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Possessions in the Homeless Shelter Experience: The Built Environment's Potential Role in Self-restoration

ABSTRACT This paper proposes that designing homeless shelters to acknowledge residents' important relationships with their possessions can assist homeless persons' psychological recovery and reengagement with society. This notion is based on consumer culture research establishing the significance of possessions in personal growth and evolution. Researchers have identified the “opportunity restriction process”–a pattern of possession loss, despair, and self-restoration–that often afflicts impoverished people in the US. The paper is based on the results of a quasi-experimental study by the author (funded by Florida State University's Council on Research and Creativity) of homeless families living in a shelter in the southeast United States and their reactions to their bedroom environments (Pable 2010). Recommendations for shelter design that embrace the importance of residents' possessions are included.