Homeless pathways and the struggle for ontological security

Abstract

Homelessness is a significant social problem across advanced capitalist societies, with enduring effects on those who experience it. Consequently, detailed enquiry into people’s lived experiences of homelessness is critical to enhance understanding and inform more effective responses to the problem. This paper presents findings of a study examining nine individuals’ experiences of homelessness in Australia. Narrative analysis foregrounds the ontological dimensions and implications of their experiences, demonstrating how their homeless pathways were characterised by enduring feelings of ontological insecurity. Discussion of these findings highlights how participants’ attempts to overcome homelessness and attain ontological security represent an ongoing struggle, shaped by individual biographies and the structural constraints within contemporary Australian society. The paper argues that further consideration of the material and non-material dimensions of ontological security across all phases of homeless pathways can enhance understanding of homelessness and inform efforts to develop more effective responses to this complex social problem.

Keywords:

• Homelessness
• ontological security
• pathways
• lived experience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Darran Stonehouse

Darran Stonehouse is a PhD candidate and lecturer in social work at La Trobe University. His research interests centre on contemporary housing and homelessness policy in Australia, international trends in social policy, and lived experiences of vulnerable populations.

Guinever Threlkeld

Guinever Threlkeld is a lecturer in the Social Work program at La Trobe University. Her research interests include social policy and delivery of social care in rural and regional communities.

Jacqui Theobald

Jacqui Theobald is a lecturer in social work at La Trobe University. Her primary areas of research interest include gender based violence and homelessness and their related policy and practice responses.