A scoping review examining the association of housing quality and psychosocial well-being following homelessness: an ecological systems perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT Housing quality (HQ) has been previously associated with health and quality of life. Although HQ is an important factor in preventing homelessness, little is known about the range and breadth of this body of literature. To identify existing studies, we conducted a scoping review guided by the question: “in what ways has housing quality been associated with psychosocial well-being following homelessness in existing peer-reviewed literature?” using the framework proposed by Arksey & O'Malley and PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Our search was deployed in eight databases. A total of 713 titles and abstracts were screened following the removal of duplicates, and 32 articles were included in narrative synthesis. Six themes emerged from our data analysis of included articles: 1) quality of housing affecting well-being; 2) feeling forced to live in unsafe and poor-quality housing due to no other options; 3) HQ mediated by housing first; 4) determinants of HQ; 5) standardized measures of HQ; and 6) HQ is de-emphasized in research and practice following homelessness. Our findings demonstrate that HQ is associated with psychosocial well-being at micro, meso, exo, and macro systems levels for persons experiencing homelessness. We argue addressing HQ following homelessness is a key homelessness prevention strategy.