Oscillating in and Out of Place Across Housed-homeless Trajectories

"While aging in place research has burgeoned over the past few decades, scant research has examined experiences of older adults who are becoming homeless for the first time. Drawing on the geographic concept of place, defined as a dynamic, politicized, meaningful location, constructivist grounded theory methodology, observations, document analysis and in-depth interviews with 15 newly homeless older adults (NHOAs) and their service providers, this study explored pathways into homelessness, experiences during homelessness, intersections of age and homelessness, and strategies to mitigate against challenges with place and displacement across housed-homeless trajectories.Findings revealed that displacement into homelessness was experienced as a dynamic, dual process of oscillating in and out of place across housed-homeless trajectories. Both pre-homeless housing and homeless shelters could be experienced as positive or negative places. When the interaction of persons and places fostered control, comfort, privacy, and security NHOAs tended to oscillate towards feeling more in place. Conversely when the interaction between persons and places resulted in feeling insecure, fearful, impersonal, and dependent participants tended to oscillate out of place. Personal histories, gender, age, interpersonal relations, economic and housing conditions, and the broader socio-political context worked together to affect whether the conditions necessary for feeling in place could be experienced while housed and during homelessness. Importantly, despite facing a number of constraints at personal and structural levels, participants engaged in strategies to feel more in place both while housed and during homelessness.Further analysis of pre-homeless experiences revealed two different pathways of displacement into homelessness: gradual and rapid. Participants with gradual pathways tended to feel out of place for longer periods of time due to precarious personal and housing histories. On the other hand, those with rapid pathways led more conventional lives, benefiting from stable personal and housing histories that fostered a greater sense of control, comfort, privacy, and security. For those with rapid pathways, the main tipping points tended to be more acute and occurred later in life. Regardless of the pathway, participants experienced homelessness as a shock, and feeling in place while homeless was difficult, if not impossible due to constraining shelter conditions that reinforced feeling out of place. However, aspects of shelter life including having one's material needs met, and building positive relationships with shelter residents and staff also protected participants from feeling consistently out of place during homelessness. By highlighting two different pathways of displacement into homelessness and the dynamic process of oscillating in and out of place across housed-homeless trajectories, this thesis makes an important contribution to the aging, place, and homelessness literature. Recommendations are made to prevent first time homelessness in later life and for shelter operators and policy makers to consider to better meet the unique needs of this vulnerable yet resilient group of older adults." --