Trauma-informed design for permanent supportive housing: four case studies from Seattle and Denver

Abstract

Single-site, permanent supportive housing (PSH) buildings with a Housing First approach have become an increasingly common solution to homelessness in many North American cities. Because people who have experienced long-term homelessness are also likely to have experienced trauma, trauma-informed care has become a key tenet of service providers working with residents in PSH. Trauma-informed design (TID), however, is newer. Relatively little research or theory exists about its implementation in PSH. This paper explores recently constructed, single-site, Housing First PSH buildings in the United States to understand how trauma-informed design principles are manifest in the common areas of those buildings. Data for the study consisted of interviews with social service providers, observations of the TID spaces, and photographs and floor plans of the buildings, and, for three buildings, minutes from the TID process meetings. The analysis revealed four approaches to trauma-informed PSH: 1) provide multiple common areas to maximize resident choice and safety; 2) separate spaces with walls but connect them with interior windows to provide safety; 3) supply a central third stair to encourage social engagement and 4) design places for future resident empowerment and voice. This research contributes a necessary, heretofore missing, spatialization to existing scholarship on PSH.

KEYWORDS:

• Trauma-informed
• wellbeing
• permanent supportive housing
• housing first
• design

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the staff of Plymouth Housing Group, especially Marilyn Mitchell and Sam Sauer; Mental Health Center of Denver, especially Joann Toney; and David Partnership Architects, especially Patrick Lee.

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christina Bollo

Christina Bollo is an assistant professor in the Health and Wellbeing focus area at the University of Illinois School of Architecture in Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on the manifestation of housing policy in design and the social, economic, and environmental ramifications of housing design on the people who live there. Christina has a PhD in Architecture from the University of Oregon and is a licensed architect in Washington and Illinois.

Amanda Donofrio

Amanda Donofrio is principal at Bergsund DeLaney Architecture & Planning in Eugene, Oregon. Her projects focus on affordable housing for low-income families, seniors, and people who have experienced long-term homelessness. Amanda has a Masters of Architecture from the University of Illinois in Chicago. She is a licensed architect in Oregon and Illinois.