Background

The proportion of adults age 50 and older experiencing homelessness is growing. People at risk for homelessness may stay with family and friends during homelessness episodes. Moving in with housed family and friends is a strategy used to exit homelessness. Little is known about these stays with family and friends. This study examined the motivations for and challenges of older adults experiencing homelessness staying with or moving in with family or friends.

Methods

We purposively sampled 46 participants from the HOPE HOME study, a cohort of 350 community-recruited adults experiencing homelessness age ≥50 in Oakland, CA. Inclusion criteria included having stayed with housed family/friends for ≥1 nights in the prior 6 months. We sampled 19 family/friends who had hosted participants experiencing homelessness. We conducted separate, semi-structured interviews, summarized, memoed and coded data consistent using a grounded theory approach.

Results

Older adults experiencing homelessness reported primarily temporary stays. Motivations for stays on the part of participants included a need for environmental, physical, and emotional respite from homelessness. Both individuals experiencing homelessness and hosts cited the mutual benefits of stays. Barriers to stays included feelings of shame, concerns about burdening the hosts, and interpersonal conflicts between older adults experiencing homelessness and host participants.

Conclusions

There are potential opportunities and concerns surrounding temporary stays between older adults experiencing homelessness and their family or friends. Policy solutions should support the potential mutual benefits of temporary stays, while addressing interpersonal barriers to strengthen kinship and friendship networks and mediate the negative impacts of homelessness.

中文翻译：

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无家可归的老年人中与家人和朋友临时住在一起：HOPE HOME 研究的定性结果

背景

50 岁及以上无家可归的成年人比例正在增加。在无家可归事件期间，面临无家可归风险的人可能会与家人和朋友在一起。与有住房的家人和朋友一起搬进来是一种摆脱无家可归的策略。关于这些与家人和朋友的住宿，人们知之甚少。这项研究调查了与家人或朋友住在一起或搬家的老年人无家可归的动机和挑战。

方法

我们有目的地从 HOPE HOME 研究中抽取了 46 名参与者，该研究是由加利福尼亚州奥克兰市 50 岁以上无家可归的 350 名社区招募的成年人组成的队列。纳入标准包括在过去 6 个月内与同住的家人/朋友住了 ≥1 晚。我们抽样了 19 个家庭/朋友，他们曾接待过无家可归的参与者。我们使用扎根的理论方法进行了单独的半结构化访谈，对数据进行了总结、记忆和编码。

结果

经历无家可归的老年人报告主要是临时逗留。参与者留下来的动机包括需要在环境、身体和情感上从无家可归中得到喘息的机会。无家可归者和房东都提到了住宿的共同利益。住宿的障碍包括羞耻感、担心给房东带来负担，以及无家可归的老年人与房东参与者之间的人际冲突。

结论

无家可归的老年人与其家人或朋友之间的临时住宿存在潜在的机会和担忧。政策解决方案应支持临时居留的潜在互利，同时解决人际障碍以加强亲属关系和友谊网络并调解无家可归的负面影响。