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Homeless pathways and the struggle for ontological security
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Homeless pathways and the struggle for ontological security

Darran Stonehouse, Guinever Threlkeld and Jacqui Theobald
Housing Studies, Vol.36(7), pp.1047-1066
2021
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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#1 No Poverty
#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#5 Gender Equality

Source: InCites

Abstract

Homelessness lived experience ontological security pathways
Homelessness is a significant social problem across advanced capitalist societies, with enduring effects on those who experience it. Consequently, detailed enquiry into people's lived experiences of homelessness is critical to enhance understanding and inform more effective responses to the problem. This paper presents findings of a study examining nine individuals' experiences of homelessness in Australia. Narrative analysis foregrounds the ontological dimensions and implications of their experiences, demonstrating how their homeless pathways were characterised by enduring feelings of ontological insecurity. Discussion of these findings highlights how participants' attempts to overcome homelessness and attain ontological security represent an ongoing struggle, shaped by individual biographies and the structural constraints within contemporary Australian society. The paper argues that further consideration of the material and non-material dimensions of ontological security across all phases of homeless pathways can enhance understanding of homelessness and inform efforts to develop more effective responses to this complex social problem.

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