A Model of Housing Stability for People With Serious Mental Illness

Abstract

Housing programs are complex social interventions. Research on housing for people with mental illness has proceeded without a framework for integrating emerging findings and guiding new research directions. This paper describes a definition and model of housing stability developed with stakeholders in 3 local housing systems for people with mental illness. The model describes housing stability as a dynamic relationship among 3 factors (person, housing, and support) that are influenced by broader system influences. The model is discussed in terms of its usefulness for integrating existing research, guiding new research, and integrating research with practice to improve housing practices.Over the past two decades there has been some progress in research on housing programs for people with serious mental illness. Despite the methodological limitations of much of this research, including the absence of more rigorous experimental designs (Newman, 2001), there is emerging evidence that a variety of attributes of housing are associated with better outcomes for consumers of mental health services. These attributes include housing that is well-maintained, that supports individual choice and control, that is managed in an empowering and democratic fashion, and that provides consumer-centred, rehabilitation-oriented support ( Newman, 2001;Parkinson, Nelson, & Horgan, 1999).

Establishing stability: exploring the meaning of ‘home’ for women who have experienced intimate partner violence

“…We found that traditional definitions of housing stability that view material aspects of stability as the primary indicator of housing stability are insufficient to describe the experiences of these women. Similar to Sylvestre et al’s ( 2009 ) findings, our research suggests that definitions of housing stability must be broad enough to incorporate women’s lived experiences as well as their ability to be independent and exercise personal choice. Specifically, we found that for women who have left violent households, safety, security, family friendly housing, and comfort are embedded in their definitions of a stable home.…”

How Stable Is Stable? Defining and Measuring Housing Stability

“…The implicit understanding in the literature on housing stability is that it is the antithesis of homelessness and exists on a continuum (Aubry, Klodawsky, & Coulombe, ). However, as some researchers have pointed out (Brown, Ridgway, Anthony, & Rogers, ; Sylvestre, Ollenberg, & Trainor, ; Tsemberis, McHugo, Williams, Hanrahan, & Stefancic, ), definitions of homelessness and housing stability are not applied uniformly across studies, and therefore the methods used to measure these constructs differ as well. A more serious concern is that some studies in which the concept of housing stability figures prominently never actually define the term (Greene, Chambers, Masinde, & O'Brien‐Teengs, ).…”

“…Work that examines the perspectives of service providers and consumers has highlighted that a house alone does not constitute housing stability and that it is not simply a question of tenure (Jakubec, Tomaszewski, Powell, & Osuji, 2012). This research emphasizes support structures that ease the transition into a mainstream life, and these supports can be seen as acting to reinforce the "housing" side of stability (see also Brueckner, Green, & Saggers, 2011;Dornbusch, 1994;Lindsey, 1995;Nemiroff, Aubry, & Klodawsky, 2010;Sylvestre et al, 2009).…”

Developing an Accessibility Index to Inform Housing First Policy: A Critical Evaluation of Social Services in Edmonton

“…Given the ambiguity surrounding the term housing stability, Sylvestre and colleagues worked to provide a nuanced understanding of what it means (Sylvestre, Ollenberg, & Trainor, 2009). In this report, we define housing stability as going beyond solely maintaining stable housing to include access to opportunities for wellbeing (such as health professionals and recreation centres) and information (such as schools, libraries and drop-in centres).…”