“Safe Zone”: Homeless Persons' Construction of Public Park

“Safe Zone”: Homeless Persons’ Construction of Public Park

Abstract

Background and Purpose:Homeless persons in public parks have become one of the contested issues in urban and suburban areas. Increasingly, city authorities have enacted legislation to restrict how homeless persons use public parks.

To understand and respond appropriately to the phenomenon requires appreciating the perspectives of homeless persons in public parks. This study focuses on homeless persons’ construction of Jefferson Park in Fort Collins, Colorado—examining how homeless persons use the park in ways that reflect their lived realities.

Methods: Ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with homeless persons (4 females and 6 males) who frequently use Jefferson Park in Fort Collins. All participants self-identified as homeless and use the park at least three times per week within the past six months. Data collection was guided by theoretical and snowball sampling. Data analysis began after two initial interviews. Participants then led the researcher to other homeless persons who were interested in the study.

Interviews incorporated open-ended questions to elicit how participants construct the use of the park. Interview questions included: Can you describe how you use Jefferson Park? What have been your experiences with Jefferson Park? After transcribing interviews, data analysis was guided by Charmaz’s (2014) suggested grounded theory coding and Braun and Clarke’s (2006) approach to thematically analyzing qualitative data.

Findings: Three significant themes emerged from the data analysis. Participants construct the park as: a homeless safe hub; a homeless network hub; and a homeless resource hub. The findings reveal that homeless persons construct meanings of the park on the premises of their lived experiences.

Conclusions and Implication: This study shows that homeless persons’ description of the park reveals significant facets of their lived experiences. Participants construct the park as a homeless safe hub based on the welcoming attitudes of their peers in the park. Participants construct the park as a resource hub to illuminate the shortcomings in homeless services—highlighting the inadequacies in resources for the homeless. Participants construct the park as a homeless network hub to stress the need to provide other services beyond physical and psychological services.  

                                                              References

Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing grounded theory (2^nd ed.).London: Sage Publications.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research In Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.