The Trappings of Home: Young Homeless People's Transitions Towards Independent Living

This paper describes the experiences of young homeless people in Western Australia during their transitions to more permanent accommodation and independent living. For these young homeless people, permanent accommodation provided an opportunity for 'feeling at home' and having a sense of c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Housing studies 2011-01, Vol.26 (1), p.1-16
Main Authors: Brueckner, Martin, Green, Meredith, Saggers, Sherry
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accommodation
Discourse analysis
Homeless people
Homeless young people
Homelessness
Houses
housing transitions
Independent living
meanings of home
phenomenological analysis
Phenomenology
Sense of control
Social policy
Social problems
Social services
Society
Transitions
Western Australia
Young adults
Young homeless people
Young people
Youth
Youth workers
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Summary:This paper describes the experiences of young homeless people in Western Australia during their transitions to more permanent accommodation and independent living. For these young homeless people, permanent accommodation provided an opportunity for 'feeling at home' and having a sense of control and stability associated with 'home'. Within this space, these young people wanted to be considered 'normal' home occupiers. In this context, the paper discusses how young homeless people experience and negotiate the social and cultural understandings of home outside socially accepted pathways of leaving the parental home and becoming 'normal' home occupiers themselves. The paper shows how this experience of home, and the potential it offers previously homeless young people, is interrupted by discourses of youth workers, neighbours and society at large, which serve to (re)position them outside the community of 'normal' home occupiers. The findings have implications for both policy and the delivery of services to young homeless people.
ISSN:0267-3037
1466-1810
DOI:10.1080/02673037.2010.512751