Young People’s Homeless Pathways
Findings from a Three-Phase
Biographical Longitudinal Study
Paula Mayock, PhD
Focus on Youth Conference
Dublin Castle, 2nd March 2011

Dr. Mary Louise Corr
Keele University
Dr. Eoin O’Sullivan
Trinity College Dublin

Acknowledgements

Young people who have participated in the research.

Services and service providers who have helped us to
establish and maintain contact with the study’s young
people.

Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs
(OMCYA): funding for Phase I of the research.

Homeless Agency: funding for Phase II of the research.

OMCYA & Homeless Agency: funding for Phase III of
the research.
Overview of the Study

Longitudinal study of homeless young people in
Dublin.

Research set out to generate an in-depth
understanding of the process of youth
homelessness.

Informed by a pathways approach
Pathways Approach

The pathways approach seeks to map out and explain
patterns (and changes) in the experience of
homelessness over time.

Homelessness is not seen as a static or fixed state,
rather an evolving status that is continually subject to
change.

It recognises that individuals can move into and out of
homelessness at different stages in their life cycle.
Study Aims

To document, record and understand temporal changes
in homeless young people’s living situations and to
capture change in the homeless experience over time.

To identify pathways or trajectories into, through and
out of homelessness.

To generate knowledge and understanding to inform
policy-relevant recommendations related to service
provision, early intervention and the prevention of
negative health outcomes.
Methodology
Phase I (September 2004 – January 2005)
 Life history interviews conducted with 40 homeless young people (23
males and 17 females)
 Criteria:
1. Homeless or insecure accommodation
2. Between 14 and 22 years
3. Living in the Dublin metropolitan area for 6 months
Phase II (September 2005 – August 2006)
 Tracking process
 Information attained on the living situation of 37 of the 40 young
people interviewed at Phase I.
 Follow-up interviews were conducted with 30 young people (16
males and 14 females)
Phase III (August 2009 – December 2010)
Second tracking process
Information attained on the living situation of 32 of the 40 young
people interviewed at Phase I.
Interviews were conducted with 28 young people.
Includes 5 young people who were not interviewed at Phase II.
Young People Interviewed
Phase I
Phase II
Phase III
Young Men
23
16
15
Young Women
17
14
13
Total
40
30
28
Phase I Research Findings
Phase II Research Findings
Sample Overview
Age of Respondents, Phases I to III
Phase I : YP aged between 12 and 22 years.
Phase II : YP aged between 15 and 24 years.
Phase III: YP aged between 18 and 27 years.
Pathways Into Homelessness
‘Becoming’ Homeless: process can be traced to childhood
Traumatic life events: parental illness or death, family conflict,
parental drug or alcohol abuse, school difficulties and/or
experiences of violence or abuse
Three Pathways ‘Into’ Homelessness
Pathway I:
Care History (40%)
Pathway II:
Household Instability and Family Conflict
Pathway III:
Negative Peer Associations and Problem Behaviour
Complex overlap between the three pathways (similarities between
them)
Living Situations, Phase I
ACCOMMODATION TYPE
Males
(N=23)
Females
(N=17)
All
(N=40)
Emergency/Short term Residential Care
Setting or ‘Hostel’ (OHS)
12
13
25
Longer-term Resid Setting/ ‘Hostel’
2
0
2
Adult Hostels/B&Bs
2
1
3
Between Hostel & Home
1
0
1
Street
2
0
2
Prison
3
0
3
Transitional/Supported Housing
1
1
2
Home
0
2
2
TOTAL
23
17
40
Living Situations, Phase II
ACCOMMODATION TYPE
Males (n=20)
Females (n=17)
All (n=37)
Emergency/Short term Residential Setting
0
1
1
Longer-term Residential Setting/ ‘Hostel’
0
0
0
Adult Hostels/B&Bs
3
1
4
Between Hostel & Home
0
0
0
Street
2
1
3
Prison
5
0
5
Transitional/Supported Housing
4
4
8
Home
2
4
6
Private Rented Sector
2
0
2
Foster Care
0
1
2
Residential Drug Treatment
1
0
1
Residential Care
0
3
3
Special Care Unit
1
0
1
Caravan
0
1
1
Deceased
0
1
1
TOTAL
20
17
37
Living Situations, Phase III
ACCOMMODATION TYPE
MALE
FEMALE
TOTAL
Adult hostel/B&B
3
1
4
Streets
2
0
2
Between streets/sofas
1
0
1
Prison
5
0
5
Other (homeless)
1
0
1
Private Rented Sector
1
7
8
Home
1
2
3
Local Authority Housing
1
0
1
Transitional./Supported Housing
0
2
2
Aftercare
0
1
1
TOTAL
15
13
28
Homeless Pathways – Phase II
HOMELESS PATHWAYS
M
F
All
Pathway 1
Independent Exits from Homelessness
Family home (6); Private rented sector
accommodation (1)
2
5
7
Pathway 2
Dependent Exits from Homelessness
Transition or supported housing unit (7); State care
(3)
3
7
10
Pathway 3
Continued Homelessness
Adult hostel (4); rough sleeping (2); prison (5);
Other (2)
11
2
13
PHASE III PATHWAYS
PHASE I – N = 40
Ind to Dep.
Exit
N =1
(female)
Sustained
Dep. Exit
N=1
(female)
Dep.to Ind.
Exit
N=6
(2M , 4F)
New Ind.
Exit
N=3
(1M, 2F)
New Dep.
Exit
N=1
(female)
PHASE III (N=28)
Continued
Homelessness
N = 12 (11M,
1F)
(8 from PH.II
and 4 from
PH.I)
Homeless (N = 13)
Return to
Homelessness
N = 1 (male)
Continued
Homelessness
N = 13
(11M, 2F)
Exit (N = 15)
Sustained
Ind. Exit
N=3
(female)
Dependent
Exit
N = 10
(3M, 7F)
PHASE II (N=30)
Independent
Exit
N=7(
2M, 5F)
Facilitating and Maintaining Homeless Exits

Speedy Access to Secure Housing

Vast majority who exited homelessness and maintained
this exit accessed more secure housing (either through
an independent or independent exit at Phase II) relatively
quickly.

They exited OHS accommodation far more quickly than
their counterparts to remained homeless.

Far fewer experienced a long period of repeat admission
to OHS accommodation.
Facilitating and Maintaining Homeless Exits

Family Support
“I’d be lost without them (parents) because they’re huge support
for me and they’d do anything for me. So I can’t complain about
them too much (laugh) . . . She’s (Mum) learned to trust me and
that’s the biggest thing, there’s a bit more trust in the family.”
[Anna, age 19, P.II]
“… it’s like a whole new relationship with my parents now...It’s
like, my mother’s like my best friend now and so is my sister and
me dad like they’re just, they have been just so amazing and I
suppose this time I’ve seen it” [Sarah, age 26, P.III]
Disaffiliation from Former Street Peers and OHS ‘Scene’
“The friends, like when I came out and got clean, everybody told me
to stay away from all my old friends. Now, I don’t go, I’m not friends
with any people that I was involved with in that kind of scene but
people before then, I’d be friends with now” [Anna, age 22, P.III]

“… I kind of washed me life with that scene, not in a bad way…[OHS
hostel] I’d never have anything to do with again. That was just a bad
place. I was put in the wrong place at the wrong time like. The
system shouldn’t have put me there. I was too young…I think it’s the
worst place in the world to put anybody because if you’re not
corrupted, it’s corrupt ya, and that’s just it like.” [Lisa, age 20, P.III]
Drug Treatment
“… that [drug treatment] was a big life saver for me because, from
going out every day scoring drugs, your life is, you can’t
manage your life you know” [Seán, age 22, P.II].

Parenthood – A sense of responsibility
“So, I hadn’t used since then and then I had the baby and it was
like something clicked and everything just changed” [Sarah, age
26, P.III]

“Mostly having the baby like she’s made me life like, she made me
life better like you know like. It’s the thing to keep me away
from drugs” [Siobhan, age 27, P.III]

Gaining Independence
“I think I felt ... more confident in meself that I was able to do this, that I
was able to run a home, that I was able to keep it clean, pay me bills,
look after me daughter and not need that support. To be told by them,
‘look we’re going to finish up with you know...’ felt good...That I didn’t
need people linking in all the time” [Caroline, age 21, P.III]
“…the fact of being out of all the social services” [Jacinta, age 21, P.III]
“I done up the apartment and then that was another sort of confidence
booster that I was actually, I had somewhere I could call my own home
like, you know? I know you I suppose you could call [transitional
housing] your own home but it wasn’t really at the end of the day
because it wasn’t permanent, you know, it was only temporary, it wasn’t
permanent” [Sean, age 26, P.III]
Education and Employment
All but 3 young people who had sustained exits had
engaged in education/training and/or had previous
experience of employment.

Financial Support
Rent assistance, social welfare payments.
Continued economic instability:

“There’s no job I can work that will allow me to earn
enough to rent privately and there’s no job that I can do
that will allow me to earn so little without it effecting
that type of stuff” [Caroline, age 21, P.III]
Exiting/Remaining Homeless

The vast majority of those who exited homelessness and
sustained that exit accessed more stable accommodation
within one year of first becoming homeless.

Those who remained homeless at the time of Phase III of
the study (and those who returned to homelessness) did
not move to stable accommodation at an early juncture
and instead embarked on a cycle of commuting between
emergency hostel accommodation (under-18s and
subsequently to adult hostels).
WHEN AND WHY YOUNG PEOPLE REMAIN
HOMELESS

Social adaptation/acculturation accounts of prolonged
homelessness: the longer people remain homeless, the
more they adapt to homelessness as ‘a way of life’ (Sosin
et al., 1990; May, 2000; Austerwald & Eyre, 2002;
Chamberlain & Johnson, 2002).

Focus: subsistence strategies; criminal activity; routines;
identity.

Peers: sense of ‘belonging’ on the street.

Become involved in a homeless ‘subculture’.
The Stories of Young People who Remained
Homeless

There is some evidence of a process of ‘acculturation’ to
street scenes: see ‘Lives in Crisis’.

Acculturation as Explanation?

A detailed examination of these young people’s
biographical accounts and their accounts of their
homeless ‘journeys’ presents a more complex picture.

Process of institutionalisation rather than acculturation.
The Biographies of Young People who
Remained Homeless
State Care



5/13 had reported a history of state care
5/13 reported a period of detention in children detention school
8/13 had a history of either state care OR detention
“Me ma got cancer and she died from it so, we all got put into foster families
… This is my family, other people are different … But, that was it and I
went through voluntary care homes, about twelve foster homes I went
through … that was eight years ago … Yeah, about twelve different
houses, yeah. Then I was put in St. Michael’s [Remand & Assessment] for
six months when I was only twelve or something, I was locked up for most
of it, most of me teenage years” [Ronan, age 17, P.I]
The Biographies of Young People who
Remained Homeless
Hostels

Cycle of hostel use from the time of first contact with the OHS.
“(Hostel 1) was the first hostel I was in. I was in there again (later) you know but in
between the hostels, I was in the Out of Hours. ‘Cos like you get fucked out and then
you have to go through the Out of Hours again. So (Hostel 1) for five months and then
back through the Out of Hours for a few months and then I got back into (Hostel 1)
again. And I was only in there for two months that time and back through the Out of
Hours again. Then after that to (Hostel 2). I was in there three times, I lived there three
times and the, em, going through (Hostel 3) as well. That’s it, that’s about it. And then I
turned 18 and started using (adult hostel)”.
[Paul, age 21, P.II]

Entry to adult hostels.


Most often depicted as a critical ‘moment’ or ‘turning point’.
In the words of one respondent who remained homeless, “They wash their hands
of us when we’re 18” [Luke, age 19, P.II].
The Biographies of Young People who
Remained Homeless
Incarceration
12 young people (11 male and 1 female) who remained homeless had
spent time in prison at some time. 5 of them (all male) were incarcerated
at the time of interview.
“I just, I’ve been locked up an awful lot since then (P.II Interview) About 16
times since I last seen you. You know, Cloverhill, St. Pat’s, Mountjoy,
Wheatfield. Yeah, that’s it. And the Midlands one …” [Fergal, age 23, P.III]

“… I ended up starting to slip (after period in drug treatment), went into full
relapse after about four months and, eh, then I was homeless. Then I was
locked up … Yeah I was in prison and eh that was really it. Now its back to
square one” [Christian, age 22, P.III]
“Its over the years being in and out you know. It’s just prison now you know …”
[Christian, age 22, P.III]
Key Findings

Clearly, many young people who experience homelessness as
teenagers progress to stable housing and many never return to
homelessness.

Facilitators to Exiting:






Access to housing;
Family support;
Re-engagement with education/training;
Disaffiliation from former street peers;
Drug treatment;
Employment
A key issue here is early access to secure housing
Key Findings

Those young people who remained homeless had spent up to or
exceeding a decade, in many cases, without a stable place to
live.
 During this time they had entered into many systems of
intervention, including homeless services targeting youth,
places of detention and adult homeless services. Many also
had a history of State care.

“Institutional circuit” : sequential stints in a series of
institutions in place of a stable living situation (Hopper, 1997;
Metraux & Culhane, 2006).
[And what would you like to see us do with the
information that we get from young people?]
Just to, just to grow a new system … New system, a lot of
help there, support there. Find out what the young
person wants and what he needs and give him that.
Don’t just fuck him out to the street. Say, ‘There’s
nothing we can do for you’, and close the door in your
face and it’s up to you then to raise yourself … Give
them an option. Do you know what I mean? Don’t give
them like two bad roads to walk down. One’s worse
but the other’s worser.
[Fergal, age 23, P.III]