How Transportation Disadvantage Hinders Mobility, Service Access, and Exiting Homelessness

Abstract

For people experiencing homelessness, the ability to move between and within communities is an important aspect of achieving stability and improving overall well-being. However, people experiencing homelessness are often transportation disadvantaged, which creates barriers to health management, housing, employment, and social service connections. This paper draws on qualitative interviews with frontline homeless service providers (N=21) in a large, geographically diverse region of New York State to explore the impact of transportation disadvantage on mobility, service use, and exiting homelessness. Findings center on how the housing process often necessitates significant mobility (e.g., moving between communities or counties) and how a lack of transportation access limits the mobility necessary for gaining stability. The findings illustrate the insurmountable nature of transportation disadvantage in many communities and how this disadvantage continues and even worsens once a person is housed. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.