SURVIVAL, NOT RESILIEN CE: YOUNG PEOPLE’S HOUSING INSTABILITY A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at University of Otago by Jin Yi Louisa Choe July 2020 i Dedication Dr Barry Norman Poata Smith (1947 – 2019) Thesis Kaumātua “Are the girls you’re talking to really resilient, or is it survival?” ii Abstract Young people’s experiences of housing instability need to be recognised. The extant literature tends to equate young people’s experiences with that of adults and the limited literature that exclusively examines young people tends to take a narrow lens, with a focus on running away from home and living on the streets. What is missing is an in-depth examination of other forms of housing instability and inadequacy, and how these impact on young people. The current study looks at the experiences of young people, including experiences of eviction, unhealthy homes, overcrowding, frequent housing movements, and living in liminal spaces. To explore these experiences, a mixed methods approach was used. In the qualitative strand, a collaborative approach was undertaken using ethnography to give voice to the narratives of twelve girls in their youth who were surviving housing instability. As part of this approach, a novel method was used: friendship guided by whakawhanaugatanga. This method disrupted the traditional power imbalance between researcher and participant and therefore enabled knowledge to be co-created and the experiences of young people accessed. In the quantitative strand, a statistical analysis of data collected as part of the national Youth’12 questionnaire was undertaken. The mixed methods analysis of these data elucidated that a wider conceptualisation of housing instability that includes dimensions other than homelessness and eviction is justified. For young people, the impacts of all dimensions of housing instability are severe and work in intersecting ways to produce negative outcomes. Housing instability has a detrimental effect on their life chances and wellbeing, including disruption to education, fractured support networks, poor health outcomes, and trouble with the police. For young people, housing instability creates a climate of risk where they resort to perilous behaviour to survive, and this turbulent process discounts their sense of security. To borrow from Matthew Desmond, housing instability evicted these young people from their childhoods. Rather than a rosy view of resilience, these young people were simply surviving. This thesis concludes by suggesting policy recommendations specifically targeting young people’s housing needs. These are needed to support young people with their transition into adulthood and the ensuing responsibilities. These must be informed by data that captures all dimensions of housing instability and the unique needs of young people. iii Acknowledgements My grateful thanks to my primary supervisor, Associate Professor Martin Tolich, whose dedicated, professional and confident supervision of this project has helped maintain its momentum and whose incisive reading of drafts encouraged clarity. Senior Lecturer Dr Bryndl Hohmann-Marriott, my secondary supervisor, I thank for her unstinting encouragement, and insights on statistical methods. Thank you to Dr Bridgette Toy-Cronin, who has helped inspire my enthusiasm for all problems related to social justice. A special thanks to the late Dr Barry Smith for pointing me in the right direction during the early stages of this project. Your wise words have helped shape this study. This research would not have been possible without the willingness of the twelve girls, many of whom are still in the throes of stressful housing movements, to be interviewed and observed. I thank all of you for generously allowing me into your worlds and helping to co- develop meanings of your stories. This thesis would not have been possible without all of your contributions. I wish to thank the University, which paid a generous stipend for meeting my tuition costs. The funding has allowed me to concentrate on my studies in the last three years. Thank you to Andrew, my husband and friend, for his love and support. Words cannot express my gratitude. I would like to thank my parents. Mum and Dad, thank you for your unconditional love and support. Thank you to my sisters, Loraine and Lovinia, who had faith in me. To my nephew, Theodore (age 6), thank you for reminding me about the simple joy in life. And to my peers, Kayla, Kirsten and Audrey, you have filled my PhD journey with laughter. All of you have made my goal of completing a PhD a reality – thank you. iv Table of Contents DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................ ii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .........................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................x GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 – SETTING THE SCENE ............................................................................................1 A bank teller’s reflections ........................................................................................................1 Eviction ....................................................................................................................................6 Home truths ............................................................................................................................10 The purpose of this study .......................................................................................................13 CHAPTER 2 – SITUATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN HOUSING AND POVERTY ........................19 Housing and poverty ..............................................................................................................20 (In)visibility of the teenage children of poor ..........................................................................23 Housing inequality and discrimination ..................................................................................28 Housing instability in New Zealand .......................................................................................31 Where do young people fit in the discussion of poverty and housing instability? .................42 Theorising the effects of housing instability ..........................................................................48 Housing instability and young people’s life chances ............................................... 52 Housing policies and assistance for young people ................................................... 53 Summary ................................................................................................................................55 CHAPTER 3 – A TRANSFORMATIVE-EMANCIPATORY RESEARCH PARADIGM ............57 Why a transformative-emancipatory research paradigm? ......................................................57 Critiques and concerns ...........................................................................................................61 A sequential-exploratory mixed methods research strategy ...................................................65 Research philosophies ............................................................................................................67 Informed and guided by kaupapa Māori research principles ..................................... 68 Children and young people as social actors .............................................................. 70 Researching with young people .................................................................................. 72 v Friendship as a method, guided by whakawhanaugatanga ....................................... 75 Summary ...............................................................................................................................78 CHAPTER 4 – QUALITATIVE METHODOLOGY: A LISTENING CONTINUUM ..................79 Why ethnography? .................................................................................................................79 Young people as the experts ...................................................................................................82 Sampling and recruitment ......................................................................................................84 In-depth interviews and focus groups.....................................................................................85 Ethical considerations .............................................................................................................87 Data analysis and the co-creation of composite characters ....................................................91 Summary ................................................................................................................................97 CHAPTER 5 – FOUR GIRLS SURVIVING INSTABILITY .........................................................98