Housing is a key social determinant of health. Further to this, my research will show that it is through housing that all other health determinants are fully actualized. For refugee claimant (RC) families, housing is the most immediate and pressing need upon their arrival in Canada. The objective of this exploratory qualitative study is to examine the housing experiences of refugee claimant (RC) families in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and its impact on the health, well-being, settlement and integration of this population from the perspectives of services providers. Given the increasing inflows of asylum seekers in Canada over the past few years, there is an urgent need to examine their housing experiences and subsequent impacts on health and well-being. Using purposive sampling, seven service providers from five different refugee centres and family shelters in the GTHA were recruited. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted, recorded, transcribed, and then analyzed thematically. Findings demonstrate that accessing both emergency and permanent housing upon arrival is particularly difficult for RCs, given that the demand for housing continues to surpass availability in the emergency shelter system and private housing market in the GTHA. In their search for permanent housing, many RCs rely on the private housing market, where discrimination and affordability are common barriers. With an uneven and difficult trajectory towards housing access, many RCs face health issues associated with stress, poverty, and homelessness, which disrupt their settlement and integration in Canada. This research concludes by offering recommendations for policy and program level changes to improve refugee housing access in the GTHA. These recommendations include increasing service provision capacity in shelters, expanding transitional housing options for RCs, increasing investments in subsidized housing, limiting government involvement in REITS and increasing incentives to build more subsidized housing. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

In architecture, phenomenology refers to an approach that focuses on the lived experience of built spaces rather than purely on their functional or aesthetic qualities. It is rooted in the philosophical tradition of 'Phenomenology' which investigates the structure of human experiences and consciousness or the idea of awareness of the self, regarding one's physical environment. Awareness of the self occurs as a result of the subjective experience of individuals within a space, including how they perceive, interact with, and feel about their surroundings. Design considerations of a space like the quality of light, materiality, scale, proportion, texture, sound, and movement, as well as the cultural, social, and historical context, all contribute to the making of this space, as suggested by Juhani Pallasma "My body remembers who I am and how I am located in the world. My body is truly the navel of my world, not in the sense of the viewing point of the central perspective, but as the very locus of reference, memory, imagination, and integration." Phenomenology comes from the Greek word 'Phainomenon' meaning "that which appears" and "logos" meaning study. The thesis studies 'homelessness', a social phenomenon characterized by a physical condition wherein individuals or families lack safe, stable, and adequate housing. Homelessness can affect people of all ages, backgrounds, and circumstances and leads to challenges such as poverty, mental illness, substance abuse, social isolation, and unemployment. It is observed that most of the above consequences arise due to a lack of safe and affordable living conditions that affect homeless people psychologically and physiologically. Homeless individuals face harsh and challenging living conditions in their physical environment. Most people live on streets or in makeshift shelters exposed to extreme weather conditions such as heat, cold, snow, and rain. Lack of shelter forces many to sleep in public spaces like parks, sidewalks, alleys, under bridges, or in abandoned buildings. Dwelling in such habitats exposes them to crime and assault and makes them vulnerable to health issues due to the unsanitary environmental conditions. The thesis delves into addressing the physical environments experienced by homeless people. It aims to formulate and propose urban design, and architectural interventions and strategies that prioritize the safety, dignity, and well-being of homeless individuals. The design of the housing project is based on the principles of phenomenology. It uses architectural elements as a medium to craft spaces that foster a sense of hope in its inhabitants and promote healing because of the physical space generated. The thesis also explores the idea of 'place-making through design' and uses it to enhance social connection and bring a sense of being one with nature and beyond. / Master of Architecture / The thesis investigates how we experience our physical environments through our senses and how we derive meaning from these interactions. By examining the physical conditions inhabited by homeless individuals and their psychological and physiological impacts, the research aims to understand the nature of this physical space in detail. The thesis then translates these insights into the design of a housing project, creating spaces that heal, nurture, inspire, and instill hope through the physical space created. Based on the principles of Phenomenology, the thesis aspires to formulate architecture that mediates between phenomena such as light quality, sound and material texture, and the positive human experiences these elements generate.

Sammanfattning Hemlöshet är ett socialt problem världen över och på Irland kämpar regeringen, tillsammans med olika samhällsorganisationer, för att tillsammans möta en nationell kris på över 13 500 hemlösa människor i landet med kontinuerligt stigande siffror. En av stödinsatserna är olika volontärsprogram reglerat på nationell nivå, som fortlöpande på fem-årig strategisk plan syftar till att uppmärksamma, stötta och förespråka volontärers bidrag och värde för det irländska samhället och välbefinnandet i landet. Regeringens strategi är att fortsätta strävan efter en gemensam ambitiös vision om en starkare, hållbar och mer inkluderande nation. Studiens övergripande syfte är att undersöka volontärers upplevelser inom socialt arbete riktat mot hemlöshet på Irland och kartlägga samt problematisera landets hemlössituation. För att besvara studien har vi valt att använda oss utav kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem individer som arbetar som internationella heltidsvolontärer på Irland. Resultatet från intervjuerna visar att volontärsarbete inom det sociala arbetet med hemlöshet är en lärorik och betydelsefull resa. Genom att hjälpa andra kan det skapa positiva känslor såsom glädje, tillfredställelse och tillhörighet, vilket i sin tur kan bidra till att öka självkänslan hos volontärerna. Oavsett om volontärsarbetet sker genom formellt arbete i organisationer, informellt, eller genom vardagliga handlingar av välvilja, så är viljan att göra gott och bidra till andra en drivande motivation för många individer. / Abstract Homelessness is a social issue worldwide and in Ireland, the government along with various community organizations is striving to collectively address a national crisis with over 13,500 homless individuals in the country, a number that continues to rise. One of the support initiatives is various volunteer programs regulated at national level, which as part of an ongoing five-year strategic plan, aim to recognize, support, and advocate for the contributions and value of volunteers to Irish society and the well-being of the country. The government's strategy is to continue pursuing a common ambitious vision of a stronger, more sustainable, and inclusive nation. The overall aim of the study is to examine volunteers' experiences in social work aimed at homelessness in Ireland and to map and problematize the country's homelessness situation. To answer the study, we have chosen to use qualitative semistructured interviews with five individuals working as full-time international volunteers in Ireland. The results from the interviews show that volunteer work in social work with homelessness is a rewarding and significant journey. By helping others, it can create positive emotions such as joy, satisfaction, and a sense of belonging, which in turn can contribute to increasing volunteers' self-esteem. Whether volunteer work is formal within organizations, informal, or through everyday acts of kindness, the willingness to do good and contribute to others is a driving motivation for many individuals. / <p>Granskningsseminarier examensarbeten i Socialt arbete</p>

No description available.

This study investigates the interaction of HIV/AIDS and housing, identifying barriers affecting people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in accessing fair housing options essential in understanding physical and mental health outcomes associated with unstable housing and homelessness in this population. This research follows a three-essay format to examine the relationship between HIV and housing. The first essay, a systematic review, evaluated peer-reviewed literature reporting housing access/insecurity/assistance/options, housing impact, and unmet needs of older individuals living with HIV in North America from 2012 to 2023. Furthermore, latent semantic analysis (LSA), a text-mining technique, and singular value decomposition (SVD) for text clustering were utilized to examine unstructured data from the abstracts selected from the review. The second essay is a quantitative study that examines the correlation between housing access to HIV-related stigma, awareness of housing assistance programs, and demographics. The results provide insight into homelessness and unstable housing experienced by PLWHA despite available resources and laws prohibiting discrimination. The third essay is a qualitative study that uses semi-structured interviews with HIV housing organizations' staff to highlight the role they play in combating homelessness, providing health and supportive services, and addressing emerging unmet needs. This research contributes to existing knowledge on housing gaps and unfulfilled needs for people living with HIV.

The thesis deals with the problem of homeless people dying in the region of Český Krumlov. It focuses on homelessness, the causes of homelessness and also the posibilities of help. Further, the thesis encompasses information about dying and death, including the death of homeless people.Their death is connected to statements about organising social funerals, including available information from the Municipality of Český Krumlov and how many social funerals were organised between the years 2014-2018. A very often used technique at work is a semi-structured interview with social workers from the social department of the Municipality of Český Krumlov, Kaplice and Vyšší Brod and the caretaking personnel of the Hospital Český Krumlov, ltd. The individual testimonies are compared between each other. The testimonies of the respondents go allong the whole thesis where there is an effort of confrontation of information from professional literature and the interception of reality from experience. Another key source for this thesis is the evaluation of data from questionnaires given to people without a home that stay arond the area of Český Krumlov and focused on finding out their opinion on death and dying. The topic is accompanied by many ethical contexts. Firstly the fact of surviving as a homeless person, secondly the level of help that is provided by the state and what are the limits of the help possibilities. And last but not least, how this help is acutaly used and perceived by the homeless people.

Homelessness and rough sleeping has dramatically increased in the UK over the past six years. Links between welfare changes, inequality and social exclusion are pronounced. This study looked into the experiences of a particular group of people experiencing homelessness; those with complex needs who had had multiple moves round homeless projects. Qualitative research of the lived experiences of those experiencing homelessness is limited, particularly for this group of individuals in the UK. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was applied to interviews undertaken with six men with these experiences. The four main themes from this analysis were Moving forward vs no way forward, Being here has really helped but it's only temporary, Being treated as different and Desperately longing for yet deeply fearing relationships. These themes were supported with extensive participant quotes and were contextualised in the current literature. The themes reflect and demonstrate: Challenges with hope and future plans and the role of substance use; Relationships to help in the context of conditionality and the temporary nature of projects; Issues regarding coherent identity development and stigmatisation; and Complexity around forming relationships. These findings develop our understanding of this population and support improvements in practice. A clear role for Clinical Psychologists in this area was identified and recommendations across domains of individual, service level and community practice were presented.

The paths to homelessness are complex and attributable to a combination of structural issues associated with poverty that can magnify personal vulnerabilities. However, as homelessness became more prominent in news media during the 1980s, media discourse increasingly focused on personal characteristics within the homeless population which cast people as personally responsible for their plight. Simultaneously, media explanations for homelessness that called attention to structural conditions that contribute to homelessness decreased during the decade. Scholars explain this shift by situating it within the social and political climate of the time. This study extends the line of research on homelessness in news media in order to understand how coverage of homelessness has changed between the 1980s and the 2010s. A quantitative content analysis examines newspaper articles in two cities in the western United States -- Portland, Oregon, and San Diego, California -- where homelessness is a prominent and enduring social and political issue. News articles are examined for changes between two time periods (1988-1990 and 2014-2016) in mentions of personal and structural factors as well as changes in the discussion of solutions for homelessness. Results show an increase over time in portrayals of structural factors that contribute to homelessness as well as an increase in talk about permanent housing solutions. However, mentions of personal problems and behaviors, such as mental illness and substance abuse, have also increased. This suggests that, while news discourse may be moving toward more nuanced portrayals that acknowledge societal factors, news media still tend to focus on characteristics of homelessness that can cast people as personally culpable.

Thesis (PhD.(Pastoral Family Therapy))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Understanding underlying mechanisms and pathways that lead to chronic homelessness would help develop intervention strategies that could help prevent subsequent episodes of homelessness. Quantitative data for this cross-sectional study was gathered by interviewing individuals who were homeless in the State of Arkansas, using a structured survey between 2007 and 2011. Qualitative data was gathered using semi-structured interviews between 2016 and 2018. Chi-square statistics and a multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the quantitative data, while phenomenological methods were used to analyze the qualitative data. Nearly half of the study participants identified themselves as being chronically homeless. Chronically homeless adults in this region were significantly more likely to be older men with no family ties, more likely to be victims of domestic violence, have higher rates of physical health problems, and have alcohol and substance abuse problems. Results from the multivariate nominal regression revealed that individuals who reported themselves as chronically homeless were more likely to be in the 50 years or older age group. In addition, study findings highlighted a dynamic interplay between three biopsychosocial risk factors for homelessness. Fostering development of inclusive sustainable communities, intergenerational relationships, and shared housing practices could help ease such social inequities and prevent problems such as chronic homelessness in older homeless adults.