Inside the Open Door: Considerations of Inclusivity Among Women Accessing an Open Door Housing Service in Canada
The provision of shelter to individuals experiencing homelessness creates a 24/7 community of co-living in which the common denominator uniting members is lack of housing. Women of all ethnic, racial, religious, cultural backgrounds, as well as members of 2SLGBTQ+ communities, find themselves co-liv...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Western Libraries, The University of Western Ontario
2022-02-01
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| Series: | International Journal on Homelessness |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/ijoh/article/view/14196 |
| _version_ | 1828065494086713344 |
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| author | Hannah Brais Katherine Maurer |
| author_facet | Hannah Brais Katherine Maurer |
| author_sort | Hannah Brais |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The provision of shelter to individuals experiencing homelessness creates a 24/7 community of co-living in which the common denominator uniting members is lack of housing. Women of all ethnic, racial, religious, cultural backgrounds, as well as members of 2SLGBTQ+ communities, find themselves co-living in the shared and often challenging transitional space. As services have shifted to “open the door” to provide more inclusive access to services, little attention has been paid to the experiences of diverse communities within co-living spaces. Questioning the assumption that shared loss inherently binds a community of homelessness service users to a common identity, this research asks: what discourses of heterogeneity of service users emerge in descriptions from women experiencing homelessness of their trajectories through transitional housing services to stable housing? Interviews were conducted with 33 service users in a women’s transitional housing service between 2016-2018 in Montreal, Canada. Data collected over two waves of semi-structured interviews focused on service usage, homelessness histories, transitional programs experiences, and well-being, featuring 33 and 12 interviews, respectively. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed several instances of participants reflecting on the challenges and benefits of engaging with the heterogeneity of individuals in the space: reflections centered on the unsuitability of services, mental health and substance use, gender identity, as well as a sense of solidarity. In addition to an unexplored complexity associated with inclusive transitional housing user experiences, this analysis underlines a desperate need for refined perspectives on inclusive service policies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T23:15:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1689eb2bd2f04f7cae10ec2e6148539e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2564-310X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T23:15:11Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | Western Libraries, The University of Western Ontario |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal on Homelessness |
| spelling | doaj.art-1689eb2bd2f04f7cae10ec2e6148539e2023-01-12T20:47:40ZengWestern Libraries, The University of Western OntarioInternational Journal on Homelessness2564-310X2022-02-012112113510.5206/ijoh.2022.1.141968399Inside the Open Door: Considerations of Inclusivity Among Women Accessing an Open Door Housing Service in CanadaHannah Brais0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3317-6382Katherine Maurer1Old Brewery Mission, McGill UniversityMcGill University, School of Social WorkThe provision of shelter to individuals experiencing homelessness creates a 24/7 community of co-living in which the common denominator uniting members is lack of housing. Women of all ethnic, racial, religious, cultural backgrounds, as well as members of 2SLGBTQ+ communities, find themselves co-living in the shared and often challenging transitional space. As services have shifted to “open the door” to provide more inclusive access to services, little attention has been paid to the experiences of diverse communities within co-living spaces. Questioning the assumption that shared loss inherently binds a community of homelessness service users to a common identity, this research asks: what discourses of heterogeneity of service users emerge in descriptions from women experiencing homelessness of their trajectories through transitional housing services to stable housing? Interviews were conducted with 33 service users in a women’s transitional housing service between 2016-2018 in Montreal, Canada. Data collected over two waves of semi-structured interviews focused on service usage, homelessness histories, transitional programs experiences, and well-being, featuring 33 and 12 interviews, respectively. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed several instances of participants reflecting on the challenges and benefits of engaging with the heterogeneity of individuals in the space: reflections centered on the unsuitability of services, mental health and substance use, gender identity, as well as a sense of solidarity. In addition to an unexplored complexity associated with inclusive transitional housing user experiences, this analysis underlines a desperate need for refined perspectives on inclusive service policies.https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/ijoh/article/view/14196women’s homelessnesstransitional housingopen doorinclusive policiescommunity-based participatory researchqualitative |
| spellingShingle | Hannah Brais Katherine Maurer Inside the Open Door: Considerations of Inclusivity Among Women Accessing an Open Door Housing Service in Canada International Journal on Homelessness women’s homelessness transitional housing open door inclusive policies community-based participatory research qualitative |
| title | Inside the Open Door: Considerations of Inclusivity Among Women Accessing an Open Door Housing Service in Canada |
| title_full | Inside the Open Door: Considerations of Inclusivity Among Women Accessing an Open Door Housing Service in Canada |
| title_fullStr | Inside the Open Door: Considerations of Inclusivity Among Women Accessing an Open Door Housing Service in Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inside the Open Door: Considerations of Inclusivity Among Women Accessing an Open Door Housing Service in Canada |
| title_short | Inside the Open Door: Considerations of Inclusivity Among Women Accessing an Open Door Housing Service in Canada |
| title_sort | inside the open door considerations of inclusivity among women accessing an open door housing service in canada |
| topic | women’s homelessness transitional housing open door inclusive policies community-based participatory research qualitative |
| url | https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/ijoh/article/view/14196 |
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