Theorizing a Social Ecology of Displacement: Structural-, Relational-, and Individual-Level Conditions of Homelessness among Young People
Gina Miranda Samuels, Susanna R. Curry, Christine Cerven
Abstract
Every year 4.2 million young people in America experience some form of homelessness. The observation that homelessness has a complex etiology spanning structural, relational, and individual levels of influence is not novel. However, few studies have empirically demonstrated how conditions across these levels collectively shape a distinct social ecology of homelessness, particularly for youth. Using critical realism and the extended case method, we analyze in-depth interviews with 215 young people. Our findings suggest a social ecology of displacement prior to and during homelessness. Findings complement ecological perspectives on homelessness among youth but support a more dynamic, interdependent, and bidirectional theorizing of its causes and consequences. We propose a conceptual model illustrating these processes and call for critical placemaking as a much-needed, relationally just praxis with young people.