title: Homelessness and aging: The contradictory ordering of 'house' and 'home'.
abstract: The concepts of 'house' and 'home' are compelling and contradictory. They are compelling because they elicit the desired sentiments of permanence, feeling 'at home', and maintaining continuity in one's life. At the same time, they can be experienced as contradictory where organizational practices and the socio-cultural imperatives of individual responsibility, cost containment, and rationed services are concerned. Where 'house' tends to evoke a sense of permanent stability, 'home' is regarded as the ideal living environment and site of care for older people. Yet, a consideration of the challenges that occur at the intersections of age and homelessness highlights a tension between the taken-for-granted ideal of 'home' for older people, and programs organized around 'housing' for homeless people. To begin, we ground our work in a critical perspective to the study of aging and briefly sketch the state of knowledge on homelessness in late life. We then explore the contradictions that occur at the intersections of age and homelessness, including the discursive ordering of 'house' and 'home,' the configurations of access and barriers, and aging in undesirable locations. In our conclusion, we draw attention to inequalities and the need for a life course perspective to ground future thinking. Our conceptual discussion is based on insights gained from a 3-year project on older homelessness in Montreal, Canada.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Aging, and Society, McMaster University, Kenneth Taylor Hall, Room 228, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M4, Canada; Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Electronic address: grenier@mcmaster.ca.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grenier
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, York University, 359A York Lanes, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada; Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Electronic address: rbarken@yorku.ca.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barken
authors.affiliation: Department of Research and Academics, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, 700 Gordon Street, Whitby, ON L1N 5S9, Canada. Electronic address: mcgrathc@ontarioshores.ca.
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McGrath
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D011792:Quebec