Beyond Securing a tenancy: using the capabilities approach to identify the daily living needs of individuals during and following homelessness

ABSTRACT

Individuals experiencing homelessness have a range of unmet needs during homelessness. Less is known about how these daily living needs evolve in the transition to housing and how existing services are supporting individuals to meet these needs. Using the capabilities approach, we conducted a cross-sectional qualitative study with two participant groups (unhoused; housed between 1 and 24 months). Using thematic analysis, we generated five meta-themes to describe the experiences and compare these two groups: (1) Managing mental health and substance use; (2) Creating connection and community; (3) Involvement in something meaningful; (4) Emotional adaptation to impoverished living conditions; and (5) The helping relationship as foundation. Our findings indicate that for individuals to thrive following homelessness, researchers, service providers, and policymakers need to design and implement strategies that target outcomes beyond tenancy sustainment. These key strategies include: (1) facilitating access to resources that enable thriving following homelessness; (2) developing measures that orient programs and policies to target thriving rather than sustaining a tenancy; and (3) including persons with lived experiences of homelessness in the design and delivery of services and in the evaluation of new and existing programs.

KEYWORDS:

• poverty*
• social welfare*
• mental health*
• peer support
• substance-related disorders*

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• *MeSH term

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists.

Notes on contributors

Carrie Anne Marshall

Dr. Carrie Anne Marshall is an assistant professor and director of the Social Justice in Mental Health Research Lab at Western University.

Rebecca Gewurtz

Dr. Rebecca Gewurtz is an associate professor in the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at McMaster University.

Caitlin Ross

Ms. Caitlin Ross is practicing occupational therapists. During the time of this study, all were completing their master's degrees in occupational therapy.

Alyssa Becker

Ms. Alyssa Becker is practicing occupational therapists. During the time of this study, all were completing their master's degrees in occupational therapy.

Abrial Cooke

Ms. Abrial Cooke is practicing occupational therapists. During the time of this study, all were completing their master's degrees in occupational therapy.

Laurence Roy

Dr. Laurence Roy is an associate professor in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University.

Skye Barbic

Dr. Skye Barbic is an associate professor in the School of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of British Columbia.

Rosemary Lysaght

Dr. Rosemary Lysaght is a Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen's University.

Bonnie Kirsh

Dr. Bonnie Kirsh was a professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto during this study, and is currently Professor Emerita.