Beharie Nisha, Leonard Noelle R, Gwadz Marya
Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR), NYU College of Global Public Health, 665 Broadway, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10012.
Transdisciplinary Research Methods Core, Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR), New York University Silver School of Social Work, 41 East 11th St., New York, NY 10003.
J Soc Distress Homeless. 2021;30(2):141-154. doi: 10.1080/10530789.2020.1774846. Epub 2020 Jun 19.
Homelessness in the United States has been increasing at an exponential rate over the past three decades, and the US has not experienced the current level of homelessness since the Great Depression of the 1930's. With this rise in homelessness has come an increase in the number of rules, regulations, and strict and punitive policies within shelters. Given the historic levels of homelessness nationally and increased bureaucracy, this paper aims to expand on the current literature related to governance of homeless shelters to examine: 1) how families residing in the shelters are impacted by policies related to homelessness, and governance within shelters (i.e., shelter rules), and 2) determine potential points of intervention to improve policy and programming and shelter governance that better address the growing needs of homeless families. Using a convergent parallel design, we conducted a mixed methods study with caregiver residents and their children (ages 13 - 17 years), as well as staff, from two family shelters located in a large urban city in the US. Findings from the study revealed that policies and programs aimed at assisting homeless families often did not adequately respond to the needs of families (e.g., finding permanent housing, continuity in education for youth), and residents (both caregivers and youth) found shelter rules to be overly restrictive. Policy and programming recommendations are provided.
在过去三十年里，美国无家可归者的数量呈指数级增长，自20世纪30年代大萧条以来，美国从未经历过目前这种无家可归的状况。随着无家可归者数量的增加，收容所内的规章制度以及严格且惩罚性的政策也增多了。鉴于全国无家可归者数量达到历史高位以及官僚作风加剧，本文旨在拓展当前与无家可归者收容所管理相关的文献，以探讨：1）居住在收容所的家庭如何受到与无家可归相关政策以及收容所内部管理（即收容所规定）的影响，以及2）确定潜在的干预点，以改进政策、项目规划和收容所管理，从而更好地满足无家可归家庭日益增长的需求。我们采用了收敛平行设计，对来自美国一个大城市的两家家庭收容所的照顾者居民及其子女（13 - 17岁）以及工作人员进行了一项混合方法研究。研究结果显示，旨在帮助无家可归家庭的政策和项目往往未能充分满足家庭的需求（例如，找到永久性住房、为青少年提供教育连续性），而且居民（照顾者和青少年）都认为收容所的规定过于严格。本文还提供了政策和项目规划建议。
