I came out, he came out as in he said “I'm a gay guy”, but he took me into Liverpool and housed me because I had nowhere to live. My mum and dad said you can't live here anymore. And unfortunately, we get to the present day. I got attacked. I got mugged... only walked away with a £5 note, it’s all they could get off me. They nearly kicked me to death so I was in hospital for three weeks. By the time I came out, I got evicted from my flat. I was made homeless. [Barry]

We used the phrase “engaging in maladaptive behaviour” to conceptualise the behaviours that led to the loss of accommodation because our analysis appear to suggest that these behaviours were strategies to cope with the conditions they found themselves in. For example, all participants in this category explained that they drank alcohol to cope with multiple health (mental health) and social challenges.

In the UK adulthood homelessness is more visible than childhood homelessness. However, most participants in this research reveal that the process of becoming homeless begins at their childhood, but becomes visible after the legal age of consent (16). Participants described long history of trouble with people in authority including parents, legal guardians and teachers. However, at the age of 16 they gain legal powers to leave children homes, foster homes, parental homes and schools, and move outside some of the childhood legal protections. Their act of defiance becomes subject to interdiction by the criminal justice system. This is reflected in number of convictions for criminal offenses some of the participants in this study had.

Participants Ruddle, David, Lee, Emily, Pat, Marco, Henry and many other participants in this study (see Table 1 ) clearly traced the beginning of their troubles with authority back at school. They all expressed the belief that had their schooling experience been more supportive, their lives would have been different. Lee explains that being in trouble with the authorities began while he was at school:

‘The school I came from a rough school, it was a main school, it consisted of A, B, C, D and The school I came from [was] a rough school, it was a main school, it consisted of A, B, C, D and E. I was in the lowest set, I was in E because of my English and maths. I was not interested, I was more interested in going outside with big lads smoking weed, bunking school. I used to bunk school inside school. I used to bunk where all cameras can catch me. They caught me and reported me back to my parents. My mum had a phone call from school asking where your son is. My mum grounded me. While my mum grounded me I had a drain pipe outside my house, I climbed down the drain pipe outside my bedroom window. I used to climb back inside. [Lee]

Lee’s stories constructed his poor education experiences as a prime mover towards the process of becoming homeless. It could be noted in Table 1 that most participants who described poor education experiences came from institutions such as foster care, children home and special school for maladjusted children. These participants made a clear connection between their experiences of poor education characterised by defiance of authorities and poor life outcomes as manifested through homelessness.

Patrick made a distinct link between his school experience and his homelessness, for example, when asked to tell his story leading up to becoming homeless, Patrick’s response was:

I did not go to school because I kept on bunking. When I was fifteen I left school because I was caught robbing. The police took me home and my mum told me you’re not going back to school again, you are now off for good. Because if you go back to school you keep on thieving, she said I keep away from them lads. I said fair enough. When I was seventeen I got run over by a car. [Patrick]

Henry traces the beginning of his troubles with authorities back at school:

[My schooling experience]… was good, I got good, well average grades, until I got myself into [a] few fights mainly for self-defence. In primary schools, I had a pretty... I had a good report card. In the start of high school, it was good and then when the fights started that gave me sort of like a... bad reputation. I remember my principal one time made me cry. Actually made me cry, but eh... I don't know how, but I remember sitting there in the office and I was crying. My sister also stuck up for me when she found out what had happened, she was on my side; but I can’t remember exactly what happened at that time. [Henry]

Emily’s story provides some clues about the series of incidents - including, delay in diagnosing her health condition, being labelled as a naughty child at school, being regularly suspended from school and consequently poor educational attainment.

Obviously, I wasn't diagnosed with ADHD till I was like 13, so like in school they used to say that's just a naughty child. … So it was like always getting suspended, excluded and all that sort of stuff. And in the end [I] went to college and the same happened there. [Emily]

The excerpt above provides intimations of what she considers to be the underlying cause of her behaviour towards the authorities. Emily suggests that had the authorities taken appropriate intervention to address her condition, her life outcomes would have been different.

Although the next participant did not construct school as being a prime mover of their trouble with authorities, their serious encounters with the criminal justice system occurred shortly after leaving school:

Well I did a bit of time at a very early age, I was only 16… I did some remand there, but then when I went to court ‘cause I'd done enough remand, I got let out and went to YMCA in Runcorn. Well, that was when I was a kid. When I was a bit older, ‘cause it was the years 2000 that I was in jail, I was just trying to get by really. I wasn’t with Karen at the time. I was living in Crewe and at the time I was taking a lot of amphetamines and was selling amphetamines as well, and I got caught and got a custodial sentence for it. But I've never been back to jail since. I came out in the year 2000 so it's like 16 years I've kept meself away from jail and I don't have any intentions of going back. [Gary]

The move from school and children social care system to criminal justice was a common pathways for many participants in this study. Some including Lee, Crewe, David, Patrick spent multiple prison sentences (see Table 1 ). Although Crewe did not make connection between his schooling experiences and his trouble with law, it could be noted that his serious encounter with criminal justice system started shortly after leaving foster care and schooling systems. As he explains:

I was put into prison at age of 17 for arson that was a cry for help to get away from the family, I came out after nine months. I have been in prison four times in my life, its not very nice, when I came out I made a promise to myself that I’m never going to go back to prison again. [Crewe]

Lee recalls his education experience. He explained:

I left school when I was fifteen… then I went off the rails. I got kidnapped for three and half months. When I came back I was just more interested in crime. When I left school I was supposed to go to college, but I went with travellers. I was just more interested in getting arrested every weekend, until my mum say right I have enough of you. I was only seventeen. I went through the hostels when I was seventeen. [Lee]

None describe the educational experience with a similar profundity to Marco:

On few occasions I came out on the corridors I would be getting battered on to my hands and knees and teachers walk pass me. There was quite often blood on the floor from my nose, would be punched on my face and be thrown on the floor. …. It was hard school, pernicious. I would go as far as saying I never felt welcome in that school, I felt like a fish out of the water, being persistently bullied did my head in. Eventually I started striking back, when I started striking back suddenly I was a bad one. My mother decided to put me in … school for maladjusted boys, everyone who been there including myself have spent time in prison. [Marco]

The trouble with authorities that was observes in participants stories in this category appear to be part of the wider adverse social challenges that the participants in this study were facing. Crewe’s description of arson as a cry for help appears to be an appropriate summation of all participants in this category.

The participants’ description of the social conditions in which were raised and their references to maladaptive behaviours which led to them becoming homeless, led us to conclude that they believe that their social condition affected their life chances: that these conditions were responsible for their low quality of social connections, poor educational attainment, insecure employment and other reduced life opportunities available to them.

The key feature that distinguish this study from comparable previous studies is that it openly acknowledges that data collection and analysis were influenced by the principles of social justice [ 28 , 30 , 31 ]. The resulting theoretical explanation therefore constitutes our interpretation of the meanings that participants ascribe to their own situations and actions in their contexts. In this study, defining homelessness within the wider socioeconomic context seemed to fit the data, and offered one interpretation of the process of becoming homeless.

While the participants’ experiences leading to becoming homeless may sound trite. What is pertinent in this study is understanding the conditions within which their behaviours occurred. The data were examined through the lens of social justice and socio-economic inequalities: we analysed the social context within which these behaviours occurred. We listened to accounts of their schooling experiences, how they were raised and their social network. The intention was not to propose a cause-and-effect association, but to suggest that interventions to mitigate homelessness should consider the social conditions within which it occurred.

Participants in this study identified substance misuse and alcohol dependency as a main cause of their homelessness. These findings are consistent with several epidemiological studies that reported a prevalence of substance misuse amongst the homeless people [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. However, most these studies are epidemiological; and by nature epidemiological studies are the ‘gold standard’ in determining causes and effects, but do not always examine the context within which the cause and effect occur. One qualitative study that explored homelessness was a Canadian study by Watson, Crawley and Cane [ 37 ]. Participants in the Watson, et al. described ‘lack of quality social interactions and pain of addition. However, Watson et al. focus on the experiences of being homeless, rather than the life experiences leading to becoming homeless. To our knowledge the current study is one of very few that specifically examine the conditions within which homelessness occurs, looking beyond the behavioural factors. Based on the synthesis of data from previous studies, it makes sense that many interventions to mitigate homelessness focus more on tackling behavioural causes of homelessness rather than fundamental determinants of it [ 38 ]. From the public health intervention’ point of view, however, understanding the conditions within which homelessness occurs is essential, as it will encourage policymakers and providers of the services for homelessness people to devote equal attention to tackling the fundamental determinants of homelessness as is granted in dealing behavioural causes.

Participants in this study reported that they have been defiant toward people in positions of authority. For most of them this trouble began when they were at school, and came to the attention of the criminal justice system as soon as they left school at the age of 16. These findings are similar to these in the survey conducted by Williams, Poyser, and Hopkins [ 39 ] which was commissioned by the UK Ministry of Justice. This survey found that 15 % of prisoners in the sample reported being homeless before custody [ 39 ]; while three and a half percent of the general population reported having ever been homeless [ 39 ]. As the current study reveals there are three possible explanations for the increased population of homeless young people in the criminal justice system: first, at the age of 16 they gain legal powers to leave their foster homes, parents homes, and schools and move beyond some of the childhood legal protections; second, prior to the age of 16 their defiant behaviours were controlled and contained by schools and parents/legal guardians; and third, after the age of 16 their acts of defiant behaviour become subject to interdiction by the criminal justice system.

The conditions in which they were born and raised were described by some participants in this study as ‘chaotic’, abusive’, ‘neglect’, ‘pernicious’ ‘familial instability’, ‘foster care’, ‘care home’, etc. Taking these conditions, and the fact that all but one participants in this left school at or before the age of 16 signifies the importance of living conditions in educational achievement. It has been reported in previous studies that children growing up in such conditions struggle to adjust in school and present with behavioural problems, and thus, poor academic performance [ 40 ]. It has also been reported that despite these families often being known to social services, criminal justice systems and education providers, the interventions in place do little to prevent homelessness [ 40 ].

Analysis of the conditions within which participants’ homelessness occurred reveals the adverse social conditions within which they were born and raised. The conditions they described included being in an abusive environment, poor education, poor employment or unemployment, poor social connections and low social cohesion. These conditions are consistent with high index of poverty [ 37 , 41 , 42 ]. And several other studies found similar associations between poverty and homelessness [ 42 ]. For example, the study by Watson, Crowley et al. [ 37 ] found that there were extreme levels of poverty and social exclusion amongst homeless people. Contrary to previous studies that appear to construct homelessness as a major form of social exclusion, the analysis of participants’ stories in this current study revealed that the conditions they were raised under limited their capacity to engage in meaningful social interactions, thus creating social exclusion.

Homeless people describe the immediate behavioural causes of homelessness; however, this analysis revealed the social and economic conditions within which homelessness occurred. The participants’ descriptions of the social conditions in which were raised and their references to maladaptive behaviours which led to them becoming homeless, led us to conclude that they believe that their social condition affected their life chances: that these conditions were responsible for their low quality of social connections, poor educational attainment, insecure employment and other reduced life opportunities available to them.

Limitations

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all participants in this study; without their contribution it would not have been possible to undertake the research. The authors acknowledge the contribution of Professor Paul Kingston and Professor Basma Ellahi at the proposal stage of this project. A very special thanks to Robert Whitehall, John and all the staff at the centres for homeless people for their help in creating a conducive environment for this study to take place; and to Roger Whiteley for editorial support. A very special gratitude goes to the reviewers of this paper, who will have expended considerable effort on our behalf. 

This research was funded by quality-related research (QR) funding allocation for the University of Chester.

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MM wrote the entire manuscript, designed the study, collected data, analysed and interpreted data, and presented the findings. AY contributed to transcribing data and manuscript editing. MG contributed to data collection, and transcribed the majority of data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Mabhala, M.A., Yohannes, A. & Griffith, M. Social conditions of becoming homelessness: qualitative analysis of life stories of homeless peoples. Int J Equity Health 16 , 150 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0646-3

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Poverty, Homelessness, and Family Break-Up

This study examines the extent and correlates of family separations in families experiencing homelessness. Of 2,307 parents recruited in family shelters across 12 sites, a tenth were separated from partners and a quarter from one or more children. Additional separations before and after shelter entry and reasons, from parents’ perspectives, were documented in qualitative interviews with a subsample of 80 parents. Separations were associated with economic hardship, shelter conditions, and family characteristics.

Poverty and homelessness are associated with the break-up of families. A number of studies have documented that children in families who experience homelessness frequently become separated from their parents. In a national sample in 1996, Burt et al. (1999) found that three fifths of women served by homeless programs had children under 18, but only 65% of the mothers lived with any of their children. Park et al. (2004) found that 24% of over 8,000 children who entered shelter with a parent for the first time in New York City in 1996 received child welfare services within five years of shelter entry; three quarters of them after the family became homeless. Many smaller, local studies document associations of housing problems and homelessness with elevated rates of foster care placements and far higher rates of informal child separations unknown to child welfare authorities (for reviews see Barrow & Lawinski, 2009 ; Courtney, McMurty, & Zinn, 2004 ).

Fewer studies have sought to explain these separations. In studies of the general population, poverty is related to child maltreatment, especially neglect ( Sedlak et al., 2010 ) and to “substandard” parenting ( Berger, 2007 ). Among families experiencing homelessness, Park et al. (2004) found that recurrent and longer shelter episodes and domestic violence predicted child welfare services. They suggest that families in shelters are subject to stress and lack of privacy, and also heightened scrutiny: a “fishbowl effect” may lead staff to report to child protective services. Similarly McDaniel and Slack (2005) suggest that life events, such as a move, may make low-income parents more visible, leading to protective service reports. Cowal et al. (2002) compared mothers who entered shelter with continuously housed mothers using public assistance and found that drug abuse, domestic violence, and any institutional placement of the mother predicted separation for both groups, but homelessness was by far the strongest predictor. Barrow and Lawinsky (2009) found the same factors along with children’s needs were important in a sample of mothers experiencing homelessness, but described precarious housing as “a constant backdrop.” In the face of crises that came “in twos and threes,” mothers negotiated with fathers, maternal and paternal kin, and agencies to find “better choices among troubling alternatives” (pp. 166–167) for themselves and their children.

The current mixed-methods study uses survey data to document the extent of child separations in a large multi-site sample of 2,307 families recruited in homeless shelters and uses both quantitative and qualitative data to examine explanatory factors posited in the literature. In particular in the survey data we examine associations of separations with the parent’s prior homelessness, substance abuse, domestic violence, felony conviction (a proxy for institutional placement), and foster care placement in childhood, along with parent and child demographic characteristics. The quantitative data also allow examination of the extent to which separations vary by site and shelter, suggesting policy differences in the homeless service and child welfare systems that may affect separations. Qualitative interviews with a subsample of 80 families elucidate from parents’ perspectives how poverty, housing problems, and the homeless service system contribute to separations.

Although our primary focus is on child separation, we additionally examine the extent to which partners are separated from each other. Families experiencing homelessness are often headed by single parents ( Rog & Buckner, 2007 ), but this is partly a consequence of shelter and housing program policies that exclude men ( U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2006 ). Thus we examine how separations of parents from partners they consider a part of their family varies by site and shelter, and reasons families give in qualitative interviews.

Participants

The Family Options study enrolled 2,307 families with children fifteen years of age and under who had spent at least one week in one of 57 emergency shelters in 12 sites, 1 drawn from all regions of the United States and varying housing and labor markets, from September, 2010 to January, 2012. Families were recruited into an experiment in which they received priority access to housing and service interventions. Very few families (n = 13) declined to participate, although 183 who failed to pass eligibility screening for available interventions were not enrolled. (Common reasons for exclusion included insufficient income or lack of employment, family composition, size of available units, poor credit history, criminal convictions, lack of sobriety.) We interviewed one adult at study enrollment, prior to random assignment, giving preference to mothers in two-adult families, because when parents are separated, children more frequently stay with the mother.

The adult respondents were predominantly female (91.6%), with a median age of 29. Over a quarter (27.4%) had a spouse or partner with them in family shelter. A plurality (43.7%) had one child with them in shelter but 11.1% had four or more. In half of the families (49.9%), at least one child was under 3. Study families were 41% African American, 21% white, non-Hispanic, 20% Hispanic (all races), 7% Asian/Pacific Islander and 11% mixed or other (with Hispanics excluded from all remaining categories). Families were deeply poor – median annual household income was $7,440 – and many came from poverty: during childhood 15.9% of respondents had been homeless and 27.1% had lived in foster care, a group home, or an institution. Poverty was also longstanding: 62.8% had experienced a prior episode of homelessness and 84.6% had been doubled up (living in the same unit with another family) as an adult because they could not pay the rent (for details see Gubits, Spellman, Dunton, Brown, & Wood, 2013 ).

We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with a non-random subsample of 80 families – 77 mothers and 3 fathers – from four geographically dispersed sites (Alameda County, Connecticut, Kansas City, and Phoenix) an average of 6.4 months after random assignment. Demographic characteristics of the subsample were similar to those of the full sample (for detail see Mayberry, Shinn, Benton, & Wise, 2014 ).

The adult respondent (in the full sample) reported on all family members who were with her in shelter and also about spouses, partners, and minor children “who are part of the family but are not living with you right now in [shelter name].” Additional variables are shown in Table 1 and described in detail in Gubits et al. (2015) .

Logistic regression predicting child separations from parent and family characteristics (N=5,165 children)

Note. OR = odds ratio; CI = confidence interval. 231 observations excluded due to missing values. Chi-square indicates joint significance of categorical variables in the full model. Standard errors adjusted for clustering of children in families.

The qualitative interviews covered family composition, housing decisions, family routines and rituals, and social supports. The family composition section that is the focus here asked the respondent about separations from children (for any reason) and from partners (if associated with housing or housing programs). Additional questions probed for reasons for separation and how it unfolded, how long the respondent expected the separation to last, whether the respondent had reunified with the child and on what that depended, and whether the respondent felt the separation was the best option for the child. Respondents who had never separated from a child were asked whether there was ever a time when they had considered doing so, and why. Interviews averaged about an hour, with interviews where respondents reported separations taking longer than others. Interviews were recorded and transcribed.

Quantitative predictors of child separation (listed in Table 1 ) were analyzed in SAS using logistic regression at the level of the child, with standard errors corrected for clustering of children within families. Because we were interested in separations from partners only if they were related to housing, we did not examine individual level predictors but tested only whether the proportion of families with a spouse or partner living elsewhere at the time of study enrollment differed by site and shelter. Analyses for shelter included the 42 shelters with at least 20 enrollments.

Qualitative interview transcripts were analyzed using NVivo9. Research team members each read a subset of the interviews. The team then developed a thematic coding scheme inductively for each section of the interview. Next, two analysts refined the coding scheme for a specific section of the interview and examined inter-rater reliability. Reliability for existence of and reasons for separation for children (across 32 interviews) and partners (across 20 interviews) were kappa = .85 and .91 respectively. Discrepancies were resolved by consensus. One analyst completed the remaining coding, but both discussed difficult-to-classify cases. We coded all instances of separation of the respondent from children, including normative separations (e.g. due to custody after divorce). For partner separations, we considered only separations related to housing and housing programs.

The quantitative interviews provide data on the extent of separations among families experiencing homelessness. In the full sample of families who had spent seven days in shelter, 10.1% of adult respondents reported that a spouse or partner was living elsewhere. Nearly a quarter (23.9%) had a minor child who was not in the shelter with the family (living with other relatives, friends, in foster care, or in other living situations). Only 0.7% of respondents reported that a child was in foster care. Rates of separation in the quantitative data for the qualitative subsample of 80 were similar (10% for partners, 25% for children).

The quantitative interviews also allow for the identification of adult and child characteristics associated with child separations. Table 1 shows the results of a logistic regression predicting child separation. Child age (categorical variable) was strongly associated with the likelihood of separation. A third (33.7%) of children age 13 to 17 were separated compared to 22.2% of children age 8 to 12, 13.4% of children age 3 to 7, and only 4.5% of children age 0 to 2. There was little variation in separations by child gender, with 15.5% of girls and 16.7% of boys being separated, and no interaction between child age and gender (p=.86). Younger parents and those with more children, previous experiences of homelessness, and prior felony convictions were more likely to be separated from their children. Race and income (categorical variables) also mattered. Households that reported less than $5,000 in annual income had 2.6 times higher odds of having a separated child compared to households with incomes of $25,000 or more. White non-Hispanic respondents had 1.5 times the odds of having a separated child compared to black non-Hispanic respondents, with no differences between black non-Hispanics and other groups. Interestingly, alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence at any time in adulthood, and having been in foster care as a child were not predictive of separations.

Rates of child separations ranged across sites from 9% to 24% of children (leading to a significant site effect controlling for parent and child characteristics). Separations were most common (exceeding 20% of children, 39% of families) in Salt Lake City, and Baltimore, and least common (below 10% of children, 13% of families) in Boston and Connecticut. Child separation rates differed by shelter (F(1, 41) = 4262.90, p<.0001) without other controls. Partner separations were also associated with site (F(1, 11) = 70.60, p<.0001) and shelter (F(1, 41) = 119.53, p<.0001), with separations highest in Baltimore (24% of all families; 88% of those with a spouse or partner) and lowest in Honolulu (4% of all families and 5% of those with a spouse or partner). Spousal (but not child) separations were generally higher in the East than in the Midwest or West.

The qualitative interviews help to explain the circumstances of these separations and others that occurred before and after the survey and how separations were influenced by poverty, housing, and housing programs. Of the 80 participants, 43 (54%) reported 57 instances in which they had been separated from a total of 78 minor children; if a family separated from two or more children at the same time, under the same circumstances, we considered this one instance. If a family separated from the same child on two occasions, we coded each instance separately. Most separations occurred during periods of homelessness or housing instability.

Reasons for child separations

Table 2 displays reasons for separation coded into eight categories with combinations of reasons coded into the uppermost category (row) on the list, because we deemed this more central. Thus, for example, if a respondent attributed her inability to feed her children adequately to lack of money for food, we coded this as hardship rather than inability to parent to own or family standards, or if protective service removed a child upon a respondent’s arrest, we coded this under arrest rather than protective services. Most of the children stayed with their other parent or another relative during the separations, but we coded these separations as normative (six families and instances) only if they were unrelated to the other reasons on the list. Half of the non-normative separations (24 families and instances) were related to economic and housing hardship, or shelter.

Reasons for separation of parent from minor children (with multiple reasons for a single instance counted in uppermost category on the list)

Economic hardship unrelated to shelter was the most common reason for separations (15 families and instances). In most cases, the family was experiencing housing instability, living in motels or doubled up with others because they could not afford their own place, or moving from place to place. Respondents described wanting their child to have stability and a sense of normalcy. In four instances parents were unable to provide the children’s basic needs.

At the time I was pregnant, and we were living in motels. I found myself getting broke. We were eating fast foods. I got paid from my job and I called their dad, and I said, “[Ex-Partner], I love my boys, I know you love them too, but I need help right now.” We met and he took the boys… I didn’t have a refrigerator or nothing like that, so I don’t want my boys to - - it was beginning to be too much.

Nine families separated from children either upon shelter entry or during a shelter stay (sometimes one occurring before the study), typically so that children could avoid exposure to shelter conditions:

…it took its toll on my children. They were going to sleep in class because of the babies waking up in the middle of the night at the shelter.
I was letting her grandmother take her out of the shelter because she was losing weight and she was getting bad. She hearty but she was getting bad like the other kids.

In two cases, the shelter could not accommodate all minor children. Nor would shelters typically take extended families. When a three-generational family was evicted the mother and grandmother each took a child so both could go to family shelters. In another instance (not in Table 2 ), an adult child, age 20, was excluded from a shelter but later rejoined his mother and siblings in housing.

Parenting or child safety

Several categories of reasons for separation reflect the parent’s inability to care adequately for the child or to maintain a safe environment. Six respondents (eight instances) were arrested (all before study entry), and five (five instances) were unable to parent according to their own standards, or those of their family, most commonly due to substance abuse. Several of these parents sought treatment, and some were reunited with children afterwards. In three cases, relatives took the child from the parent because of the parent’s youth or substance abuse. Four respondents (five instances) cited child safety due to the environment inside or outside of the household. Typically, separations coded under Safety were related to hardship and housing instability but safety was the proximal issue. For example, one respondent had to move somewhere she deemed unsafe after an eviction; another left an unsafe area and moved in with a violent boyfriend. Three families (six instances) were separated by a protective services agency due to parental substance abuse and neglect. In all but two other instances, both involving arrest, the respondent arranged for family members to take the child without formal agency involvement.

Child behavior

In three families (three instances), separations began because of children’s behavior. In two cases children reacted badly to a move away from relatives, and the respondent sent them to those relatives; in the third the child was picked up by police and sent, briefly, to a mental health facility.

Best Option

Although many parents who were separated from a child described a sense of loss and reported that the child missed them, 34 of the 43 parents considered the painful decision to be the best option among difficult choices because the child was stable and better provided for. Separations enabled the child to remain in a good school or to develop a bond with extended family.

As much as it hurt me to be separated from my daughter, you know, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. You have to put them first. You have to think about what’s best for them for that time until things get better or you figure something out.

Other children had negative experiences, including one who was molested and another who was physically abused during the separation.

No Separations from Children

Among parents who had not been separated from children, 13 of 37 had considered a separation, typically for reasons associated with hardship or shelter:

Maybe before we got into the shelter, because it was hard to get into that shelter… So instead of taking my kids to a park, there was numerous shelters I had called. And there was one shelter where the woman said, “we can take your kids for the night so they don’t have to sleep outside. We’ll take them, but we can’t take you.” And I was like, well, if I have to sleep in a park, my kids are definitely going to go there. ‘Cause I don’t want them to do it. But – so yeah. I considered it then, but it didn’t happen. Thank god!

Partner Separations

Of the 80 respondents, 12 (14 instances) had been separated from a partner for housing-related reasons. Half of the partner separations had to do with rules of shelters or housing programs that excluded men, unmarried couples, or people with criminal convictions. Although respondents felt they had no housing options that would allow partners to stay together, many of them described the resulting strain:

[T]hen I had to move all the stuff out, and there wasn’t no help at the time, because it was just a shelter for women and children. He wasn’t with me … so it was like – if he was here, it would be so much easier, but they didn’t allow that.

Two respondents left doubled-up situations that had accommodated partners to obtain housing that they deemed better for themselves and their children. Two others moved into doubled-up situations that required separating from partners. One of these families was living in their car:

And it was just better for him (partner) to send me back to my family for me to get a support down there than it was for me to stay here. Because everybody was telling us that Children and Youth would come take my daughter if they found us in a car and all this. So we just wasn’t willing to risk that. So he just--we just sold the furniture and stuff that we had, and he bought us tickets and sent us back home.

Most respondents who experienced a housing-related separation from their partners reported negative impacts on their children.

…when [partner] did move in with us the baby was kind of like he knew who he was but it was kind of like hmm, I haven’t seen this guy in a while. Like where’d you come from? …. He didn’t really know who [partner] was and then he finally figured, oh yeah, this is my dad so he’s supposed to be around me.

Reunification with Children and Partners

All but five respondents anticipated that the separations from their children would be temporary. However, 20 of 57 separations (35%) lasted longer than the parent anticipated, often because it took her longer than expected to secure stable housing or to become financially able to care for the children.

Of the 57 incidences of separation from children, 34 had ended in reunification at the time of the qualitative interview. Respondents indicated that securing adequate housing permitted 14 of these reunifications. Nine parents reported that ongoing separations would continue until the parents secured housing. These parents were living in shelter or transitional housing (five), doubled up with other households in the same apartment (three), or in a subsidized apartment that was too small to accommodate all children (one). Thus the ending of nearly half of all separations (23/57) depended on housing.

Similarly, nine of the 14 separations from a partner had ended in reunification at the time of the qualitative interview, typically because the respondent or the partner was able to secure housing that could accommodate the entire family. Reunification in three additional cases depended on housing.

No parent indicated that shelters or other housing services attempted to reunite them with their families. Rather, shelter and housing programs tended to consider only members present with the respondent in evaluating housing needs, resulting in assignment to places too small for the full family. Respondents also reported that staff in shelters and transitional housing threatened to involve protective services if parents did not comply with shelter rules ( Mayberry et al., 2014 ), and this led to one removal (where the parent violated a shelter rule about substance use.)

As in other studies in the literature, this study shows that separations from children are rampant in families who experience homelessness. In our large 12-site sample, nearly a quarter of families who had spent a week or more in shelter were living apart from one or more of their children, although fewer than one percent had a child in foster care. Including separations at other times, over half of the qualitative subsample had been separated. Other studies have found that both separations and foster care placements often increase in the months following shelter entry ( Cowal et al., 2002 ; Park et al., 2004 ), so the numbers may continue to grow.

Family demographic characteristics were associated with the likelihood of separations. Older children are much more likely to be separated from their families, with children age 13 to 17 being at particularly high risk. Mothers may be more likely to keep younger children with them, with older children more likely to stay with other relatives so that they are not exposed to shelter conditions or can maintain continuity in schooling. Despite some shelters having policies excluding older male children, no evidence of an interaction effect between age and gender was found. Larger households also faced greater difficulty staying intact or reunifying, perhaps in part due to constraints on unit size. White families are likely to have more resources to stay out of shelter than families of color; those who nonetheless become homeless may be more troubled, leading to higher rate of separations.

Both the quantitative and qualitative data point to the importance of extremely low incomes and resulting hardship in tearing families apart. Parents faced agonizing choices between keeping children with them and protecting them from shelter conditions or providing for their welfare. As in the study by Barrow and Lawinski (2009) , most separations involved parental agency in difficult circumstances, and most separations were arranged informally between parents and other relatives.

Parental behavior also mattered. Arrests and felony convictions were associated with separations in the qualitative and quantitative data respectively. Substance abuse, perhaps surprisingly given previous studies, figured only in the qualitative data, and having experienced domestic violence as an adult was not associated with separations, perhaps because of the long time frame. Relatives sometimes intervened when they thought the respondent was not parenting appropriately.

Local policies also influenced parental options and choices, as evidenced by the fact that rates of separation varied substantially by site and shelter. Partner separations contributed to, but did not fully explain, the lower numbers of two-parent families in the East (as has been found in other studies, c.f. Rog and Buckner, 2007 ). Although some shelter staff threatened to call protective services in order to induce compliance with rules and did so in one case, the additional visibility of parenting under the watchful eyes of service providers does not explain informal separations. Children were rarely taken into foster care.

This study is the first to document the extent to which poverty and homelessness lead partners to separate from one another. One in ten parents had a partner living elsewhere while the family was in shelter. The quantitative and qualitative data clearly implicate shelters in separations of partners, although the fact that over a quarter of families in shelter had two parents suggests improvements over past years in shelters’ ability to accommodate at least nuclear families. Housing voucher programs also separate parents where one has a criminal record. The interviews show that the forced separation of fathers from their families is hard on mothers and children.

Implications for research and policy

We recruited families who had spent at least a week in shelter, and it is possible that families who can resolve homelessness quickly would have lower rates of separation than the families surveyed here. Nevertheless, results are troubling with implications for both research and policy. With respect to research, the fact that studies of children who experience homelessness exclude those who are separated from their parents means that samples are seriously biased. Whether child separations reflect hardship, parental behavior, or child behavior, children who are separated are likely to be faring worse than children who remain with their families. Estimates of effects of homelessness on children may be underestimates. Shelter policies excluding men may have led researchers to exaggerate the role of single parenthood in homelessness.

With respect to policy, programs that work with poor families, from income support and housing programs to shelters and transitional housing programs to correctional institutions to substance abuse treatment programs, should pay more attention to preserving families Separations are hard on both parents and children, and separation from parents in the family of origin is a predictor of future homelessness in adults ( Rog and Buckner, 2007 ).

Family preservation may conflict with other policy goals. For example, in a congregate shelter or transitional housing program, one family’s husband and father may be seen as a potential danger to the next family’s child, and public housing rules designed to preserve the safety of the community by excluding criminals separate parents from their families. Welfare time limits may encourage adults to work, but lead to hardship, hunger, and ultimately separations for families. Prisons are designed to isolate and punish inmates – but the separation also punishes children and partners. Naming and quantifying the problem at least allows it to be taken into consideration in policy choices. Scatter-site homeless and housing programs, alternative sentencing, and substance abuse treatment programs that permit children to stay with parents may be able to reduce family separations. Housing programs should take family members living elsewhere into account in assigning units, to permit reunification. Child welfare authorities in particular should serve as advocates for minimizing separations of children from parents, and reunification when separations cannot be avoided.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Institute of Child and Human Development, grant # 5R01HD066082. Survey data collection was funded by contract C-CHI-00943, Task Orders T-0001 and T-0003 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to Abt Associates. We thank Abt Associates, Inc., Emily Holt and Meghan Henry for conducting the interviews and Lindsay S. Mayberry and Chase Darmstadter for contributions to coding.

1 Sites were Alameda County, California – Oakland, Berkeley, Haywood, Alameda; Atlanta Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Connecticut – New Haven, Bridgeport, Norwalk, Stamford; Denver, Colorado; Honolulu, Hawaii; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Phoenix, Arizona; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Poor housing and refugee homelessness highlighted in new reports

by University of Huddersfield

Poor housing and refugee homelessness highlighted in new reports

Two new reports based on research led by the University of Huddersfield's Professor Philip Brown have highlighted issues surrounding housing and homelessness during the cost-of-living crisis.

Professor Brown, the academic lead on the university's Healthy Housing Initiative, worked with the Northern Housing Consortium and the Center for Homelessness Impact on reports that assess poor quality housing stock as well as links between refugee resettlement and homelessness respectively.

The first report , "Living in Fear" focuses in particular on housing in the north of England, and is based on research with renters and owner-occupiers who were spoken to during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2023. The new report follows pioneering work undertaking at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report proposes a three-point plan that it is calling upon the government to implement.

"During the winter months, people living in poor housing conditions are more likely to die as a result of respiratory, circulatory and cardiovascular diseases and are more likely to experience depression and anxiety," says Professor Brown.

"In certain parts of the U.K., such as the north of England, this is made even worse by the prevalence of older, colder and poorly maintained properties. But even if you are fortunate enough to have adequate accommodation, this does not insulate you from the spiraling cost of living, in particular rising energy prices.

The study sets out a three-point plan to ease the squeeze on struggling households:

  • The speedy progress of the Renters' Reform Bill to end no-fault evictions
  • Local Housing Allowance levels must continue to keep pace with spiraling rents
  • New support with energy bills, including a 'social tariff' to help people meet soaring costs of gas and electricity.

Northern Housing Consortium Chief Executive, Tracy Harrison, said, "This was a small-scale study but, the Northern Housing Monitor, our state of the region housing report illustrates these problems are likely to be widespread. The North West and Yorkshire and the Humber have experienced the biggest market rent hikes in England. The North accounts for a disproportionate number of homes with the most serious hazards, and there is a higher-than-average number of people experiencing fuel poverty."

Huge increase in homelessness among asylum seekers

The second major report , for the Center for Homelessness Impact, has revealed there was a 223% surge in street homelessness for people leaving asylum between June and September 2023. This trend indicates a troubling link between the U.K.'s asylum system and the growing levels of homelessness. The report is titled "Homelessness, refugees and resettlement."

It recommends practical measures, including extending the move-on period, acknowledging the crucial role of social housing providers, and ensuring access to rights-based advice. By providing increased face-to-face support and building capacity within refugee communities, it is hoped that more thoughtful and effective approaches towards refugee resettlement can be created.

"Those people who arrive in the U.K. to seek sanctuary have, over the last few decades, been increasingly finding themselves accommodated in precarious situations, often enduring homelessness," adds Professor Brown.

"This is particularly common for those receiving refugee status after a decision on their claim for asylum. These are challenges shared by many people in the U.K. A lack of social housing, low-pay work and a poorly resourced support system maintain common struggles. The lack of familiarity with U.K. systems, difficulty getting into employment and an often fledging grasp of English mean that, for refugees, they find things even harder."

Ligia Teixeira, Chief Executive of the Center for Homelessness Impact, said, "We hope that our analysis helps to see where things can be done to help refugees live their lives in peace. Many of these things will help everyone who is struggling to have somewhere safe to call home."

The team have taken a 30-year view to understand how refugees have navigated the housing system since the 1990s. This has resulted in a number of resources including a toolkit to help improve housing outcomes for refugees.

Homelessness, refugees and resettlement. assets-global.website-files.co … settlement.paper.pdf

Provided by University of Huddersfield

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IMAGES

  1. REFLECTION PAPER.docx

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  2. Position Paper.docx

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  3. Poverty and Homelessness

    poverty and homelessness research paper

  4. 😱 Homelessness research paper thesis. Essays On Homelessness: The Best

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  5. ⇉Different Solutions to Poverty in Urban Areas Essay Example

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  6. Poverty, Hunger, and Homelessness Research Paper

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COMMENTS

  1. How to Address Homelessness: Reflections from Research

    Volume 693, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716221995158 PDF / ePub More Abstract This commentary considers policy implications of research in this volume and elsewhere, and we emphasize the benefits of policy approaches that move "upstream," to the prevention of homelessness.

  2. Solving Homelessness from a Complex Systems Perspective: Insights for

    HOMELESSNESS AS A COMPLEX PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT 1.1. Scope of Homelessness Homelessness poses an enduring public health challenge throughout the developed world. Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared housing a basic right in 1991, the United Nations continues to identify homelessness as an urgent human rights crisis ( 109 ).

  3. Homelessness and Public Health: A Focus on Strategies and Solutions

    The health problems facing homeless persons result from various factors, including a lack of housing, racism and discrimination, barriers to health care, a lack of access to adequate food and protection, limited resources for social services, and an inadequate public health infrastructure.

  4. Effects of poverty, hunger and homelessness on children and youth

    Those who are poor face challenges beyond a lack of resources. They also experience mental and physical issues at a much higher rate than those living above the poverty line. Read on for a summary of the myriad effects of poverty, homelessness, and hunger on children and youth.

  5. PDF Homelessness and poverty: reviewing the links

    the evidence base regarding the bi-directional links between homelessness and poverty, that is, the extent to which and ways in which: a) poverty causes homelessness; and b) homelessness causes (or exacerbates) poverty. It also sought to evaluate, insofar as possible, the effectiveness and costs of

  6. Social conditions of becoming homelessness: qualitative analysis of

    1. engaging in maladaptive behavioural lifestyle including taking drugs and/or excessive alcohol drinking 2. Being in trouble with people in authorities. Conclusion Homeless people describe the immediate behavioural causes of homelessness, however, the analysis revealed the social and economic conditions within which homelessness occurred.

  7. PDF Reducing and Preventing Homelessness: A Review of the Evidence and

    1 I. Introduction In the 1870s, large numbers of able-bodied men hopped the newly built railroads that crisscrossed the country in search of economic opportunities in America's rapidly growing cities. Many of these men arrived in cities with few possessions and little money.

  8. On the Relationship between Poverty Segregation and Homelessness in the

    Poverty segregation is theorized to influence local homelessness rates via its interconnection with disadvantage and unique spatial effects that can negatively affect the self-efficacy of those experiencing homelessness and normalize the condition as an accepted social category for the housed. Framework

  9. » Housing & Homelessness

    Housing & Homelessness. A safe, affordable, and stable home is often the very foundation for economic stability. Yet housing insecurity currently affects almost every community in the nation, and for millions of Americans an affordable place to call home remains out of reach. Housing is considered affordable if housing costs do not exceed 30% ...

  10. Homelessness Is Socially Created: Cluster Analysis of Social ...

    Poverty creates social conditions that increase the likelihood of homelessness. These include exposure to traumatic life experiences; social disadvantages such as poor educational experiences; being raised in a broken family, care homes or foster care; physical, emotional, and sexual abuse; and neglect at an early age. These conditions reduce people's ability to negotiate through life ...

  11. Homelessness, housing instability and mental health: making the

    Early epidemiological studies, comparing homeless persons with their domiciled counterparts, found that depression and suicidal thoughts were far more prevalent, along with symptoms of trauma and substance misuse. 2, 3 A recent meta-analysis found that more than half of homeless and marginally housed individuals had traumatic brain injuries - a ...

  12. Effective interventions for homeless populations: the evidence remains

    Homelessness among people with children has risen substantially over the past decade: in England, families experiencing homelessness increased by 42% between 2010 and 2017, and in the USA, families with children represent around a third of the homeless population.

  13. Racial Inequity and Homelessness: Findings from the SPARC Study

    Homelessness in the United States is a public health crisis, with at least 550,000 Americans experiencing homelessness on any given night and more than 1.4 million through the course of a year (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] 2018a, 2018b).The most recent Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress reports substantial racial disparities: Black/African Americans ...

  14. Homelessness and poverty: reviewing the links

    This paper reviews the evidence base regarding the bi-directional links between homelessness and poverty, that is, the extent to which and ways in which: a) poverty causes homelessness; and b) homelessness causes (or exacerbates) poverty. It also sought to evaluate, insofar as possible, the effectiveness of policy and practice interventions aiming to break the links between homelessness and ...

  15. » Homelessness Research

    Explore Poverty Solutions' research on homelessness in the journal articles, working papers, policy briefs, news releases, and ongoing research projects listed below. Carol J. and F. Edward Lake Professor of Population Health, School of Nursing. Director of Housing Stability Programs and Policy Initiatives.

  16. The key factors contributing to the persistence of homelessness

    The literature showed that the most common causes for homelessness were drug abuse, family violence, psychological problems, education level, and poverty. We summarized the 12 papers based on geographic location, target group, and causes of homelessness (. Table 1. ). Table 1.

  17. Full article: Defining the characteristics of poverty and their

    1. Introduction. Poverty "is one of the defining challenges of the 21st Century facing the world" (Gweshengwe et al., Citation 2020, p. 1).In 2019, about 1.3 billion people in 101 countries were living in poverty (United Nations Development Programme and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, Citation 2019).For this reason, the 2030 Global Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals ...

  18. Poverty and Homelessness: History, Contributing Factors, Modern Reality

    Caruth, Makaella, "Poverty and Homelessness: History, Contributing Factors, Modern Reality and Misconceptions, Personal Narratives, and Community Impact" (2021). ... This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Research and Creative Practice at ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors ...

  19. Analyzing the impact of social factors on homelessness: a Fuzzy

    Homelessness. Homelessness is a complex social problem with a variety of underlying economic and social factors such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, uncertain physical and mental health, addictions, and community and family breakdown. These factors, in varying combinations, contribute to duration, frequency, and type of homelessness.

  20. Full article: Young, Black, successful, and homeless: examining the

    The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. McKinney-Vento, established in 1987 and recently reauthorized under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), is the most comprehensive federal legislation designed to support the academic achievement of students impacted by homelessness (Pavlakis and Duffield Citation 2017).The policy defines student homelessness broadly as any student who lacks a ...

  21. The New Homelessness

    Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2024-16. 57 Pages Posted: 7 Feb 2024 Last revised: 8 Feb 2024. See all articles by Mila Versteeg Mila Versteeg. University of Virginia School of Law. ... Keywords: homelessness, poverty, housing, civil rights, constitutional law, comparative, ...

  22. (PDF) Measures to Prevent the Problems of Poverty, Illiteracy

    Internationally, the key debate is whether homelessness is due to simple lack of affordable housing, or to a range of complex factors involving poverty and unemployment. The paper argues that ...

  23. Poverty, Homelessness, and Family Break-Up

    Poverty and homelessness are associated with the break-up of families. A number of studies have documented that children in families who experience homelessness frequently become separated from their parents. ... Homeless families and children. Paper presented at the 2007 National Symposium on Homelessness Research.2007. [Google Scholar] Sedlak ...

  24. Poor housing and refugee homelessness highlighted in new reports

    Two new reports based on research led by the University of Huddersfield's Professor Philip Brown have highlighted issues surrounding housing and homelessness during the cost-of-living crisis.

  25. Full article: Mapping Homelessness Research in Canada

    Volume 53, Issue 1 American Review of Canadian Studies Volume 53, 2023 - Issue 1 Open access 5,076 Views 0 CrossRef citations to date 0 Altmetric Listen Article Mapping Homelessness Research in Canada Alison Smith & Anna Kopec Pages 42-62 | Published online: 27 Mar 2023 Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/02722011.2023.2170155 In this article