Change in Housing Status among Homeless and Formerly Homeless Individuals in Quebec, Canada: A Profile Study

Gesthika Kaltsidis, Guy Grenier, Zhirong Cao and Marie-Josée Fleury
Additional contact information
Gesthika Kaltsidis: Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1A1, Canada
Guy Grenier: Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
Zhirong Cao: Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, QC H4H 1R3, Canada
Marie-Josée Fleury: Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1A1, Canada

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: Housing stability is a key outcome in studies evaluating housing services for the homeless population. Housing stability has typically been defined dichotomously and based on a fixed duration of maintenance in housing accommodations, which does not fully capture change in housing status among homeless individuals. Moreover, few typologies have examined housing trajectories across different housing types. Cluster analysis was used to develop a typology of housing status change for 270 currently or formerly homeless individuals in Quebec (Canada) residing in shelters and temporary and permanent housing. Participants were interviewed at baseline (T0) and 12 months later (T1). The Gelberg–Andersen Model was used to organize housing-related variables into predisposing, needs and enabling factors. Comparison analyses were conducted to assess group differences. Three groups (Groups 1, 3 and 4) had more favorable and two (Groups 2 and 5) less favorable, housing status at T1. Findings suggest that maintenance or improvement of housing status requires suitable types and frequencies of service use (enabling factors) that are well adapted to the nature and complexity of health problems (needs factors) among homeless individuals. Specific interventions, such as outreach programs and case management, should be prioritized for individuals at higher risk for returning to homelessness.

Keywords: homelessness; type of housing; housing status; factors; typology; cluster analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6254/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6254/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6254-:d:405208

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().