In Their Own Words: Exploring Family Pathways to Housing Instability.

Abstract

Purpose/Background: For every family experiencing literal homelessness, there are approximately five families who are precariously housed; doubled-up with friends or family, or living in hotels or temporary housing. These families experience higher rates of acute and chronic illness, emergency room utilization, and higher rates of negative behavioral and mental health outcomes than their stably-housed peers. Efforts to address housing instability focus on financial assistance only when a family is on the brink of losing their housing. This study aims to uncover pathways to family housing instability, allowing mothers facing homelessness to share the life events that led to their housing difficulties in order to identify points of intervention in a more up-stream, community-based approach. Methods: I employed a qualitative narrative approach, utilizing Smith & Liehr’s Story Theory to elicit individual accounts of the life events women felt contributed to their housing instability. Individual stories were then organized into narratives, in which I identified themes. I then shared these findings with participants and asked that they verify or correct findings in order to validate themes and key details. Results: Sixteen women with children facing eviction who qualified for assistance from a HUD emergency services grant completed 2 interviews. Fourteen of the 16 participants were survivors of domestic violence (either in their childhood home or adult relationships), and most participants reported estrangement or abuse from their families of origin. Women were able to articulate the struggles they had faced in their life, but few were able to connect past trauma and violence to current circumstances, even when their stories depicted a likely relationship between the past and present. Women articulated a need for peer support and mentoring to prevent similar housing instability for other women and teenagers at risk. The frequency and intensity of trauma experienced by the research participants also revealed a need for trauma-informed housing support services. Conclusions: The results of this study offer insight into the experiences of families facing housing instability. This research is a starting point for developing long-term community-based strategies to reduce risk of housing instability through targeted interventions that are meaningful and sustainable to communities.