From contested spaces to choice-centered places: using geographic interviews to understand young adults’ experiences in permanent supportive housing

ABSTRACT

Young adults who have endured chronic housing instability have often been failed by settings which have inadequately supported them – such as home and school settings. As such, young people experiencing homelessness and housing instability are seeking supportive settings. Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is a burgeoning supportive intervention in the youth homelessness services landscape. Our study used the geographic interview methodology, a novel qualitative geographic information systems methodology, to understand how young adult residents (N = 15) in PSH experience the physical setting. Residents experienced the common spaces in PSH as contested spaces; meanwhile, they sought choice-centered spaces – where there are choices of what to do, who to spend time with, and how to spend time. PSH settings for young adults may embrace choice-centered principles and practices when building trauma-informed PSH for young adults. Future research should explore these findings across demographic and geographic differences.

KEYWORDS:

• youth experiencing homelessness
• permanent supportive housing
• trauma-informed design
• qualitative geographic information systems

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the young people and staff at LH, who were willing to share their time and stories with us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data available upon request to corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by a University of Denver Public Good Grant.