Experiences of Community Integration for Vulnerably Housed Formerly Homeless Women

Abstract

Community integration is based on the premise that people with disabilities should have opportunities equal to their non-disabled counterparts (Wong & Solomon, 2002). The purpose of this research was to investigate predictors of community integration and the experiences of community integration for vulnerably housed (i.e., housing that falls below standard levels of adequacy, affordability, and suitability (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2008)) women with a history of homelessness. A quantitative study design used data from women participants in the Health and Housing in Transition (HHiT) study in Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver at two-time points (i.e., follow-up 2 (N = 217) and follow-up 3 (N = 208)). Furthermore, a longitudinal qualitative study (i.e., baseline (N = 16) and 6-month follow-up (N = 13)) was also conducted with female participants from the Supportive Housing for People with Problematic Substance Use (SHARPE) evaluation study in Ottawa. Participants were interviewed using mapping techniques, neighbourhood walk-along, and semi-structured photo- elicitation methods. Overall, the findings of the studies show that both individual and environmental factors play an important role in community integration. Together, these studies suggest that for formerly homeless women, factors that have the greatest association with community integration are feeling healthy, having social support, partaking in organized activities, receiving greater income support, feeling protected from victimization, and living in high quality apartments and neighbourhoods close to amenities. Implications of these findings for future research and for improving neighbourhood integration of tenants were also discussed.