Adaptivity in the Housing Strategies of WelfareInvolved Households

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Adaptivity in the Housing Strategies of
Welfare-Involved Households

• Laura Pinsoneault
• Thomas E. Lengyel
• Alliance for Children Families
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin

• Kerry Mullins
• Suzanne Shatila
• Department of Human Services
• Nashville, Tennessee

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Theoretical FoundationThe Actors Perspective

• Personal action occurs in response to experience
  as understood by the actor
• Understood experience is accessible through
  narratives
• Narratives reveal values and personal
  decision-making-in-context
• Narratives provide causal understanding of
  individual response to social policy

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Research StrategyThe Specific Value of
Narratives

• Categories of experience are native
• Vs. imposed categories created by researchers
• Values and priorities of the actor emerge
• Vs. priorities assumed by researchers/legislators
• Personal impact of the experience is plain
• Vs. impact submerged in standardized categories

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Research StrategyThe Specific Value of
Narratives

• Decision pathways and cause are accessible
• Vs. decisions and cause inferred from
  correlations
• Stories provide voice and enhance civic
  participation
• Vs. no voice or civic participation

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Faces of ChangePhase II - Family
Self-Sufficiency

• Household support
• Basic Needs
• Housing

• Child Well-being
• Emotional Well-being
• Job quality
• Family Service Counseling (TN)

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Methodology (1)

• National, random sample of welfare-involved
  families from 13 states
• Collected 200 semi-structured personal narratives
• Narratives analyzed using Atlas.ti software
• 246 codes created based on repeated events
• All narratives coded using open coding

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Methodology (2)

• Elicitation of responses about housing
• Housing cue question How well is your housing
  meeting your familys needs?
• Fit with the size of your family
• Physical condition
• Safety of the neighborhood
• Convenience for work, school, child care and
  visiting relatives

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Methodology (3)

• Codes employed to
• Assemble families of quotations for textual
  analysis
• Enable quantitative analysis of nominal behaviors
• All stories published verbatim on web
• Stories, methods instruments
  www.Alliance1.org/Research/facesphase2.htm

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Methodology (4)Shared Housing Analysis

• Analysis applying grounded theory to 198
  narratives
• (1) Develop a typology of shared housing
  arrangements
• (2) Document experiences and meanings of shared
  housing arrangements

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Profile of Authors

• Mean household size 3.7
• Mean children in household 2.3
• Mean food stamp amount 269.73 (n 41)
• Mean TANF amount 245.37 (n 115)
• Mean TANF Non-FSC 546.77 (n 22)
• Mean TANF FSC 174.06 (n 93)
• Mean monthly cash income 962.97

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Findings (1)

• Housing quality for welfare-involved households
  is primarily about social context and
  relationships, not physical structure.
• Welfare-involved households develop a variety of
  housing arrangements
• Evaluation of housing influenced by relationships
  with co-residents, neighbors, landlord, issues
  relating to health safety, relative fit, and
  cost

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Findings (2)

• Quality of housing associated with general
  well-being, sense of pride and accomplishment,
  perception of safety and health
• Housing is meaningful in terms of identity and
  well-being beyond its purely physical
  implications
• Authors employ a variety of strategies to address
  shortcomings in condition and quality of housing
• Housing conditions and quality vary dramatically
  between the public and private market

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Im not in the projects anymore and I got my
dream home. I got a nice house, four bedroom
house so everybody got their own bedroom,
everybody got they own bars at they windows,
everybody safe. -- a 44 year-old woman living
with her adult daughters, niece, and her
granddaughter and daughter, ages 5 and 6. This
is a six (4 adults) member household living in a
4-bedroom home in North Memphis.
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Housing Market

• 62 of authors renting
• Financed using subsidies (34)
• Financed using help from family reduced rent,
  payments of all or portions of rent, rent-free
  living
• 12 of authors owning
• Help from family property for trailer, gifts of
  property, help with mortgage payments
• 7 in temporary arrangements
• 36 in shared arrangements

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Housing Conditions (1)

• Relationships and interactions with household
  members, neighbors, and management
• Issues relating to health and safety

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• Well, its better. The reason I say its better
  because you know when I first moved in I wasnt
  comfortable but, now Im much more comfortable
  and my kids they are happy, you know, I just see
  a great change in them. So, we alright, were
  happy.
• -- a single mother of twins (a boy and a girl)
  working towards her GED. She is living in a
  2-bedroom apartment in Memphis

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Housing Conditions (2)

• Relative size and fit with family
• Number of bedrooms
• Access for disabled family members
• Growing family size and reestablishment of family
  members in the household
• Common spaces
• Other factors
• Costs
• Location
• Comparison to past and community

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I mean where I am moving now I can only afford
the one bedroom. So, now they authors
children wont be living with me as much as they
were before, and I need to get on subsidized
housing for, you know, when we get back together.
So you know, I mean, if I could afford more, if I
could afford a three bedroom where I am at now,
Id have them back with me. So, you know I
really need yall to get me that housing list.
-- a 31 year-old single mother currently living
with her five children and her mother in Memphis.
Her children will not be moving with her into
the 1-bedroom apartment.
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Housing Experience

• Compared to two years ago,
• 63 found housing better or much better
  citing
• Pride and accomplishments
• Rootedness/owning the space
• Stability
• Protecting the family
• 20 found housing much worse or worse citing
• Loss of income or benefits
• Instability
• Stressful conditions

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• Two years ago I was living with my parents, so
  I would say it was bettera little bit better.
  Its showing me how to take care of a house all
  by myself and not depending on having my mom
  and dad theretheyre not going to be there
  forever. They have a nicer house and everything,
  but my moms never been one to be a housekeeper,
  so I kept her house clean. So I think its a
  little better.
• -- a 26 year-old working mom of two (boy and
  girl). She is living in a 2-bedroom trailer in
  Tennessee.

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• Its terrible to lose your house. Umyou know,
  so it suckswhat, what do we got? We got much
  worse, because things were going fine we were
  getting, you know, cause Im such a pack rat and
  I got rid of a whole bunch a stuff and we were
  actually just getting ready to paint and put up
  some shelves and things like thatso Im moving
  into somebody elses house an its her houseSo
  shes, shes losing her privacy for when she
  wants it and, and Im losing my autonomy
• -- a 41 year-old single mother in Seattle. She
  is moving in with a neighbor because the duplex
  she was renting was sold.

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Housing StrategiesResponses to poor conditions

• Living in lower cost areas or more rural
  communities
• Rearranging space in the house
• Owning the problem
• Fences, locks, and dogs for security
• Getting to know neighbors/Minding your own
  business for security
• Finding alternative housing

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Prior Research on Shared Housing

• 26 of households nationally are living in
  extended housing arrangements (Koebel Murray,
  1999)
• Most common among low-income families
• Housing is physically inadequate
• Unrelated individuals have highest cost burden
• 40 of single mothers are living in extended
  arrangements (Fox-Folk, 1996)
• Pool income primarily for housing and food
• Benefit from reduced household work and increased
  contributions from other members

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Faces of Change Shared Housing Experiences (1)

• Pooling of economic resources including some
  welfare related benefits
• Access to non-monetary resources child care,
  transportation, distribution of household labor
• Role augmentation parenting support
• Opportunity to save for future housing
• Safety security and in limited cases improved
  housing conditions

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Faces of Change Shared Housing Experiences (2)

• Serves as an alternative to homelessness
• Produces crowded conditions, inadequate amounts
  of space for large households
• Taxes already strained relationships
• Diminishes sense of autonomy and fosters a sense
  of hopelessness and dependency
• Overextends household budgets

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Housing As A Social ContextA New Way to View
Shared Housing

• Typology of shared housing is based on three
  sociological dimensions
• Perceived permanency
• Reciprocity
• Symmetry
• Level of exchange (low/high)
• Solidarity/Bondedness

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A Functional Typology (1)

• Type 1 Caretakers Permanent, asymmetrical
  reciprocity, strong solidarity
• Authors foresee no termination in arrangement but
  there is no formal, legal obligation
• Health and well-being of attached household
  members is dependent on household head
• Household members feel a strong connection to the
  unit as a family

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A Functional Typology (2)

• Type 2 Permanent, symmetrical reciprocity,
  strong solidarity
• Authors foresee no termination in arrangement
  arrangement is not perceived as doubling up
• All adults in the household are established heads
  of households finances and household duties are
  distributed
• Household functions as a single family unit

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A Functional Typology (3)

• Type 3 Expedient/Goal Directed transitory,
  asymmetrical reciprocity, no solidarity (strong
  need for disconnection)
• Intention is to move out of shared housing
  arrangement in foreseeable future
• Attached members are not contributing to the
  household economy
• Attached members have a drive towards
  independence but are still connected to the
  household unit

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A Functional Typology (4)

• Type 4 Indefinite duration, low, symmetrical
  reciprocity, strong solidarity
• No move towards permanency or goal-directed
  transition
• Household head covers majority of expenses other
  contributions are as needed
• Household is bonded primarily by kinship

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A Functional Typology (5)

• Type 5 Revolving door Highly transitory,
  asymmetrical reciprocity, diffuse solidarity
• Housing is primarily shelter staying with for
  now
• Financial contributions are minimal, if at all
  guests of the household head
• Individuals are in charge of their own family
  units

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A Functional Typology (6)

• Type 6 Indefinite duration, low, symmetrical
  reciprocity, diffuse solidarity
• Housing is still seen as primarily shelter but no
  plan for transition
• Household members share available resources but
  household head is primary contributor
• Family units strive to maintain independence

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Conclusions

• Housing as documented in the Faces of Change
  narratives affects many aspects of household
  ecology health and well-being of family members,
  safety, access to economic and non-economic
  resources, connectedness with the community,
  interpersonal relationships, sense of self-worth,
  and outlook.
• Housing is the foundation, both structurally and
  qualitatively, for welfare-involved families and
  needs to be the key focus of welfare-reform
  policy.

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Acknowledgements

• Contact Information
• Thomas E. Lengyel tlengyel_at_Alliance1.org
• Kerry Mullins kerry.mullins_at_state.tn.us
• Thanks to
• The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Tennessee Department of Human Services
• University of Tennessee-Knoxville (SWORPS)