Life goals over time among homeless adults in permanent supportive housing
Open accessAbstract
Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is a widely-accepted solution to the challenge of chronic homelessness. While housing support and retention, physical health, and healthcare continue to be important for formerly homeless persons in PSH, "higher-order" and humanistic needs such as thriving have received less attention and as a result are less well understood in this population. One important indicator of thriving is the ability to establish and articulate life goals. This study utilizes longitudinal data from 421 formerly homeless adults prior to their move into PSH, and at 3-, 6- and 12-months after move-in (369 respondents completed all four interviews), to examine what life goals are articulated by this population and how those goals change over time. Prior to housing, most respondents articulated housing attainment as their primary life goal, whereas at follow-up interviews health goals, housing relocation, and financial goals became more prevalent. Aspirational goals (e.g., independence, self-improvement, artistic pursuits) were also common, but demonstrated a decrease over time in housing. Relationship goals remained common and consistent over time. Findings indicate that housing is a necessary, but perhaps not sufficient, step for improving thriving among formerly homeless adults. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
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Less than 5% of people experiencing homelessness set goals related to sobriety from substances when entering or during their first year in permanent supportive housing.
“However, less than 5% of people experiencing homelessness set goals related to sobriety from substances when entering or during their first year in permanent supportive housing (Wenzel et al., 2018).”
From Harm reduction outcomes and practices in Housing First: A mixed-methods systematic review (2021) · cites this paper as Wenzel et al., 2018
The Results (Life Goals and Life Goal Changes; page unavailable) report that substance-recovery goals were uncommon, at 5% before participants moved into permanent supportive housing and 4% at 12 months. The claim’s “less than 5%” threshold fits the 12-month figure but not the baseline figure. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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- Authors
- Wenzel, S. L., Rhoades, H., Moore, H., Lahey, J., Henwood, B., La Motte‐Kerr, W., & Bird, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern California (US)
- Suzanne Dworak‐Peck School of Social Work University of Southern California Los Angeles CA USA
- Corresponding author
- Rhoades, H.
- Venue
- American Journal of Community Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-03-14
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 3-4
- Pages
- 421-432
- ISSN
- 0091-0562 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-2770
- PMC
- PMC6217826
- OpenAlex
- W2789891685
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 4.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Community Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA36345)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Homelessness and Social Issues
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Urban and Rural Development Challenges
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
- Keywords
- permanent supportive housing, chronic homelessness, life goals, thriving, health goals, financial targets, relationship goals, housing retention
- MeSH terms
- Aspirations, Psychological, Female, Goals, Health, Ill-Housed Persons, Housing, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Social Work, Los Angeles
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