The Homeless Shelter Family Experience: Examining the Influence of Physical Living Conditions on Perceptions of Internal Control, Crowding, Privacy, and Related Issues

Parents with children are a growing segment of the U.S. homeless population. Sources indicate that homeless shelter dormitory bedrooms are highly crowded with low privacy, which may affect quality of experience that lead to residents' perceived loss of control and helplessness. Research suggests that personal environmental control features may lessen these effects and increase a resident's sense of internal control (that outcomes are based on one's own behavior). Internal control can support one's motivation to seek a permanent place to live and find employment. To enhance the sense of internal control, the author of this study altered a homeless shelter bedroom, adding a series of control features including lighting for reading, bed curtains, and increased storage. This case study then examined perceptions of bedroom controls, and the features' effects on the sense of internal control and related issues. The two shelter parents perceived that their unaltered bedrooms were crowded, lacked privacy, and were stressful because their possessions could not be stored. Their children did not wish to stay in the bedrooms, and reportedly increased misbehavior. The altered bedroom was perceived as more private and less crowded than the unaltered room (with unchanged square footage), and supported the parents' need for child monitoring and ability to act as an authority figure. One parent reported that the bedroom reduced her stress level, and preliminary data suggests her sense of internal control increased. Observations of increased territoriality and personalization further supported this finding.