“Why Am I out Here?”: Understanding Homelessness Identity Among Young Adults

Background and Purpose:

How homeless young adults develop a homeless identity and the effect of this identity on their behaviors and experiences have not been well studied. Among middle-aged homeless adults, a strong homeless identity has been found to be related to higher levels of self-reliance and self-esteem and greater well-being; however, homeless identity is also associated with fewer attempts to get off the streets and find stable housing. Young adulthood is a unique developmental period, in which individuals are struggling with questions of identity, aspirations, and independence. Yet, little research has examined homelessness identity among homeless young adults. This study explored how young adults living in emergency shelter conceptualize homelessness and how this conceptualization is applied to their own identity as a homeless individual. Such understanding could inform service providers attempting to engage young adults in “homeless” services, identifying new ways of labeling individuals’ situations and service needs.

Methods:

Photovoice is a community-based participatory approach that utilizes photography to help individuals develop life skills and express themselves and their needs. In the current Photovoice project, young adult participants staying at a shelter took photos exploring a variety of themes (e.g., stereotypes, barriers, boredom), composed captions to accompany their photos, and staged a public exhibit of their work. Data included: participant observations of 10 Photovoice group sessions, transcribed recordings of group sessions, and semi-structured interviews with study participants at project-end. Analytic memos were used to organize the data from field notes and transcripts. All data were coded using a mixture of descriptive, attribute, and in vivo codes. Codes were organized into emergent themes, focusing on how participants articulated their homeless identity, or lack thereof.  

Results:

Young adults were notably reticent to identify as homeless. Some youth completely rejected the term “homeless”, replacing it with alternatives such as “in a struggling situation” or “an adventurer”. Other youth reported that they are not “officially homeless”, since they have entered shelter and are no longer on the streets. Some participants acknowledged a homeless identity and described their housing instability as a source of motivation and self-improvement. As a group, youth shared feelings of isolation and alienation due to their homeless status. Many participants emphatically differentiated themselves from the homeless adults they observed in their community. These negative associations of homelessness seemed to contribute to their rejection of a homeless identity.

Conclusion and Implications:

Young adults who do not think of themselves as homeless, despite experiencing housing instability, may be less likely to seek out and use housing services and other social services labeled as “for homeless”. They may be less likely to disclose their housing status to other professionals, such as their teachers or medical providers. Service providers should consider the complicated feelings that these young people have about their housing status and tailor services to address the underlying needs without labeling the population. Further research is needed to understand how young adults’ ambivalence toward homeless identity may impact their engagement in services.