Looking back on childhood experiences of homelessness: Stories of ongoing residential instability and resilience

Abstract

Families' experience of homelessness is typically examined from the perspective of parents during or shortly after a shelter stay. Parents complain about rules, surveillance, crowding, and challenges to parenting in both homeless shelters and in doubling up with other households (sharing the others' homes), and relief when they attain their own place. The current study uses qualitative interviews to examine the retrospective views of housing and homelessness among young adults who were homeless as children with their families. We compare their perspectives to earlier reports of parents' contemporaneous experiences of similar settings. The 22 young adults interviewed in 2024–25 were children in families recruited from 16 homeless shelters in 10 states in 2010–2012 by the Family Options Study. They share many of parents' perspectives but focus on largely positive social relationships in all housing situations. They report ongoing housing instability, difficult experiences of racism in housing programs, and landlords who forced moves, but also their parents' and their own coping and resilience in the face of hardship. Policy implications include the need to address racial equity in the homeless service system. Reducing the shortage of affordable housing would not only reduce homelessness but also give households more leverage with landlords.