The Meaning of Housing and Homelessness: The Importance of Personal Control

1
The Meaning of Housing and Homelessness The
Importance of Personal Control
2
Introduction

• Happiness and Wellbeing
• Self-efficacy and personal control
• Lifestyle and Identity
• The meaning of housing and home
• Can we use the concept of personal control?
• What does it mean for homelessness?

3
Happiness and Wellbeing

• We are richer but are we happier?
• We get used to material things
• Importance of subjective feelings
• Perceptions of the world and attempts to make
  sense of our place in it
• Feeling valued and shame
• Reference group

4
Self - Efficacy

• The extent to which people see themselves as
  being in control of the forces that importantly
  affect their lives
• Closely related to self-esteem and social support
  
• Opposite of fatalism, powerlessness and learned
  helplessness
• Importance of feeling in control
• Universal motivation or a sign of our times?

5
Lifestyle and Identity

• Opening out of social life
• More able to make our own lives by actively
  making choices
• Choose an individual identity that leads to
  self-fulfilment
• Risk and uncertainty
• Inequality

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The Meaning of Housing

• Housing is a means of fulfilment that allows
  other activities to take place
• Material housing conditions mediated by personal
  identity
• Health impacts of poor housing conditions
• Important but insofar as they allow a valued
  lifestyle
• Reference group and status

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The Meaning of Home

• Security
• Setting for family and community life
• A springboard for a desired lifestyle
• A key constituent of self-esteem and status
• Important arena for autonomy and control

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Operationalising Wellbeing in Housing

• Feeling in control - a subjective notion
• Ask people
• Personal Control

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Operationalising Personal Control

• Personal housing strategy
• Proactive rather than reactive
• Long term rather than short term
• Decision space

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Influences on Personal Control

• Menu of choice - scope / quality
• Status - Positive and negative discourses
• Resources of knowledge and skills
• Finance
• Dignity and self-esteem in treatment
• The way people are treated may be as important as
  what they receive
• Social support

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Lessons for Homelessness

• Example of lack of control (reactive / few, low
  status choices / few resources / lack of social
  support
• Do you improve their material situation or
  improve their personal control?
• Forced into a hostel - will this improve personal
  control and self-esteem?
• Supported to exercise control

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Conclusions

• Wellbeing / self-efficacy / self-esteem /
  personal control
• Shame
• The importance of house and home
• Inequality of resources and the reference group
• How can we improve wellbeing and self-esteem?