I'm just trying to stay: Experiences of temporal uncertainty in modular and supportive housing among young people who use drugs in Vancouver.

Over the past decades the city of Vancouver has attempted to address a lack of affordable housing for it most marginalized citizens, including young people who use drugs (YPWUD), by expanding access to temporary modular and supportive housing. These projects are guided by a Housing First philosophy that recognizes housing as a key social determinant of health. In this commentary, we draw attention to how, rather than providing a clear pathway to greater stability, modular and supportive housing have become part of broader "institutional circuits" that reinforce residential transience and what we call "temporal uncertainty." We use this term to describe a painful and frustrating inability to move though time in desired ways despite the promise of greater stability that housing is supposed to engender. Rather than allowing young people to establish more predictable day-to-day rhythms and routines and enact the futures they imagine for themselves, residing in modular and supportive housing environments often generates significant instability and uncertainty. We believe that Housing First interventions have significant potential to reduce harms and improve outcomes for YPWUD. However, chronic temporal uncertainty must be addressed, including through the creation of more permanent, desirable social housing, extending supports to young people beyond tenancies, and working with them to develop timelines and plans for what happens next.