Being homeless at the "End" of homelessness navigating the symbolic and social boundaries of housing first.

Abstract

Housing First (HF) has emerged as the dominant paradigm in homelessness policy and has been praised for bringing an "end" to the homelessness crisis. Others claim, however, that HF facilitates further sociospatial exclusion of people experiencing homelessness (PEH). To advance this debate and understand HF within its larger sociological context, this article examines how HF policies translate to the lived experiences of those who remain in shelters and on the streets. Through interviews with 22 PEH, we demonstrate how HF confronts PEH with a set of strategic dilemmas that we frame using the concept of "boundary-work." First, PEH must negotiate the symbolic boundaries that HF establishes between "worthy" and "unworthy" for the purposes of distributing housing. Second, once housed, PEH face challenges in navigating the social boundaries that separate the private space of the dwelling, the transitional spaces of homelessness (e.g., streets, shelters), and the increasingly gentrified public spaces of the city. We end by discussing the implications of these findings for evaluating HF programs and demonstrating the value of a boundary-work perspective on homelessness.