Lost in Limbo: The Experiences and Needs of Homeless Domestic Violence Survivors Living in Emergency Assistance Hotels

 Background and Purpose:Family homelessness has begun to decrease in the U.S.; however, state differences exist. Massachusetts (MA) saw the largest increase, 17% from 2013 to 2014. As a “right to shelter” state, such increases have overwhelmed the emergency shelter system – often the last resort for women and children, especially domestic violence (DV) survivors, as DV shelters are often full. In response, MA has revived the practice of placing families in hotels and motels (i.e., “emergency assistance [EA] hotels”).  The use of EA hotels has received attention from advocates and journalists; yet, researchers have been largely silent on the topic. Most empirical investigations were conducted in the 1980s when “welfare hotels” were common in New York. Thus, although research on families in homeless and DV shelters is ample, there is little research on EA hotels – a problem given that other states have begun to adopt this practice. Thus, study aims were 1) explore survivors’ experience in EA hotels; and 2) illustrate a typical day of tending to basic needs while living in an EA hotel.

Methods:  This study utilized a mixed-methods exploratory sequential design. Phase one involved in-depth interviews with 10 female DV survivors living in a homeless or DV shelter and who had had a prior stay in an EA hotel in MA. Both authors coded all data using constructivist grounded theory techniques. Findings informed the second phase, in which spatial methods were used to conduct a proximity analysis of the average walking distance and average public transit time from three EA hotels in MA to seven categories of basic needs (e.g., grocery stores) located within a five-mile radius. The EA hotels were selected based on population density of the county in which they are located (“large central metropolitan” “medium metropolitan” and “micropolitan”). Addresses of basic need providers were taken from publically available state datasets. All spatial analyses were conducted using the Network Analyst extension of ArcGIS version 9.3. 

Results:Median EA hotel stay was 14 days, ranging from four days to five months. Qualitative data analysis revealed that participants experienced the EA hotel as difficult and untenable, with four main themes: inability to meet several basic needs and the ensuing tradeoffs, role conflict for hotel staff affected residents, living in limbo, and feelings of profound isolation. The proximity analysis provided a picture of general inaccessibility for each EA hotel, with considerable differences according to county size.

Conclusions and Implications: Qualitative and quantitative findings both point to the practical and emotional challenges of living in an EA hotel. Several features of EA hotels (e.g., remote location, insufficient amenities, and staff treatment) hindered participants’ ability to meet their basic needs and – reported as more egregious – those of their children. Findings have important implications for policy and practice. In the short term, it is critical to assess people’s mobility prior to EA hotel placement, use extended-stay hotels only, and train hotel staff. Longer term, more affordable housing is needed to eliminate EA hotels.