Precarious Lives: a Critical Examination of Homeless Youth Transitions to Independent Housing
Year: 2017
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Precarious Lives: A Critical Examination of Homeless Youth Transitions to Independent Housing Naomi S. Thulien Graduate Department of Nursing Science University of Toronto 2017 ABSTRACT Homelessness has reached epidemic proportions in Canada, with youth comprising a significant segment of this population. While we know a great deal about the risk factors associated with young people entering street life, we know much less about how to facilitate and sustain homeless youth transitions off the streets. To date, there have been only a handful of longitudinal studies designed to examine the trajectories of youth who exit homelessness. Moreover, none of these longitudinal studies were designed to exclusively examine the experiences of youth transitioning to independent housing, where youth pay market rent and are required to be more self-sufficient. The goal of the study was to address this knowledge gap by producing an emic (insider) perspective on the experiences of formerly homeless youth as they transitioned into independent housing and attempted to achieve meaningful social integration. To achieve a more nuanced understanding of the subjective and objective aspects of meaningful social integration, the study was guided by a Postcolonial Feminist theoretical framework alongside the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health conceptual framework. A critical ethnography was utilized to reveal socioeconomic and political factors that shape the transition to independent housing and to meaningful social integration. During ten months of fieldwork, I met every other week with nine formerly homeless youth who had recently moved into independent housing. The majority of youth were individually interviewed 13 to 19 times. In total, I conducted 119 hour-long informal interviews. Three key findings emerged: 1) youth appeared “successfully” housed but lived in chronic precarity; 2) youth experienced a shift in identity and employed this as a self-preservation strategy; and 3) the process of independently maintaining housing undermined the youths’ sense of mastery and control. Despite their remarkable agency, participants’ lack of tangible and intangible resources meant they were housed in poverty and remained marginalized. I propose a new conceptual framework, highlighting the tangible and intangible resources needed by youth attempting the daunting task of transitioning off the streets.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Naomi Thulien
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2765789981