Housing Support Services and the Strengths-Based Approach: Service-User and Staff Perspectives

Abstract This study aimed to identify main themes in the accounts of individuals encountering homelessness and staff who supported them, in a low-income South-East England town. It explored whether such themes were compatible with the adoption of a strengths-based approach by the local homelessness services. Thirty-one individuals in temporary accommodation and 19 staff were interviewed using a semi-structured schedule. Thematic analysis of the service user accounts identified five themes—Challenging Backgrounds, Effective Provision, Room for Improvement, Strengths, and Aspirations. An equal number of themes emerged from the thematic analysis of the staff interviews—Focus on Trauma and Mental Health, Service User Variability, Service User Involvement, Hard-Working Staff, and Improving Material Conditions. Both sets of narratives supported the adoption of a strengths-based approach by the local services, as they emphasized service user competencies, the importance of co-production, and the necessity to consider context in understanding the experience of homelessness. Including a range of stakeholders, future research needs to follow-up these services after they fully adopt a strengths-based approach.

In recent years, the strengths-based approach to social provision has emerged as an alternative to the more established deficits model, increasingly receiving support from a range of stakeholders (Department of Health & Social Care, 2019;Saleebey, 1992).While both approaches support vulnerable individuals in overcoming their difficulties, the strengths-based model aims to do so based on certain principles that break with tradition.
The first principle refers to a focus on service-user capabilities, skills, talents, and resilience.Although individuals may experience problems, sometimes devastating ones, they also have competences which, however suppressed or underdeveloped at present, may be strengthened significantly in the future.According to this approach, it is the role of supportive interventions to recruit and develop such service-user strengths.As the latter focus on abilities and strengths in addition to addressing problems, negative patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving are broken more easily, problems stop dominating one's mental life, and the individual's competence in dealing with difficulties is enhanced (Bowles, 2006;Snyder & Lopez, 2006) The second main principle is that of co-production.This refers to the idea that service user development can be fully achieved only when service users become active participants in shaping the interventions and services that are meant to support them (Voorberg et al., 2015).The main role of the helping professionals should be to facilitate the effective mobilization of service user resources through their sustained engagement.
One way achieving such engagement is by enhancing the collaboration between service users and service providers, making the dividing lines more flexible and the roles more reciprocal.This approach has been used extensively in health care settings where patients and their families are involved in medical decisions (Brandsen & Marlies, 2016).Another form of service use engagement is peer coproduction, or the appointment of individuals belonging to marginalized and stigmatized groups as staff in projects and services supporting such groups.The rationale for this type of approach is that such individuals would bring a critical insider's perspective into the staff team, gain the trust of vulnerable service users, and act as a mentor to them.Peer coproduction has been successfully applied in substance misuse and mental health services, domestic violence shelters, and organizations supporting refugees and ex-offenders (Park, 2020a).Research suggests that adopting the appropriate coproduction model is associated with greater utilization of support, harm reduction, and recovery services (Park, 2020b).
A third main principle of the strengths-based approach is recognizing the importance of context and circumstance in individuals' problems, as well as in their solution.The difficulties one experiences should be understood as being the product of the particular conditions one finds one's self in.Similarly, strength and resilience should not be seen simply as residing within the individual but, very importantly, as being located within the person's close interpersonal relationships and available community resources (Bozic et al., 2018).Rawana and Brownlee (2009) identify five contextual domains in which the development of strengths and competences occurs (peer, family/home, school, employment, community) while Bozic et al. (2018) link specific competences with different domains of relationship-relationship with self, colleagues, family, and community members.
According to these authors, the individual and their social environment are intrinsically linked as is the past with the present and current difficulties are seen as the outcomes of particular socially, culturally, and historically located constraints.If alternatives are created, different outcomes become possible.What service users may not be ready to do today, they may be able to achieve tomorrow as circumstances become more favorable.Assessments and diagnoses should be seen as reflecting an individual's current state of mind, without losing hope for a future positive change.Support professionals, should consciously position their work within such a context and become part of the service-user's collaborative, holistic, multidisciplinary, flexible, and facilitating network.
The strengths-based approach has been adopted in a range of different interventions pursuing various objectives.These include the transition of forensic inpatients from secure care settings to living in the community (Quinn et al., 2023), the development and mental health of disadvantaged ethnic minority youth (Onyeka et al., 2021), therapy offering to sex offenders (Malhotra & Gussak, 2021), the management of diabetes among ethnic minority populations (Abu-Saad et al., 2021), supporting families under distress (Williams, 2019), the cultural empowerment of counseling trainees (Yang & Greene, 2022), and the enhancement of research with marginalized populations (Hamby, 2022).
In recent years, the strengths-based approach has also emerged as a dominant paradigm in the homelessness sector.In addition to inspiring mainstream services for individuals experiencing homelessness, the model has also informed more specialized support work such as interventions with homeless youth using hard drugs (Guo & Slesnick, 2017), homeless mothers (Lindsey, 2000), and homeless war veterans (Petrovich, 2009).It has also been applied to diverse cultural contexts other than the UK, including USA (Lindsey, 2000), Holland (Krabbenborg et al., 2013), South Africa (Prinsloo & Van der Berg, 2018), and Australia (Thomas et al., 2012).
These mainly qualitative and correlational studies report a range of positive outcomes resulting from strengths-based interventions.Some evidence in support of the approach also comes from randomized control trials.Krabbenborg et al. (2017) found no significant differences in overtime improvement between homeless young adults under the traditional model of care and those supported by a strengths-based model.However, individuals under both types of support improved significantly in relation to baseline while those homeless young adults receiving strengths-based care were less likely to drop out and more likely to still receive care at follow-up.According to another study, staff were reluctant to properly follow the guidelines of the strengths-based model, suggesting that evidence for the true effectiveness of the approach may be compromised by problems in its implementation (Krabbenborg et al., 2013).
In recent years, the homelessness sector in the United Kingdom is undergoing important transformations, with the strengths-based approach gaining ground increasingly.Further research is needed to investigate how a strengths-based approach could inform housing support provision in different contexts.The general aim of the current study was to understand if and how a strengths-based approach should be adopted while re-designing housing-related support services in a socio-economically deprived English town.To achieve this aim, the present study set a more specific objective-to explore the service-related experiences of two principal stakeholder groups in the homelessness sector-individuals who experience homelessness and the staff who support them in temporary accommodation.Listening to the multitude of voices coming from these two groups may provide a more complete picture of how individuals experience the relevant services, help remove barriers, increase collaboration, and reduce power asymmetry between them.

The Context of the Study
In England and Wales about 300,000 households are either homeless or threatened with immediate homelessness (Department of Levelling Up et al., 2023).Specifically, the town of the present study, 4,600 individuals are in temporary accommodation while a handful rough-sleep (Astbury, 2022).In 2018, after effective campaigning, UK law changed moving powers and resources to tackle homelessness from the national to local government, although those resources remained limited (Department for Levelling Up et al., 2018).
Homeless individuals are offered free temporary accommodation in multi-occupancy houses (HMOs) or hostels, owned by nonprofit housing associations.The accommodation comprises individual rooms with shared bathroom and kitchen facilities and is funded primarily by the local city council, through the housing benefit system (the UK system of providing a housing allowance to those with low or no income).Usually, rooms are occupied by single individuals but also sometimes by couples, while mothers with babies stay in separate units.Service users are free to leave any time, but if they remain, they need to obey rules regarding substance use in the premises, visitors, and late nights.They can stay from a day to a year, but most stay for 4-5 months.Although conditions may vary, typically, an HMO sleeps 5 to 6 individuals and is supported by 3-4 members of staff on a 24-h rota system.Each service user is assigned a key worker, who would support them in dealing with relevant agencies, finding employment, and moving to permanent accommodation.Depending on funding, the housing associations may also offer employability training, mental health support, or recreational events.All service users are invited to take part in regular residents' meetings in which issues with the accommodation are discussed and fed back to staff.
Although, initially, their formal purpose was to provide accommodation and advice and despite low levels of funding, in recent years housing associations have increasingly become more holistic providers.Most have already adopted the Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) framework, a set of guidelines in support of services that care for vulnerable individuals (Haigh et al., 2012).PIE aims to ensure that services develop the capability and expertise to meet the needs of their service users by adopting a psychological framework of provision, developing appropriate staff support and training programmes and creating human-cantered physical and social spaces.Services are also expected to effectively manage human relationships and adopt robust methodologies of evaluating outcomes.
The following research questions were explored: 1. What are the main themes around which the experience of service users and the staff that care for them was organized.2. Would these themes be compatible with the adoption of a strengths-based approach in the redesigning of the local housing services.
To address these questions, an interview-based qualitative study was conducted, including two samples.A qualitative approach was expected to allow deeper layers of participants' experience to be revealed and their needs and strengths to more clearly articulated and understood.

Participants
The first sample comprised 31 individuals experiencing homelessness.As saturation is widely regarded to be reached at between 20 and 40 interviews (Fugard & Potts, 2015;Guest et al., 2006), it was decided that this sample size was appropriate.Participants utilized temporary accommodation for the homeless, as described above.Twenty were males and 11 females, while the average age was 24 years; 10 were of Black African, 6 of Asian, 10 of White British, and 5 of mixed ethnicity.Participants were recruited through purposive sampling, so that individuals with various levels of service experience, vulnerability, age, gender, and cultural background were included.The aim of sampling was not to achieve representation but to include a great diversity of voices.All residents of the participating organizations were considered for sampling.
Prospective participants were initially informed about the study face to face by their keyworkers and, if they expressed an interest, they were put in touch with the research team, who provided further information both orally and in writing.Individuals who signed the informed consent form arranged an interview meeting with the second author after a few days.Three individuals approached refused to participate, mentioning time unavailability; no participants withdrew from the interview.

Research Instrument
A semi-structured interview schedule containing ten core questions was constructed by the authors.The construction of the schedule was informed by the relevant literature and the authors' own research and experience with the homeless sector in the borough.Participants were asked to talk about their background and experience with the local housing services, ways in which they had been supported by them, difficulties they faced, their strengths and aspirations, and possible service improvements they would like to see.

Procedure
Interviews were conducted by one of the authors and two hostel ex-residents or peer researchers.The peer researchers, were selected by keyworkers and the research team to ensure they were able to interview clients who were hard to reach and unlikely to talk to professionals.Those selected were individuals with good communication skills and that had previous involvement in community projects and related training.Thirteen interviews were conducted by the professional researcher and 18 by the peer researchers.Interviews took place in quiet and private spaces agreed by both interviewer and interviewee (e.g., rooms provided by the organizations involved, private spaces in community centres).Consent forms were completed, and confidentiality of the information was discussed.None of the interviews were recorded as this may have been uncomfortable by some of these vulnerable participants, but notes were kept by all interviewers during and after interviewing.Interviews lasted for about forty minutes on average.The study (both Part A and Part B) was approved by a University Ethics committee and the approval was obtained from all organizations involved.Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to conducting the interviews in the study.

Data Analysis
A data-driven thematic analysis was conducted on all interview notes, following the analytic principles described elsewhere (Terry et al., 2017).In the first phase of the analysis, sentences or phrases referring to the participants' experience with homelessness and relevant services were identified and used as initial codes.The codes emerging from interviews conducted by the professional researcher and those emerging from interviews conducted by the peer researchers were very similar.In the second phase of the analysis, codes were reduced to subthemes, and in the final phase subthemes were reduced to themes (Table 1).Initial code reduction in about a quarter of the interviews was also conducted by the second author, who arrived at broadly similar subthemes and themes.Points of divergence between the researchers were discussed until an agreed solution was found.A summary of the study and findings in group format was presented to the participants, other residents, and staff in resident meetings and other events, followed by commentary and constructive discussion.No interview quotes or other identifying information was presented in those events.

Results
In total, five main themes and numerous subthemes were identified (Table 2):

Challenging Backgrounds
This theme comprises the individuals' references to their difficult life backgrounds that almost invariably preceded their experience of homelessness and their engagement with a housing association.Individuals experiencing homelessness typically had histories involving the breakdown of relationships and supportive networks-more specifically the deterioration of relationships with parents and siblings, with one's partner and/or children, the experience of criminal conviction and incarceration, the experience of forced migration such as fleeing war, persecution, or economic deprivation in their home country, and the experience of substance misuse or other mental health problems.Often disruptions of more than one type were evident-e.g., forced immigration, plus breakdown of family relationships, plus substance misuse.
I came to the UK when I was two years' old.My household wasn't the best, social services were involved.I got kicked out of the family home and the council sent me to the hostel.When I was five, my mother put me out on the street when it was snowing and the Police turned up (Participant 2, p.2).I was in prison and had no probation address.Then I got pregnant, my daughter was taken away (Participant 6, p. 1).
Sometimes participants explicitly linked such traumatic experience with their current difficulties but other times the past and the present emerges as quite distinct and disconnected periods in the person's life, almost like two separate lives.The current study provided a glimpse into the experience of individuals facing homelessness and their thoughts and feelings regarding the local services that support them.In addition to providing rich details of the individuals' experience, those accounts also supported a strengths-based approach to tackling homelessness and outlined specific areas in which such an approach would be the most effective.Previous literature has clearly evidenced that homeless individuals typically come from traumatic backgrounds, including childhood abuse or neglect, family breakdown, war or persecution trauma (Tyler & Melander, 2012).It is not surprising, therefore, that individuals experiencing homelessness suffer from a variety of mental health problems, including among others anxiety, depression, personality disorder, and substance abuse (Whitbeck et al., 2004).

Effective Provision
The label Effective Provision has been used to describe the participants'' very systematic references to significant and varied support that they receive from their housing association.Most participants spoke highly of their housing associations and the staff who care for them and recognized the importance of that support in the present phase of their lives.Participants identified several different areas in which they felt supported, with different individuals emphasizing different aspects of the provision.Most agreed that staff in the housing associations were very responsive in two ways: they are there, available to listen and they help with practical workhousing applications, job searching, and dealing with external agencies.The ability of staff to listen, be empathetic and provide emotional support was certainly the most prevalent subtheme, appearing in almost every participant account.
I lost my family.Yet there was a woman that worked there, she really helped me.She listened to me when I was down (Participant 7, p.1).
However, practical help was also very important and evidently also included an element of emotional support.
Staff here are very helpful.They helped me sign up to a lease and letting agency for my own accommodation.They put me in contact with the food bank, they filled in my application (Participant 11, p.1).
Another frequent provision emerging from participants' accounts was the importance they ascribed to the variety of practical courses and training events offered by the housing associations, such as cooking, painting etc.Many individuals experiencing homelessness saw a significant value in those courses, as they helped them acquire additional practical and employability skills, while some also felt they were also a good opportunity to get to know other people and do things with them.
Several participants also reported that their experience of homelessness and staying in supported accommodation has matured them and helped them develop psychologically.Most participants mentioned an increased sense of confidence to do things that they previously found difficult to do, while others noted their new-found capacity to seek and accept support.Some residents went even further, noting they had developed more nuanced psycho-social capabilities such as the capacity for self-reflection and empathy.Participants often contrasted their current psycho-social abilities with how they used to be in the past, describing a more immature and often self-destructive self that they feel that they are now gradually leaving behind.In addition, some participants emphasized the importance of supported accommodation having links with a range of local specialized services and their staff having the ability to identify the appropriate service and refer residents to them.Many pointed out that it is paramount that individuals suffering with drug, alcohol, or other mental health problems receive the help they need before they deal with other everyday issues such as finding employment and moving to independent housing.
Finally, a central subtheme that touched upon many others referred to the idea of supported accommodation as a transitional space-that is, as a social space that is helping them to make the transition from a period of extreme hardship to a more stable life, making plans for the future.Although many participants emphasized the importance of that function, that transitional space was often understood differently by different individuals.Two types of service user could be identified.On the one hand, there were the individuals who viewed their time in temporary accommodation only as a necessary inconvenience from which they intended to escape as soon as possible.Although they usually appreciated the support staff and the association as a whole offer them, they tended to understand that support instrumentally-simply as a means of moving to independent accommodation and a better job.These individuals didn't seem to recognize much value in their current social experience -on the contrary, they very often complained about and dismissed other residents.These individuals tended to be more individualistic, more focused, and reported fewer and more superficial psychological changes that the experience of homelessness had brought: I try not to get involved with other service users.They use drugs and alcohol and are like Zombies.I am not really a people's person… I am now bidding with the Council for my own place.I can't wait to get my own place (Participant 10, p. 2).
On the other hand, another type of resident had a very different perception of what constitutes supported accommodation as a transitional space.These individuals tended to view the assistance that supported accommodation and its staff offer them as being primarily an opportunity for a different kind of social experience, sometimes an experience they never previously had.Although they much appreciated the practical support their keyworkers offer them and the new skills they learn in the various practical courses, for them all that assistance becomes effective because it is accompanied by a particular quality in human contact-different from what they are normally used to.These residents describe listening and empathic keyworkers who provide a positive experience in one-to-one meetings, while the practical courses seem to provide valuable opportunities to meet and share experiences with others who face similar challenges.
[the supported accommodation experience] has given me an opportunity to talk, to talk, socialise, and feel I am part of a community.It has made me more understanding of people who are less fortunate (Participant 12, p.3).
For many of these residents staying in supported accommodation has provided a life changing social experience and it is that experience that has allowed them to move on.However, for them, moving on does not mean breaking the ties with the hostel and its people, but establishing new, different ones, this time from a position of greater strength, maturity, and mutuality.Some of these residents simply wish to remain in contact with those peers they became close during their time of homelessness, while others wish to take on a professional role of supporting people who face similar challenges as themselves (also see "aspirations" section).
[name of housing association] made me feel safe and supported, like a family environment and unlike my real family.Here I 've made friends for life, they are a family to me (Participant 14, p.1).
Another interesting difference between the more "individualistic" and the more "relational" participants was that the former tended to prioritize moving to independent accommodation over finding a job, while the reverse was the case with the latter.The former seemed to want to focus on enhancing the independence that professional development brings from a position of physical separateness, while the latter seemed to aim to achieve that from a position of connection with staff and peers-for them it was job first, moving out follows.

Room for Improvement
Most individuals interviewed reported a clearly positive experience in relation to the housing associations that supported them-only two of those interviewed were outright negative about the assistance they received.Nonetheless, many of those who reported obtained significant help identified specific areas of the provision in which they thought improvement was necessary.Those areas, corresponding to five emergent subthemes: More help with finding employment, more help with everyday living, better trained staff, and better aftercare.Finally, a few residents reported that they were completely satisfied with the support they received and could not think of an area for improvement.
Although most residents recognized that supported accommodation assisted them in increasing their employability skills and completing employment-related paperwork, some expressed the need to have more help with job searching and identifying employment and training opportunities.These residents tended to target rather specific areas of skilled employment and to have had such employment in the past.
Nonetheless, most requests for an improved provision related to matters of everyday living in temporary accommodation.A few participants mentioned noise and the use of drugs and alcohol by other residents, while others focused on the length of time required or various repairs to be made (e.g.heating leaks, torn carpets).Noise, antisocial behavior, and substance misuse by other residents tended to be significant sources of discomfort for those who reported them and they were often referred to as reasons one would want to leave supported accommodation.Some residents argued that supported accommodation units should not allow in those who are not disruptive to others.Although often mentioned, delays in repairs were mainly seen as an irritation rather than a serious problem, particularly when residents considered them in the context of the good overall provision, they felt they had been offered.
My heating wasn't fixed for two months.Before that I had a leak and that took a month before it was fixed.The lift is always breaking down (Participant 6, p.2).
Although the description of staff is overwhelmingly positive and most residents clearly recognize their important supportive role, some residents raise concerns about particular staff members or about more wide staff practices of the past that now have almost disappeared.Their comments referred mainly to better staff training, but some also emphasized life experience and personal qualities.Quick staff turnaround was also an issue raised by one or two participants.
Hire more people who have real experience being in foster care, hostel life.Hire people who are passionate, caring, respectful.Staff that don't talk us down (Participant 2, p.3).
A small number of participants raised the issue of "aftercare." They felt that their departure from supported accommodation was somehow rushed and that they needed a bit more time to adjust to the new reality.Finally, a few individuals experiencing homelessness could not think of a way in which the provided service could improve.These individuals were very grateful of the help they received at a very difficult moment, so that even a minor suggestion would appear to them as an act of ingratitude.
I cannot find a fault with them.They are trying their best (Participant 12, p.2).

Strengths and Aspirations
The last two themes emerging from the participant narratives included statements clearly indicating that despite the many and often serious challenges they had encountered throughout their lives, sometimes because of them, participants were able to identify strengths in themselves.Many participants listed as an important strength their employability skills, those acquired either from previous employment or very recently through workshops and short courses offered by their housing association.They often aspired to find good employment applying those skills in the future and even develop them further.
I was self-employed, I used to have my own business, I was a builder, this is what I want to do.I need to do a college, I have no paperwork to back up my building skills, so I need to get requalified (Participant 10, p. 2).
However, the most prevalent capabilities residents identify in themselves are psychological competences they have primarily acquired, as they point out, through their difficult life experience.Listening skills, empathy, that capacity to support others are those most often mentioned.
I have a lifetime of experience, I am a good all-rounder and I am a good listener.So listening is my greatest strength.I am also good at remembering where people were once and I can see how they changed overtime and I can tell them (Participant 8, p. 3).
A few participants have expressed the desire to start a career in supporting others who have gone through similar experiences like themselves and emphasize the encouragement they have received by their housing association toward realizing their dreams.In addition to aspiring to a better stable employment and moving to independent accommodation, some participants also emphasized their wish to be able to care for their families, primarily their children, when their situation improves.Being able to assume the role of a "proper" parent as they perceive it, appeared to be a very strong motive for some of the parents in our sample.

Participants
Nineteen members of members of staff were interviewed.Staff worked in six local housing associations providing temporary accommodation and support to the homeless.Participants worked at various levels of the organization hierarchy, including frontline staff, middle managers, and CEOs.Of the staff interviewed, 11 were female and 8 male, while the average age was 39 years.Seven were White British, 3 were of Asian, 2 Black African, 2 Black Caribbean, 1 White Non-British, and 1 of a mixed ethnicity background.Purposive sampling was utilized, so that it included staff with various levels of experience and seniority in the organization, age, gender, background, and housing association they worked for.All staff of the participating organizations were considered for sampling.Prospective participants were informed about the study by senior staff and if they expressed an interest, they were put in touch with the research team.Additional information was provided by the latter and after signing an informed consent form an interview was arranged.Of those approached, one senior member did not respond.

Procedure
The interviews took place at a private space in the participants' place of work -some were conducted online.The first author conducted 6 interviews and the second 13.The first author is a senior academic, with doctoral training and many years of qualitative research experience with users and staff of mental health and social services.Interviews were not recorded but interviewers kept notes during and immediately after an interview.
The researchers knew some participants as their organizations and sometimes themselves had collaborated previously with the researchers.Interviews lasted for fifty minutes on average.

Research Instrument
The semi-structured interview schedule used comprised eight core questions.It was created by the authors, based on conversations they had with staff from the homelessness sector over the years, the relevant literature, and their own previous research.Staff were asked to talk about their involvement with the housing services, the ways in which their organizations tried to meet client needs, their successes and failures, their views on client capabilities and their involvement in the running of the services, and the way they saw the sector developing in the future.

Data Analysis
A data-driven thematic analysis was conducted by the first author on all interview notes, following the same analytic procedure and inter-coder triangulation as described in Part A (Table 1).A report of the findings that did not include quotes was shared and discussed with staff in a special event hosted by the authors' research center.

Results
Five main themes emerged from the staff narratives.each including numerous subthemes (Table 3).

Focus on Trauma and Mental Health
The one idea that was present in almost all staff interviews was that the local homelessness services should have a clear focus on addressing traumatization and other mental health problems, including substance misuse.Every member of staff interviewed thought that unless these fundamental issues are addressed in a systematic way very little else can help individuals who experience homelessness deal with their difficulties in an effective way.Many staff explicitly referred to the adoption of the PIE framework as their organization's operational framework (either already underway or planned) and discussed the changes that need to occur in the organization for the framework to be successfully applied.
have now fully adopted the PIE framework -we run a PIE environment.We have reworked all policies and procedures based on trauma considerations (Participant 1, p.1).
The focus of change in those narratives was on the appropriate selection, training, and support of staff who were seen as the cornerstone of such Improvement of staff pay was also linked to the adoption of the PIE frameworks in some accounts, although staff pay also emerged as a significant issue on its own in relation to many other areas of work.Most staff thought it was crucial that their organization and the sector overall moved away from the "hostel" model so that that the temporary homes of individuals experiencing homelessness become spaces of psychological healing, growth, and empowerment.
Staff do not currently have the necessary knowledge and skills to deal with challenging clients -staff need to be reskilled and develop more in accordance to PIE principles (Participant 4, p.2).
What also emerged from staff accounts was that this process had already started in most organizations, although to various degrees.Some organizations have already made big steps into establishing a PIE culture and practice, others have taken some action but they still have some way to go, while others are in the initial stages of the transition.What was clear from these interviews, however, was that whatever the stage of transformation an organization was in, the full adoption of the PIE framework was strongly seen as the road ahead.

Service User Variability
Another prevalent idea that emerged from the staff narratives was the multiplicity of needs that individuals experiencing homelessness have.Staff made it very clear that homelessness is not one thing, but it comes in many forms and Staff identified groups of very challenging residents who tend not to adjust well to the living arrangements that are usually on offer and who seem to require specialist provision that is currently not there.Individuals with antisocial behavior, serious substance dependence, significant mental health problems, sex-workers, and ex-offenders are some of those groups.
The majority of clients we have are sex workers, what they need is accommodation with no male service users to prevent exploitation.Some residents have substance and other mental health problems, using Heroin, Methadone, and alcohol on top (Participant 12, p. 2).
Such lack of specialist support contradicts the values of individualized care that are central in the organizations staff worked in and that was a source of discomfort for them.

Service User Involvement
Another idea that was invariably supported by staff was the idea that individuals experiencing homelessness should be involved, one way or another, in the operation of the services that are available to them.Every single member of staff interviewed agreed that service user involvement was of paramount importance for the quality of support provided and the real difference such support should make in people's lives.Staff believed that involving the residents in decisions and plans will allow their talents, strengths, and aspiration to be expressed and therefore potentially further developed but also bring such valuable resources of enrichment into the operation of the organizations themselves.
We ask for feedback and make changes on that basis but we need to do more, e.g.involve residents in service design.We need to shift the great power between residents and staff -help residents thrive not just survive (Participant 4, p. 2).
Although all participants, with no exception, agreed that service-user involvement was important, how such involvement was understood differed across staff and their organizations.Client involvement as a practice seemed to take place in various ways across the sector.On the one end of the continuum, staff described organizations which would pay attention to what their individual clients have to say about their individual circumstances and try to find ways of best responding to individual needs.Those organizations, however, did not seem to have an explicit plan to make resident involvement a defining feature of the service.On the other end, there to be organizations that actively encourage residents to take part in all aspects of service operation, including design, delivery on the ground, raising awareness, and research.These organizations have explicitly placed coproduction at the center of their services, if not fully already, there are clear plans for the near future.In those cases, coproduction defines the identity of the organization.
A third type of organization was also identified in the staff narratives.Those organizations strongly value resident involvement and have some systematic approach toward achieving it, but that approach somehow restricts that involvement to obtaining regular resident feedback on aspects of a service rather than practicing the "co-production" of that service.This approach seems more willing to consider some more cautious views on service user involvement: Coproduction is positive.But any involvement should not act to re-traumatise the person.My organisation is very careful about that.People with lived experience can come with a lot of fragility.We have to be careful about how to include people.Lived experience is not tokenism (Participant 18,p.3).
An interesting observation is that, in the most part, the theme of patient involvement did not emerge spontaneously from the participants' narratives, but it was elicited as a response to a direct question by the interviewer (what do you think about involving service users in how the organization is run?).This can be explained by the variability in how such an involvement is understood.Other related terms used in the narratives represent versions of that involvement-for example the idea of "listening" to service users that so often emerged spontaneously in staff accounts.
A significant subtheme regarding resident involvement and coproduction was the subtheme of change.All staff who discussed how their organization views resident involvement and the relevant practice it has adopted, understood this as a process-in particular, a lengthy process of transformation from the traditional model of provision in which professionals did good things "to people" as opposed to doing things "with people." Many staff emphasized that currently their own organizations, as well as the sector in general, are in a process of change, moving from a top down of support provision to a more egalitarian, participatory, bottom up approach.
[Name of organisation] is in a journey.We are trying to develop and change the service with coproduction at its centre.What clients appreciate is being listened to, us being there, the informal conversations that take place, peer to peer interaction.We are not there yet-w e are in a process (Participant 3, p.1).
According to the bottom-up approach, the suitability and effectiveness of interventions are to a great extent determined by whether they are accepted as such by the individuals they set out to assist, while the main role of the professional is to understand what is effective, for whom, with which particular problem, and in what particular circumstances.The best place to start is by listening to and involving those very people professionals aim to help.In that process of change, many participants ascribed crucial importance to the organizations' personnel, particularly, the pace in which staff attitudes change to reflect that shift in the organization's outlook.This was perhaps most notable in the interviews of senior managers, who often expressed their frustration as they were unable to support staff in that process with higher salaries and more training due to lack of resources.

Hard-Working Staff
Another important and prevalent theme emerging from these interviews was the way staff saw themselves as workers.Reading these interview notes, one gets the overwhelming sense that most staff members are extremely proud of, committed to, and fulfilled by the work they do.Their commitment is not only to their clients by to their organization as a whole, which is often seen as a place of social connection that values human relationships and promotes open and authentic communication between the various levels of the organizational structure-clients, frontline staff, middle management, senior management.they recognize and are proud of their achievements, staff are not complacent.They are also well aware of the significant gaps in the services they provide and are always looking for ways to improve them.
It is interesting to note that staff focus more on the practical work they do with the service users and less on the emotional support they provide to them, which appears to be the reverse to what service users emphasize in their own accounts.Staff do appreciate at times the psychological support they provide to individuals experiencing homelessness: Clients get one to one support.They get the opportunity to talk about what is going on for them, what is concerning them and how they are getting on in general (Participant 10, p.1).
However, staff seem to refer more often to the practical assistance they provide to residents such as help with applications, advice on benefit options, or referral to appropriate services: We provide accommodation, support the development of life skills, access to employment, access to GPs.Obtaining documents required to benefit applications (Participant 8, p.1).
The provision of practical support has also an obvious psychological impact (one feels one is not alone when they face difficulties) but such an impact is perhaps greater for vulnerable individuals with no home, no job, no money, and a broken social network.This is perhaps why the practical support provided by staff may be often understood and described as emotional by the service users.
Some staff also emphasize that their work with individuals experiencing homelessness is mostly about creating a human connection, a human bond characterized by stability, authenticity, and trust through which clients can thrive and the organization can fulfill its purpose: We are like a family.Some staff have been here for many years and the clients appreciate us.Some even come back to us years later, clients that are fully independent, to work for us (Participant 19,p.3).
In addition to fulfillment from their work, some staff have also pointed out potential negative impacts that their very commitment and empathy toward the clients may have on their own well-being.Staff emphasized that appropriate boundaries should be kept between life at work and life at home -workers in the sector should leave work issues and challenges behind when they finish their shift otherwise they run of risk of burnout and secondary traumatization.They also point out that this is easier said than done, due to the nature of the work they do.It seems that, ironically, the very staff characteristics that are helpful to residents can sometimes be detrimental to staff themselves.Interviewees also refer to the high worker turnout as further evidence this type of work requires specific skills and careful self-management and is not suitable for everyone.
We often get secondary trauma due to client disclosure.As staff we cannot switch off after work.The clients trust us, we are the first point of contact for developing trust (Participant 17,p. 3).

Improving Material Conditions
The last theme emerging from the staff interviews is the need staff expressed for an increase in the material resources that should be made available to the sector.Staff identified four main areas that should be supported by further resources-the contracts between housing associations and the local Borough Council, the quality of available accommodation, staff pay, and office space.Staff emphasized that for support provision to be stable and effective, funding from the Borough Council should be made available on a long-or-medium term basis of at least five years.
felt that shorter contracts will create instability in the sector-job insecurity for staff and inability to plan and invest in innovative and improved services.Staff were also concerned about the quality of accommodation available to individuals facing homelessness, particularly when they are about to move into independent living.Quality accommodation is limited in the town and that impacts the quality of life of individuals and sometimes even their motivation to move on.The availability of suitable emergency accommodation was also brought up: The long-term independence of clients is hampered by the lack of affordable properties in the town.There is also a lack of emergency accommodation (Participant 4,p. 3.) Staff also believed that more material resources are to improve offices and the overall buildings staff work in.Some participants thought that more space is required while others felt certain building areas needed updating.
We need a new building, bigger with more space.I think they are buying a new building that will be refurbished (Participant 16,p. 3).
the issue of low staff pay was often brought up in these interviews and it became clear that staff at various levels of the organizational hierarchy believe that staff salaries, primarily of the frontline staff, are not good enough for the emotional as well as physical effort and overall commitment that their work requires.Many staff feel that better salaries are linked with a better service provision.

Discussion
In the present study, the experiences of homeless individuals in temporary accommodation and staff who support them were explored.Five themes from the narratives of each participant group.Service users referred to their challenging backgrounds, emphasized the effectiveness of the services they received, identified areas of improvement, and talked about their aspirations.Staff emphasized the mental health needs of service users, the variability of their backgrounds and requirements, the vital importance of client involvement, their own hard work and commitment, and the pressing need for additional resources.Overall, the findings support the adoption of a model as a broad conceptual framework in re-designing housing-support services and may facilitate reflection on what such an approach would entail in practice.

Support for a Strengths-Based Approach: Service user narratives
Service users identified strengths, capabilities, and talents in themselves and appreciated the efforts of staff to help them build on those strengths.This can be evidenced primarily in the Strengths, Aspirations, and Effective Provisions themes.Such recognition is remarkable given the clients' troubled backgrounds, compromised sense of self, and significant mental health problems and suggests that an approach focusing on those strengths is appropriate.Previous studies highlight how post-industrial society has devalued manual and nonacademic skills and created an underclass of individuals destined to unemployment or precarious employment, poor housing, chronic status insecurity, and low self-worth (Reckwitz, 2021).These are very often combined with adverse childhood experience, a history of unsupportive or violent interpersonal relationships, substance misuse and other mental health problems, bringing about the outcomes our participants typically presented.
A service focused on user competence will help individuals counteract not only psychological vulnerability but also a socio-economic exclusion rooted deeply in the structures of post-industrial capitalism and help this underclass regain a sense of agency and self-respect.
Co-production, a central concept in the strengths-based approach, seems to be valued by the participants, as they emphasized the importance of shared collaborative activities within the hostels, particularly in the Effective Provision, Strengths, and Aspirations themes.For service users, interaction and collaboration were seen as an important way out of social marginalization.These findings are consistent with previous studies emphasizing the critical significance of a sense of belonging in the psycho-social growth of individuals experiencing homelessness and related trauma (Rutenfrans-Stupar et al., 2020).
Interestingly, a subtle difference emerged between and service user narratives: while staff often talked about collaboration and co-production as a route to service effectiveness, as a means to reach an end, service users often talked about being with and doing things with others as an end in itself.This seemed consistent with the idea that this service user group have been excluded not just from certain spheres of social life but from the social itself (Winlow & Hall, 2013).
Service-users also highlighted the importance of context in understanding a life situation or experience, particularly in the Challenging Backgrounds, Effective Provision, Strengths, and Aspirations themes.They often locate their problems in their challenging upbringing and note that their experience of the world and the self has changed in many respects under the conditions of support and collaboration prevalent offered by the housing services.
Authors have emphasized that although childhood and other past experience has a very significant impact on how we experience the world today, negative representations of self and other can be modified under more favorable later circumstances (Pinquart et al., 2013).Research has shown that the relationship between homeless individuals and their keyworkers and be an important aspect of a new life context and help individuals revisit negative past experience (Sochos et al., 2023).

Support for a Strength-Based Approach: Staff Narratives
In their narratives, staff noted the importance of delivering a service focused on client strengths.In the Service User Variability and Service User Involvement themes, staff highlighted how the service users' diversity of background and experience comes not only with complex problems, but also with a variety of competences to be further nourished.These findings agree with previous research identifying resilience characteristics among homeless individuals and suggesting that such resilience should be the basis of adopting a strengths-based approach in support of this population (Miller & Bowen, 2020).
In the Focus on Trauma and Mental Health theme, staff emphasize that a service focused on user strengths should go hand in hand with the development of efficient psychological support.This view is consistent with previous work, for example suggestions to implement a risk reduction model as a central pillar of support provision (Vakharia & Little, 2016).Staff note that recognizing one's vulnerability and the need to be assisted by others should not be seen as a deficit but as a strength.The development of self-efficacy, agency and personal autonomy are integral aims of many supportive and therapeutic interventions (Zuroff & Koestner, 2023), as theorists have argued that the capacities to seek help from others and recognize the inner strengths of the self, grow hand in hand in healthy emotional development (Blatt, 2011).
Co-production, another central element of the strengths-based approach, was also a main idea running through staff accounts, primarily the Service User Involvement and Focus on Trauma and Mental Health themes.This is not a surprising finding given the current popularity of this approach among the sector professionals (Carr, 2007).When staff mention professional help for mental health they do not seem to refer to passive recipients taking part in a medical procedure, but to active agents in a collaborative process toward an increased understanding of their own and others' mind.This request is also consistent with contemporary notions of psychological therapy (Horvath et al., 2011) and a main principle in the PIE framework (Haigh et al., 2012) recently adopted by many homelessness services in the UK.Individuals who seek psychological support, should be regarded as active collaborators in an intersubjective process of meaning creation and re-creation (Hermans & Dimmagio, 2004).
Like service-users, staff also recognized the significance of context as they tried to make sense of client problems, particularly in the Service User Variability and Service User Involvement themes.The importance of context was also recognized as staff reflected on their own professional challenges, particularly in the Hard-Working Staff and Improving Material Conditions themes.
In staff accounts, service user involvement came with certain conditions-individuals needed to be psychologically ready to assume certain roles of involvement, otherwise the approach could backfire.On the one hand, research suggests that in order for service users with marginalized identities to become agents of change they need to possess significant levels of authority in organizational processes (Park, 2020b).On the other, authors point out that some traumatized individuals tend to take on too much responsibility and present a pattern of excessive independence (Dishion et al., 2004).Staff, therefore, need to be mindful of the tension and identify the right type of involvement for an interested service user at a particular moment.
the Hard-Working Staff and Improving Conditions themes staff also referred to significant contextual aspects of their work.They located the support they provide within an interpersonal, professional, local, and economic context, discussing opportunities but also significant constraints imposed by it.Post-2008 austerity but also the chronic underfunding of homelessnessrelated services suggests that hostel staff will continue to work on restricted budgets and compromised physical infrastructure for the years to come (Arie, 2019).Some authors suggest that it is in the nature of neoliberal capitalism to leave a segment of the population outside economic production and social life at large (Bauman, 2013).

Limitations
The sample of this study was limited because some individuals experiencing homelessness did wish to take part.The researchers believe, supported by previous research, that participants who are the most vulnerable and traumatized shy away from participating (Hooven et al., 2011).Therefore, the opinions of these individuals, which could provide valuable insight, were not included.The assistance provided by the peer researchers mitigated this difficulty to some extent.The peer researchers' relatively limited experience in conducting such interviews as well as closeness to the topic could also be another restricting factor.The training provided to the research team may have mitigated that to an extent.In addition, it was decided that interviews would not be audio-recorded so that barriers in recruiting are removed while it was expected that the essential points participants made during their interviews were documented and later included in the analysis.Nonetheless, relying on notetaking, however skillful the interviewer, may have resulted in occasionally overlooking relevant information.As this was a qualitative study based on a small sample, the question of generalizability needs to be addressed in future quantitative research.

Conclusion
The present study interviewed individuals facing homelessness and the staff that support them, about their experiences with their relevant services.Five themes emerged from each set of interviews, suggesting that participants recognized the importance of service user strengths, co-production, and context, supporting the adoption of a strengths-based framework.Policy makers at the local and national levels deciding on a framework for housing-related support should consider the above findings and attempt to mobilize the resilience, competences, and talents of individuals who experience homelessness in addition to providing assistance and opportunities for healing.
One specific area of work that may be informed by these findings is the support provided in the sector to individuals with complex needs and a history of trauma.In addition to supporting these individuals overcome their psychosocial deficits, the relevant services need to recognize more emphatically their talents and strengths and, on that basis, include them more directly in developmental social processes.Taking part in the design and running of services, in a way that is feasible constructive, or being part of resident interest groups (e.g., art, poetry, carpentry) facilitated by housing staff, would enhance further the sense of self-worth in this disadvantaged group.When service users are recognized as capable and effective, the balance of power between staff and residents will shift and service users would be more likely to move from the position of powerless and victimhood characterizing experiences of trauma.
In addition to recreation and general creativity, resident groups could be formed around the development of specific employability skills, that may help service users break the cycle of unemployment and socio-economic disadvantage.As learning is, in essence, a social process (Vygotsky, 1978) and as it was clear in these findings how valuable a new social experience was for the study participants, the further development of skills-focused groups may provide multiple benefits for them.Where appropriate, such groups may also open up to external members, so that the service users' sense of belonging to the local community is further enhanced.Appropriate training needs to be put in place to equip staff with the competencies necessary for developing such interventions, while the entire sector would need to shift its mindset from housing provision the facilitation of psycho-social growth.The level of funding and material resources made available from local authorities needs to match the dedication and enthusiasm of staff.

Future Research
In 2 years' time, when the implementation of the new service framework will be under way, another study should be conducted with those housing associations and service users and staff should be interviewed again.Completing a return interview would help to capture if and how stakeholder perspectives may have changed overtime, along with policies and practices.Interviews with other professional service workers that work with the homeless should be conducted, for example, social workers, nurses, and police officers.

Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors
Antigonos Sochos is a Reader in Applied Psychology, at the University of Wolverhampton, UK.His main research interests include attachment and other social relationships, collective bonding, and mental health interventions with vulnerable community groups.
This experience has certainly made me reflect on myself and think what sort of person I want to become in the future (Participant 12, p.3).

I
have difficulties sleeping at night.The floor below me has sex workers, the punters come by and call up to them, all night.It is very frustrating(Participant  11, p. 3).
My experience in the hostel gave me direction, I aspire to work in a similar role.I want to work in [name of housing association].In my key working session I said I was going to work here one day.Now I am rehoused I 've been offered a role here (Participant 8, p.1).

Table 1 .
examples of the three-phase coding process.

Table 2 .
Themes and subthemes emerging from service user interviews.

Table 3 .
Themes and subthemes emerging from staff interviews.