“They are always focusing on the person who is doing the worst”: Exploring how crisis shapes young people's pathways in and out of supportive housing in Vancouver, Canada

Abstract

Housing instability, homelessness, and mental health among young people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada, and elsewhere have increasingly been framed through a language of crisis. The declaration of overlapping housing, mental health, and addictions crises in our own setting has prompted a wide range of interventions, including the rapid expansion of supportive housing programs that include integrated housing-based substance use and mental health care. There is growing evidence demonstrating that these models are effective at stabilizing people who are experiencing protracted housing instability, mental health, and substance use related health concerns. We recount stories of three young people who have lived in supportive housing to argue that achieving the relative stability afforded by these interventions is partially contingent on maintaining a delicate balance between being in a state of “too much” or “too little” in crisis. These stories demonstrate two key findings. First, being in crisis has made these young people visible to housing, substance use, and mental health programs that may not otherwise be available to them. Secondly, entering periods of protracted or intense mental health crisis may reopen pathways into unstable housing and homelessness by activating undesirable institutional responses that conflict with young people's desire for self-determination in relation to their care. This study underscores that supportive housing should be part of a broader youth focused system of housing and care that seeks to address the needs of young people before they enter states of crisis.