Abstract
As the intersecting opioid and housing crises continue to compound, it is important to explore the ways that unhoused people who use drugs utilize the resources available to them to assert their rights and identities. As members of communities which are often construed as outside threats to the greater community, unhoused people who use drugs must contend with many forces that reject their rights to permanency (e.g., housing). This research focuses on people residing in Boston's low-threshold transitional housing (LTTH) programs, which co-located harm reduction services and other health and social supports, and where abstinence is not a requirement for entry. In our study, we aimed to capture resident experiences within LTTH environments. Through field observations and photo-ethnography, we observed the ways in which LTTH residents engaged in placemaking, a process through which individuals shape public or private space to reflect their desires, identities, and values. Analyses indicated that residents modified the existing infrastructure of the site to maximize their privacy and construct their own security systems. Residents leveraged their placement in these transitional sites as opportunities to personalize their space and develop independent living skills, demonstrating their individual identities. Residents also engaged in practices of resistance towards establishing a right to permanency and legitimacy within the context of these housing spaces. The way in which residents at LTTH sites engaged with site infrastructure facilitates the development of community and identity asserts its importance as a valuable and stabilizing resource for people experiencing homelessness.