One Size Does Not Fit All: Looking Beyond Homeless Housing-First and Housing-Ready Approaches to Enhanced Models of the U.S.-Mexico Border and New York City

This study explored two enhanced service and housing models for homeless persons in the U.S.-Mexico border and in New York City. From data collected in both regions, this study examined the relationship between homeless recidivism and the provision of services. The results suggest that services alone have minimal impact in reducing homeless recividism. This study also reviews the relationship between homelessness and poverty. To evaluate this interconnection, a socio-historical analysis was presented reviewing the application of poverty theories from the last two centuries, to policy-driven approaches with aims to treat indigence, poverty, inequality and more contemporary homeless issues. Using the Structuration theory by Anthony Giddens (1984), which combines agency and structure to explain homelessness, this study argues that poverty occurs through a combination of both individual agency and external structures and also argues that overcoming indigence possesses the same principle. Since eliminating homelessness by only providing people their own separate apartments or houses should not be the only goal, an interview conducted with the executive director of one of the enhanced models explores alternate methods to mitigating homelessness. Such methods provide people who are not capable of living alone in private homes, access to housing with immediate care and oversight. From the findings, a Call to Action for policy changes and suggestions was also included

Adults Experiencing Homelessness in the US–Mexico Border Region: A Photovoice Project

Homelessness is a social, economic, and political crisis in the United States. In particular, the US–Mexico Border region has seen a surge of homelessness, specifically among veterans, women victims of intimate partner violence, and immigrants. In 2014, 12 persons in El Paso, TX, with experience of being homeless used the photovoice methodology to participate in a project titled, “The Voices and Images of the Residents of the Opportunity Center for the Homeless: A Visual Project on the Identity and Challenges Homeless Adults Face on the Border Region.” The project was led by faculty from the Department of Social Work and facilitated by graduate students from the Departments of Social Work, Sociology, and Anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso. In partnership with the Opportunity Center for the Homeless, a community-based organization, a gallery of photographs with respective narratives was produced along with a video documentary. The participants identified four themes: broken systems, invisibility, opportunities and what works, and growth and determination. These themes represent participants’ life experiences with homelessness and their aspirations. In addition to the photo gallery, participants supported the development of a Call to Action asking the community, policy, and decision makers to commit to changing the current social, economic, and political conditions affecting individuals experiencing homelessness. The gallery, Call to Action, and overall participant experiences with photovoice were shared during local, regional, and national conferences and events, including three State of the Homeless Conferences led by the Opportunity Center for the Homeless in partnership with the university