A supportive housing model for the young homeless: To develop a sense of community

Abstract

Youth homelessness is a tragedy. It is a big loss of potential and hope in young people trapped in poverty, who are the future of New Zealand. At present, young people under the age of twenty-five form nearly half of New Zealand’s homeless. Many of the young homeless are not only deprived by a lack of physical shelters but they are also living in great social isolation and loneliness with a lack of life skills and poor mental health. To fulfill the need to belong, they try to find new intimate friendships in the homeless community, and this often traps them to stay in homelessness longer. Even when they get rehoused they often break their tenancies and fall back into a homeless life, where at least they have a community to belong to. Therefore, providing mere shelters cannot fulfill all the needs of the young homeless. This thesis seeks to create a supportive housing model for young homeless people that provides a holistic care approach, shelter, social service and a new community to belong to as a whole, in order to support their successful reintegration into mainstream society. It also explores how architecture can help to alleviate the negative feelings of isolation and loneliness among the young homeless, to prevent their tenancy breakdowns. Their perception of isolation and loneliness is influenced by their level of a sense of community, and this thesis investigates how to architecturally foster a sense of community within the supportive housing development.