Shared Housing And Young Adults PDF Download

Informal shared housing refers to a range of accommodations where at least one member of a household is not on a lease and has no other formal housing protections-capturing situations like couch hopping, doubling up, informal hosting, and informal kinship care. In the U.S., many young adults and unaccompanied youth facing housing instability rely on informal shared housing for a place to stay. Some youth stay with people they know and trust, like extended family, friends' parents, mentors, or romantic partners. Given the current housing affordability crisis and barriers to housing access for many youth and young adults, formal and informal shared housing is a critical part of our community response to youth homelessness. However, prior research has established that informal shared housing, especially shorter-term arrangements, can have negative impacts on youth. Current advocacy and practice tends to approach shorter-term informal shared housing as a liability, with few services designed to address challenges and instability in these arrangements. Youth homelessness prevention programs often focus on nuclear families, missing the needs of longer-term informal shared housing with extended family or other natural supports. This dissertation project reframes safe informal shared housing as a community asset and a form of care work. I propose that instability and risk are not inherent to informal shared housing, and that structural inequities have played a role in eroding informal housing safety nets-particularly in families and communities of color. Drawing on interviews with youth and informal hosts, I highlight how individual, interpersonal, material, and structural challenges contribute to instability in informal shared housing. I extend these findings to identify promising policy, program, and practice changes that could stabilize and, when appropriate, formalize safe informal shared housing. This project paints a more complete picture of instability in safe informal shared housing and makes the case that family and other natural supports can and should be part of our efforts to prevent and address youth homelessness.