Housing First and Photovoice: Transforming Lives, Communities, and Systems

Abstract

This article presents findings from a community-based participatory evaluation of a Housing First program on the Island of O’ahu. In this study, clients in a Housing First program used Photovoice to evaluate the program and to advocate for progressive housing policies. Written together by members of the Housing First Photovoice group, this collaborative article describes the outcomes from both the Housing First program and the Photovoice project and demonstrates the ways in which participatory program evaluations can interact with client-driven programs like Housing First to produce a cumulative, transformative impact. Findings suggest that community psychologists hoping to re-engage with community mental health systems through enacting transformative change should consider taking a community-based participatory approach to program evaluation because increased client voice in community mental health programs and their evaluations can have far-reaching, transformative impacts for research, practice, and policy.

“We don't get much of a voice about anything”: perspectives on photovoice among people who inject drugs

“…While these prevention-oriented perspectives are important, more general depictions of the lived experiences of individuals who are currently using drugs could help raise awareness of substance use and the challenges that people who use drugs experience in their daily lives. Indeed, photovoice has been used to cultivate visual evidence on under-investigated issues and topics that are often misunderstood including disability, accessibility [35, 36], housing, and homelessness [37]. An important component of many photovoice projects is dissemination through an exhibit of the photographs taken, which can help educate policymakers and the broader community on these topics [9, 38, 39].…”

Connecting Classroom to Community Through Photovoice: Pedagogical Implications

“…Given this intention, educators must consider how the photos and narratives interfere with or expand attendees' understanding of the issue presented. Thus, it is important to assess community and individual impact adequately (Baker & Wang, 2006;Pruitt et al, 2016;Seitz et al, 2012).…”

Life Goals Over Time Among Homeless Adults in Permanent Supportive Housing

“…Overall, these findings provide preliminary evidence to suggest that while housing is necessary for survival, stability, and independence, housing in and of itself may not be enough to ensure persons can meet aspirational life goals and achieve other aspects of thriving which may be taken for granted among non-homeless persons. Intervention and research efforts that prioritize resident perspectives and provide innovative opportunities for collaboration, such as Photovoice and other qualitative methods, may be helpful in exploring aspirational goals and empowering persons transitioning into housing with new ways to achieve meaning and creativity (Brown et al, 2017; Pruitt et al, 2018).…”

“…Hopper (2012) issued a caution against the use of housing as a means of warehousing persons experiencing homelessness, a process antithetical to the right of every human being to realize his or her potential -- this caution underlines the relevance of focusing on and promoting thriving. Emerging research with formerly homeless persons in community psychology has begun to address this concern by emphasizing the importance of psychological integration (Ecker & Aubry, 2016), sexual and romantic intimacy (Ecker, Cherner, Rae & Czechowski, 2017), and centering client voices (Pruitt et al, 2018), though the concept of “thriving” has yet to gain significant traction in the published literature with this population. Recent findings that compassion for persons experiencing homelessness have increased among the public in the past two decades (Tsai et al, 2017) suggest that efforts to promote thriving and greater life fulfillment among formerly homeless persons may now be met with improved understanding and acceptance.…”