Czechowski, Konrad2025-02-192025-02-192025-02-19http://hdl.handle.net/10393/50204https://doi.org/10.20381/ruor-30938In Canada, individuals experiencing homelessness face ongoing marginalization, with many of their essential needs frequently ignored. This issue is exacerbated by structural challenges within homelessness services, including the design of single-sex shelters and a lack of private spaces, which impedes the initiation and sustainment of sexual or romantic partnerships. Academic studies have predominantly concentrated on addressing mental health, addiction, housing, and financial needs while providing minimal attention to the sexual and romantic relationship needs of the homeless population. Moreover, while much of the existing research categorizes sexual behaviour primarily as a risk factor for poor sexual health outcomes among people experiencing homelessness, there's a dearth of studies examining how romantic partnerships could offer support and contribute to stability. For this dissertation, I conducted three studies to explore the effects of sexual and romantic relationships on the lives and overall well-being of individuals experiencing homelessness and to assess how these relationships might influence their housing stability. Study 1 was a scoping review that aimed to (a) characterize the nature of research that has examined sexual and romantic relationships among people who are homeless and (b) identify and synthesize the findings of studies that examined romantic and sexual relationships among people experiencing homelessness. We found that the majority of existing studies predominantly focused on the potential risks linked with sexual activity, including victimization and the risk of sexually transmitted infections. Among the studies that substantially investigated consensual sexual or romantic relationships, we identified prevalent themes, including love, romance, and emotional support; the transactional nature of partner relationships; obstacles to forming partner relationships; and aspects of casual sex and pleasure. Study 2 was a scoping review that examined the consent and sexual agency implications of survival sex. Survival sex is the exchange of sex for material goods required for survival (i.e., shelter, food, drugs) and, in Western contexts, almost exclusively occurs among people experiencing homelessness. We identified three themes associated with the consent and sexual agency implications of survival sex: power, coercion, and sexual agency. Additionally, we recognized five factors that contribute to increased vulnerability to engage in survival sex, which we termed 'push factors': hunger, patriarchy, poverty, substance use, and insecure housing. Each of these factors contributes to a coercive environment that diminishes individuals' capacity to freely consent to sex, thereby limiting their ability to exercise sexual agency. Study 3 used romantic satisfaction to differentiate between higher-quality and more problematic relationships when examining their impact on housing stability. Using four years of data from the longitudinal Health and Housing in Transition (HHiT) study, participants were grouped by homelessness patterns (chronic, episodic, transitional, and vulnerably housed) and classified by partnership status and romantic satisfaction. Two clusters emerged: 'low romantic satisfaction, low partner status frequency' and 'high romantic satisfaction, high partner status frequency'. We examined how the relationship pattern clusters were associated with days homeless over the four-year period and homelessness patterns and did not find a statistically significant result. We developed three path analysis models to explore the relationship between partner status (independent variable) and housing stability (dependent variable), with romantic satisfaction as a mediator. In each model, all variables were measured at one time point, with the dependent variables being measured in the subsequent year. While we hypothesized a significant indirect path in all three panels, full mediation was only observed in Panel 3 (Y3-Y4). Our results indicate a potential positive link between satisfactory partner relationships and increased housing stability. Future research can build on the three studies presented in this dissertation to examine the potential impact of partner relationships on housing stability or their role in helping individuals cope with homelessness.enHomelessnessSurvival SexRomantic and Sexual RelationshipsSexual CitizenshipThesis