Cai Christopher, Knight Kelly R, Olsen Pamela, Weeks John, Handley Margaret A, Kushel Margot B
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, 3333 California Street, Suite 485, San Francisco, CA USA 94143.
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, 490 Illinois Street, 7th Floor, San Francisco, CA USA 94143.
J Soc Distress Homeless. 2023;32(2):200-209. doi: 10.1080/10530789.2022.2035128. Epub 2022 Feb 8.
Living with family and friends is a common strategy used to prevent or exit homelessness, but little is known about structural barriers that impede family and friends' ability to provide temporary or permanent housing for older homeless adults. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 46 homeless participants from the HOPE HOME study, a cohort of 350 community-recruited homeless adults age 50 or older in Oakland, CA, who reported having stayed with housed family/friends for 1 or more nights in the prior 6 months. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 hosts of homeless participants and 11 stakeholders in housing and homelessness. We found that homeless older adults and hosts perceived staying with family or friends as a form of temporary housing rather than as a permanent exit to homelessness. Structural barriers to family and friends providing housing for temporary stays or permanent exits from homelessness included housing regulations restricting visitors and changing rent obligations; decreased eligibility and priority for shelter and permanent housing; geographic and transportation challenges; and environments inconducive to older adults. We suggest four areas for policy reform: providing subsidies to hosts and homeless individuals, removing disincentives for homeless older adults to stay with family, changing lease regulations, and expanding the supply of affordable housing.
与家人和朋友住在一起是防止或摆脱无家可归状态的常用策略，但对于阻碍家人和朋友为老年无家可归者提供临时或永久住房能力的结构性障碍，我们却知之甚少。我们对“希望之家”研究中的46名无家可归参与者进行了半结构化访谈，该研究是在加利福尼亚州奥克兰对350名从社区招募的50岁及以上无家可归成年人组成的队列，这些人报告在过去6个月里曾与有住房的家人/朋友同住过1个或更多夜晚。我们还对19名无家可归参与者的房东以及11名住房和无家可归问题方面的利益相关者进行了半结构化访谈。我们发现，老年无家可归者和房东将与家人或朋友同住视为一种临时住房形式，而非摆脱无家可归状态的永久出路。家人和朋友为临时居住或永久摆脱无家可归状态提供住房存在的结构性障碍包括：限制访客和改变租金义务的住房规定；庇护所和永久住房的资格及优先权降低；地理和交通方面的挑战；以及不利于老年人的环境。我们建议进行政策改革的四个领域：向房东和无家可归者提供补贴；消除老年无家可归者与家人同住的不利因素；改变租赁规定；以及增加经济适用房的供应。
