published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the housing environment faced by street youth in the City of Vancouver. It seeks to understand the housing needs of street youth, to identify the barriers encountered in accessing housing, to identify and evaluate their housing options, and to examine the provincial and municipal government roles in providing housing for street youth. This thesis defines a street youth as an individual between the ages of 12 and 18 who has either chosen to leave or been thrown out of their family home for a minimum of two days, is involved in street related activities, and sleeps in inappropriate accommodations or has no shelter at all. The terms street youth and homeless youth are used interchangeably because the qualities which are absent from an individual’s living environment - privacy, security, stability and access to support services - are also absent from the various living situations in which street youth find themselves. The methodology undertaken to complete this thesis is a literature review and a case study of Vancouver’s street youth. The literature review provides background information on the general subject of homelessness, and specifically, the reasons why youth choose to live a life on the street and the lifestyle they lead once on the street. The empirical component of the research consists of interviews with service providers and street youth. The interview results clearly reveal that two interrelated problem areas exist in the broad issue of street youth and housing. These areas are first, the state care system, both its form and manner of service provision, and second, accessibility to market housing - social, economic and political factors which affect a youth’s ability to secure housing. An issue common to both problem areas, and perpetuating the problems in each, is the lack of value and respect society gives to youth. A ‘continuum of housing’ model is proposed which takes into account the family backgrounds conmion to many street youth, the types of lifestyle they lead while on the street, and the problems associated with state-provided and market housing. In addition, recommendations are provided which centre on advocacy and service-coordinating bodies, attitude changes, additional housing facilities, landlord-tenant relationships, government assistance eligibility criteria, and funding.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the housing environment faced by street youth in the City of Vancouver. It seeks to understand the housing needs of street youth, to identify the barriers encountered in accessing housing, to identify and evaluate their housing options, and to examine the provincial and municipal government roles in providing housing for street youth. This thesis defines a street youth as an individual between the ages of 12 and 18 who has either chosen to leave or been thrown out of their family home for a minimum of two days, is involved in street related activities, and sleeps in inappropriate accommodations or has no shelter at all. The terms street youth and homeless youth are used interchangeably because the qualities which are absent from an individual’s living environment - privacy, security, stability and access to support services - are also absent from the various living situations in which street youth find themselves. The methodology undertaken to complete this thesis is a literature review and a case study of Vancouver’s street youth. The literature review provides background information on the general subject of homelessness, and specifically, the reasons why youth choose to live a life on the street and the lifestyle they lead once on the street. The empirical component of the research consists of interviews with service providers and street youth. The interview results clearly reveal that two interrelated problem areas exist in the broad issue of street youth and housing. These areas are first, the state care system, both its form and manner of service provision, and second, accessibility to market housing - social, economic and political factors which affect a youth’s ability to secure housing. An issue common to both problem areas, and perpetuating the problems in each, is the lack of value and respect society gives to youth. A ‘continuum of housing’ model is proposed which takes into account the family backgrounds conmion to many street youth, the types of lifestyle they lead while on the street, and the problems associated with state-provided and market housing. In addition, recommendations are provided which centre on advocacy and service-coordinating bodies, attitude changes, additional housing facilities, landlord-tenant relationships, government assistance eligibility criteria, and funding. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

<p>The aim of my study was to investigate a few young peoples experience of their treatment. The study was qualitative based on interviews with three young persons at the end of their treatment there. The subject was chosen because this kind of youth housing is an interesting alternative to institutional care for young people, despite there is not much known about the results of the treatment. The results were analyzed from earlier research and central concepts from the theory of empowerment and Anton Antonovskys theory about Sense of coherence. The results of this study show that these young peoples are satisfied with their treatment at the youth housing. They felt that a positive change and an improvement of their self-esteem had occurred. Another interesting result of the study shows is that these young people have developed from being a hostile teenager at the edge of a life where they could see no future to living as responsible grown-ups with a much brighter perspective of the future full of hopes and dreams.</p>

The aim of my study was to investigate a few young peoples experience of their treatment. The study was qualitative based on interviews with three young persons at the end of their treatment there. The subject was chosen because this kind of youth housing is an interesting alternative to institutional care for young people, despite there is not much known about the results of the treatment. The results were analyzed from earlier research and central concepts from the theory of empowerment and Anton Antonovskys theory about Sense of coherence. The results of this study show that these young peoples are satisfied with their treatment at the youth housing. They felt that a positive change and an improvement of their self-esteem had occurred. Another interesting result of the study shows is that these young people have developed from being a hostile teenager at the edge of a life where they could see no future to living as responsible grown-ups with a much brighter perspective of the future full of hopes and dreams.

This thesis explores the experience of young people on the Isle of Mull and whether and how institutional innovation could help to alleviate housing market constraint for young people living in rural areas. The research identified that young people were particularly constrained in housing markets due to lack of finance and being in the early stages of employment with difficulty accessing housing compounded by the 2007/08 economic downturn. A review of the literature on rural housing markets revealed that challenging supply and demand issues impacted upon the development of housing and constrained rural markets restricted the housing market for young people, limiting choice. The research explored the agency of young people in rural areas and the structure of the housing market, specifically the institutional actors involved in rural housing markets including, but not limited to, the construction industry, land owners, planners, government and third sector organisations. The research focused on the Isle of Mull, off the west coast of Scotland, to explore the experiences of young people living in a remote rural environment and the problems associated with rural housing markets. Questionnaires were completed by young people who were at school on the Isle of Mull and thirty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with institutional actors involved in rural housing markets and young people living on the Isle of Mull. The research adopted Clapham's (2005) housing pathways approach to explore the choices of young people in the rural housing market, and Williamson's (2000; 1998) New Institutional Economics framework (Economics of Institutions) to examine the structure of the housing market on the Isle of Mull. The research highlighted that third-sector organisations could help to bring institutional actors together in the rural housing market and therefore help to alleviate housing constraint for young people on the Isle of Mull.

In the last 30 years, the Swedish housing market has changed from a market characterized by a centralized governing body with a focus on affordable housing for all, to a significantly less regulated market. This shift in the market landscape created a housing market that is not sufficient for the current housing demands. An insufficient supply should theoretically be visible in the personal experiences of a selected group and problems surrounding the acquisition of a place to live should be present. This study aims to identify how a local example could apply to a national phenomenon. To fulfil this aim, empirical evidence was created through interviews conducted with students at Umeå university.  The results show that less students had problems with finding housing when moving than what could be differentiated in the national statistics. This result could be explained by the presence of beneficial circumstances acquired through various forms of human capital. Having a social network, previous knowledge about the town itself or having economic stability indicated an easier acquisition of housing. However, it was deemed that this only aided the process and was not the direct factor in the acquisition of housing, as a correlation between those who experienced problems and the lack of benefits through human capital factors could not be established. The absence of human capital was also never the reason for the problems in acquisition, which further implicates that it is purely beneficially, not strictly mandatory for the acquisition of housing in a new place.

Det råder en bostadsbrist i Stockholm till följd av flera decennier med låg nyproduktion av bostäder och hög befolkningstillväxt. Bostadspriserna är rekordhöga liksom bostadsköerna och hyrorna på andrahandsmarknaden. En grupp som drabbas särskilt hårt av bostadsbristen är unga vuxna som generellt har både låg inkomst och kort kötid i bostadsköerna. För att förbättra boendesituationen för gruppen unga vuxna har modulbostäder för ungdomar byggts på tidsbegränsade bygglov. Regeringen kommer under 2017 sannolikt att besluta om en lagändring som innebär en förenkling i reglerna om tidsbegränsade bygglov för bostadsändamål. Något som väntas bidra till ett ökat byggande av temporära bostäder. I denna rapport har två bostadsprojekt byggda på tidsbegränsade bygglov och avsedda för unga vuxna studerats genom intervjuer med hyresgäster och byggherrar. Syftet med fallstudierna har varit att utreda om temporärt bostadsbyggande är en hållbar lösning för att stärka unga vuxnas ställning på bostadsmarknaden. Ytterligare har en djupgående kartläggning av Stockholms bostadsmarknad gjorts med syfte att fastställa hur omfattande den rådande bostadsbristen är och hur allvarligt unga vuxnas påverkas av den. Studien visar att bostadsmarknaden i Stockholm befinner sig i kraftig obalans och kan befinna sig i riskzonen för ett prisfall. Ett prisfall skulle drabba unga belånade hushåll särskilt hårt med anledning av att gruppen har en hög skuldsättning, både med avseende på skuldkvot och belåningsgrad. Unga vuxna har kort kötid i bostadsköerna och i länet utgör unga vuxna mellan 18-30 år åldersgruppen med lägst genomsnittlig inkomst, en förklaring till varför skuldsättningen är högst bland yngre hushåll. Ovan nämnda faktorer förklarar varför unga vuxna som grupp har en svag ställning på bostadsmarknaden. Fallstudierna visar att tidsbegränsade bygglov i kombination med modulärt byggande möjliggör rekordsnabbt uppförande av ungdomsbostäder. Det finns dock en viss problematik är kopplad till konceptet som i slutändan påverkar hyresgästerna. Problematiken med temporärt byggande grundar sig osäkerheten av husens restvärde när byggloven upphör. Temporära bostäder kan byggas med "låg boendestandad &amp; låg ekonomisk risk" eller "hög boendestandard &amp; hög ekonomisk risk". De studerade projekten tillsammans bidragit till att förbättra boendesituationen för närmare 500 unga vuxna. För att stärka unga vuxnas ställning som grupp behövs däremot mer omfattande bostadssatsningar riktade mot gruppen. Min bedömning är att temporära ungdomsbostäder är ett gott komplement till nyproduktion av permanenta bostäder men inte bör ses som en långsiktigt hållbar lösning på bostadsproblematiken. / There is a current housing shortage in Stockholm as a result of several decades with low rates of new production of housing and high rates of population growth. The housing prices as well as the housing queues and the rent levels in the secondary market are historically high. Young people are highly affected of the housing shortage due to their overall low incomes and short time in the housing queues. To improve the housing situation for young people there have been built some youth dwellings on time restricted building permits. In 2017 the Swedish government will probably ease the legislation of time restricted building permits for housing purposes. This is expected to contribute to more construction on temporary housing. In this paper two housing projects built on time restricted building permits intended for young people is studied by interviews with the tenants and the developers. The purpose of the case studies is to investigate if temporary housing is a sustainable solution to strengthen young people’s position in the housing market. Further an extensive investigation of the housing market in Stockholm is done, with purpose to determine how extensive the housing shortage is and how seriously young people are affected of it. The result shows that the housing situation in Stockholm is imbalanced and the risk of falling housing prices may be increased. Decreasing housing prices would affect young people hardly due to their overall high depts. Young people have short time in the housing queues and people in the age of 18 – 30 represents the group with the lowest incomes rates in Stockholm country. This is the explanation why young people have the highest housing debts. Due to this factors young people have a weak position on the housing market The case studies shows that time restricted housing permits in combination with modular housing allows exceptional fast construction of housing. However the is some problems connected to the concept which affects the tenants. The problems with temporary housing are connected to the uncertain salvage value of the houses when the building permits expires. Temporary housing can be built with "low housing standard &amp; low economic risk" or "high housing standard and high economic risk". The projects studied have contributed to improve the hosing situation for near 500 young people. However to improve the housing situation for the young people as a group, more extensive housing efforts are needed towards the group. My assessment is that temporary youth housing is a good complement to new construction of permanent housing but should not be seen as a long-term sustainable solution to the housing shortage.

The purpose of this study is to explore how emancipated youth, who are clients of the aftercare ILP (Independent Living Program) and transitional housing program with Cameron Hill, evaluate those services.