Reframing sense of community with photovoice: perspectives from residents of a permanent supportive housing program who have experienced chronic homelessness

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents photovoice research conducted with residents of a project-based permanent supportive housing program in a small metropolitan community in the United States. Utilizing McMillian and Chavis’s Sense of Community as a theoretical framework, we implemented photovoice to explore how former chronically homeless residents experienced their new housing community. Findings shed light on the ways residents experience community and are organized into three themes: participation in the neighborhood; depictions of home; and solidarity based on prior homelessness. Methodologically, photovoice provides the opportunity to rewrite narratives of homelessness by people who have experienced it.