Valuing Control over One’s Immediate Living Environment: How Homelessness Responses Corrode Capabilities

Abstract

Informed by the capabilities approach, this paper considers the importance of control over one’s environment for people experiencing homelessness. Drawing on a study of temporary accommodation in Scotland, we make four arguments. First, control over one’s immediate living environment has been insufficiently recognized as a foundational component of a minimally decent life within the capabilities literature. Second, such control is compromised, sometimes severely, in temporary accommodation provided for homeless households, with these impacts especially acute in congregate accommodation. Third, lacking control over one’s immediate environment can be understood as a corrosive disadvantage that actively damages people’s bodily and mental health and affiliation-related capabilities. Fourth, both intrinsic and contingent features of different kinds of temporary accommodation are implicated in constraining people’s control over their environment. This distinction enables us to identify changes to existing provision that can mitigate their negative impacts, and to clarify where accommodation models are inherently problematic.