“I achieved being an adult”: A Qualitative Exploration of Voluntary Transitions from Permanent Supportive Housing

Abstract

This study examined how individuals voluntarily leaving permanent supportive housing (PSH) through a Moving On initiative experienced the transition from PSH services to mainstream housing. Participants (N = 25) were purposively sampled from five supportive housing agencies in a Moving On initiative. A modified grounded theory approach was used to analyze semi-structured, post-move interviews. Participants described the transition from PSH as a process that involved gaining freedom from negative aspects of the PSH environment and a stagnation in services, adjusting to a new environment and the loss of familiar supports, taking on new responsibilities of self-advocacy and managing new financial burdens, and feeling empowered to move on to next steps, which ultimately, led to achievement of independence. Various contextual conditions, including PSH- and postmove housing type, influenced participants’ experience of this process. Findings can inform future Moving On initiatives, implementation of PSH programs, as well as the design of the larger homeless service system.