A Question of Housing? The Drug Pathways of Homeless Young People

EUROPEAN RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Housing First. What’s Second?
Berlin, 20th September 2013
A Question of Housing?
The Drug Pathways of Homeless Young
People
Paula Mayock, School of Social Work and Social Policy &
Children’s Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin
pmayock@tcd.ie
Mary-Louise Corr, School of Life, Sport and Social Sciences,
Edinburgh Napier University
M.Corr@napier.ac.uk

Acknowledgements
 Young peoplewho have participated in the research.
 Services and service providerswho have helped us to establish and maintain
contact with the study’s young people.
 Funders
 Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA): funding for Phase I of
the research.
 Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE): funding for Phase II of the
research.
 DCYA & DRHE: funding for Phase III of the research.

Drug Use and Homelessness
 The link has been documented in Ireland and elsewhere throughoutEurope
(Avramov, 1998; Fountain & Howes, 2002; Neale, 2001; Winicup et al (2003), the
US (Clatts et al., 1998; Greene et al., 1997), and Australia (Mallet et al., 2003).
 However, despite striking similarities in the risk factors for homelessnessand
substance misuse, the relationship between drug use and homelessness is
extremely complex (Hutson & Liddiard,1994; Fitzpatrick et al., 2000; Neale, 2001).
 This complexity creates a “doublejeopardy”(Neale, 2001), making young people
moresusceptible to risk behaviour and ill-health.
 Existing research has tended to focus on the direction of the relationship
between drug use and homelessness, that is, on seeking to establish drug use as
a cause or consequenceof homelessness.

Drug Use and Homelessness
 It is increasing recognised that, even if drug use is present, it cannot be
viewed in isolation of other experiences that culminate in a homeless
experience (Neale, 2001).
 Thus,one-dimensionalperspectives on the link between drug use and
homelessness have been replaced by “an awareness of moresubtle and
complex relationships”(Doherty& Stuttaford, 2007:247).
 While the causal link between drug use and homelessness has attracted
considerableresearch interest, much less attention has focused on the
intersection of homeless and drug careers, particularly over time.

Overview of the Study
 Longitudinal study of homeless young people in Dublin initiated
in 2004 and conducted over a six-year period (three data
sweeps).
 Research set out to generate an in-depth understanding of the
process of youth homelessness.
 A key aim was to identify young people’s pathways or
trajectories into, through and out of homelessness.
 Informed by a pathways approach

Methodology
Phase I (September 2004 – January 2005)
 Life history interviews conducted with 40 homeless young people (23
males and 17 females)
 Criteria:
1. Homeless or insecure accommodation
2. Between 14 and 22 years
3. Living in the Dublin metropolitan area for 6 months
Phase II (September2005 – August 2006)
 Tracking process
 Information attained on the living situation of 37 of the 40 young
people interviewed at Phase I.
 Follow-up interviews were conducted with 30 young people (16 males
and 14 females)

Phase I Phase II Phase III
Young Men 23 16 15
Young Women 17 14 13
Total 40 30 28
Phase III (August 2009 – December 2010)
Second tracking process
Information attained on the living situation of 32 of the 40 young people
interviewed at Phase I.
Interviews were conducted with 28 young people, including 5 young people
who were not interviewed at Phase II.
Young People Interviewed over the Course of the Study

Sample Overview
Age of Respondents,Phases I to III
Phase I (2004-05): Aged 14 -22 years.
Phase II (2005-06): Aged 15 - 24 years.
Phase III (2009-10): Aged 18 - 27 years.

Drug Use and the Process of Young People
Becoming Homeless
Three Pathways ‘Into’ Homelessness
Pathway I: Care History (40%)
Pathway II: Household Instability and Family Conflict
Pathway III: Negative Peer Associations and ‘Problem Behaviour’
 Drug use did feature in the young people’slife stories.
 Only 7 of the 40 young peoplehad not used an illegal drug at the time baseline
interviews were conducted in 2004.
 20 (13 young men and 7 young women) reported life time heroin use.
 At Phase I, almost all (19) of the study’s heroin users acknowledged that their drug
use was problematicto the degree that it had become a dependency.

Drug Use and the Process of Young People
Becoming Homeless
 Drug use was not identified as a discrete pathway ‘into’ homelessness’but
was nonetheless sometimes implicated in the process of young people
becoming homeless.
“I was getting into troubleand taking drugs.I used to live with my Grandad when
I was a kid. He died in 1996. After that, I don’treally know, you just start
getting into trouble… I wouldn’tblameit on anyone but, I would blame it, like
the peopleI used to hang around with used to take drugs… That’s the main
reason I used to stay out, you know what I mean” (Declan, 19, P.1).
“Therewas too much fighting going on in my housewith my Ma and me Da. They
were too strict, fighting every single day, I couldn’thandleit, you know”
(Declan, 19, P.1).
 Challenging family dynamics moreinfluential than his personaldrug use in
propellinghim into homelessness.

Young People’s Housing and Homeless
Pathways
 At Phase I, all of the young people were homeless or recently
homeless.
 By Phase II, a range of housing (as well as non-housing)
transitions were reported.
 Transitions to (more) stable housing were categorised as:
 Independent Exits (family home, private rental sector accommodation) [n=7]
 Dependents (transitional housing, state care) [n=10]
(See Mayock et al., 2008; 2011)
 Other young people remained homeless at Phase II [n=13]

YOUNG PEOPLE’S HOUSING AND HOMELESS
PATHWAYS, PHASES I, II, III
PHASE I
HOMELESS = 40
PHASE II (n=30)
CONTINUED HOMELESSNESS = 13
EXIT HOMELESSNESS = 17
Ind. Exit = 7 Dep. Exit = 10
PHASE III (n=28)
CONTINUED HOMELESSNESS = 13
EXIT HOMELESSNESS = 15
D.E. = 3Ind. Exit = 12
EXIT: N=17 HOMELESS:
n=13
EXIT: N=15 HOMELESS:
N=13

Young People’s Drug ‘Journeys’
 Young peoplehad usually initiated drug use prior to first experience of
homelessness.
 Typical accounts locate the transition to serious or ‘heavy end’ drug use
during the period following the first episode of homelessness.
 Assessing whether drug use increased/decreased over time was complex:
initiating new drugs,drug-taking practices, (repeated) engagementwith treatment
services, (failed) attempts to ‘get clean’.
 Drug use escalated for practically all of the young peopleas their ‘careers’ in
homelessness progressed:this pattern was evident, even at Phase I.
 Of the 15 who had exited at Phase III, all indicated that that their drug use
followed an overall trend of reduced use.
 All who remained homelessat Phases II and III continued to use drugs.

Drug and Homeless Pathways:
The Case of Exiting Homelessness
 Young people’snarratives of exiting homelessness and/or sustaining
housing invariablyreferenced transition and changeacross a number of
domainsof experience: education & training/dailyroutines/peer and family
relationships.
 All who reported ‘problem’drug usehad engaged in treatment, a transition
which coincided with, rather than preceded, the move out of homelessness.
 The move to stable housing emerged as a ‘turning point’that supported other
positive transitions.
 Housing conferred meaning that facilitated change across other domains.
“When we got the house we kind of changed it around and said, ‘We have a
housenow, we could kind of do something with our life … And just kind of
maturity, kind of independent… We said, ‘Okay we have to kind of cop on [be
responsible],like we’re living in a house now…” (Emma, 22, P.3).

Drug and Homeless Pathways:
The Case of Exiting Homelessness
 Critically, exiting homelessness was an incremental processwith risks attached.
 Housing can be hard to maintain in cases were young peopleare struggling
financially and/or recovering from a substance use problem.
Sarah: Had exited homelessnessby P. 2 (living in family home), subsequently
returned to homelessness, and was living in private rented accommodationby
P.3.
“I was in hostels for a while because of like using [heroin].So eventually, me and him
[partner] got a rented place … and it was just, the drugsyou know, just spiralled
out of controlreally … We ended up getting thrown out of that place ….”
“I eventually then got locked up … I wanted to get locked up … I just couldn’tcope”
“I’m here now(private rented apartment) .. I’m over the moon here.It’s amazing,it
really is, it’s great like … The way things are at the moment… I genuinelyfeel I
won’t go back on drugs[pause] because of [baby]. Because I just want to be in
his life” (Sarah, 26, P.3)

Drug Use and Continued Homelessness
 All who remained homelessby Phase III had progressed to heavier patterns
of drug use and the vast majority had long since transitioned to injecting
drug use.
 Mostly male, they had spent years moving throughsystems (under-1s8 and
adult) of emergency or crisis intervention,a trajectory which was set in
motion early in their homeless ‘careers’.
 Often by Phase II, and certainly by Phase III, all were heavily enmeshed in
drug use and related criminalactivity.
 By Phase III, 12 of the 13 who remained homeless had been incarcerated at
some stage (often on multipleoccasions) and 5 were currently in prison.
“I’ve just, I’ve be locked up an awful lot since then (referring to Phase 2
interview). About16 times since I last seen you” (Fergal, 23, P.3).

Drug Use and Continued Homelessness
 The ‘doublejeopardy’of homelessness and drug use (Neale, 2001) is starkly
apparentin their narratives over the course of the study.
 Many had attempted to address the matter of their drug consumptionbutthese
efforts were constantly hampered by the absence of a stable place to live.
“They put peoplethat were strung out to bits, using needles, and then they put like
clean peoplein that’s trying to get clean and then … peoplethat are on drugsor
whatever, they start selling drugsand you’reonly after coming off them and the
temptation is too much ‘cos it’s right there where you’reliving like. It’s in your
sitting room literally, where you’regetting your dinner” (Colm, 25, P.3).
 Most who remained homeless viewed drug use as virtually inevitable, bound of
in the wider experiences of accessing the most unstable accommodationtypes.
“It’s [heroin] a fuckin’ horribledrug.I need it now to survive every day. I wouldn’tbe
able to do other things.I need gear to actually do what I have t do duringthe
day” (Fergal,19, P.2)

Conclusion: A Question of Housing?
 Access to stable housing:a ‘turning point’experiencefor young peopleand a
strong enabler to reducing,or abstaining from, drug use. Housing enabled young
peopleto engagewith drug treatment and maintain a regime of abstinence
(Mayock & Corr,2012).
 Housing conferred meaningsthat supported transition and change across other
domains(education,training,family and peer relationships). In this sense, home
had broader meaning than simply providing shelter (Dyb, 2009).
 The importanceof speedy exits from homelessness: young men in particular had
spent years navigating a system of emergencyprovision (Mayock et al., 2013).
 Stable housingis increasinglyrecognised as an essential prerequisiteto effective
drug treatment outcomes (FEANTSA,2010; Somers et al., 2008; Zeger, 2012).
 Housing alonenot sufficient, particularly for young peoplewith complexhistories
and needs: the importanceof ‘housingsupport’(Jones and Pleace, 2010; Quilgars
et al., 2008) following the move to stable accommodation.

Relevant Publications
 Mayock, P., Corr, M.L. & O’Sullivan, E. (2013)Moving on, not out: When young people remain
homeless. Journalof Youth Studies, 16,(4), 2013,p441 – 459
 Mayock, P. & Corr, M.L., Young People's Homeless and Housing Pathways:Key Findings from a
Six-yearQualitaitve LongitudinalStudy,Dublin, Department of Children and Youth Affairs,2013
 Mayock, P., Corr, M.L. & O’Sullivan, E. (2012)Young People Exiting Homelessness:The Role of
Family Supportin, editor(s)Lynch,D. and Burns, K. , Children’sRightsand ChildProtection:
CriticalTimes,CriticalIssuesin Ireland,Manchester, Manchester University Press.,2012,pp184
– 201.
 Mayock, P. & Corr, M.L. (2012)The meaning of drug use among homeless young people:A
longitudinal pathways analysis in, editor(s)M. Wouters,J. Fountain & D.J. Korf , The Meaning of
High:Variations According to Drug,Set, Setting and Time,Berlin, Pabst Science Publishers,
2012,pp132– 148.
 Mayock, P., Corr, M.L. and E.O'Sullivan, Homeless young people,families and change: family
supportas a facilitator to exiting homelessness, Child and Family SocialWork,16, (4), 2011,p391
– 401.
 Mayock, P., E.O'Sullivan and M.L. Corr, Young People Exiting Homelessness:An Exploration of
Process,Meaning and Definition, Housing Studies,26,(6), 2011,p803 – 826.
 Mayock, P., Corr, M.L. & O'Sullivan (2008) Young People'sHomelessPathways,Dublin, The
Homeless Agency.
 Mayock, P. O'Sullivan, E. (2007) Livesin Crisis:Homeless Young Peoplein Dublin.Dublin:The
Liffey Press. , Dublin, The LiffeyPress.

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