Introduction / Rationale: Our connection to home shapes our sense of place, daily routines, security, and identity, motivating us to act and live purposefully. Many families in New Zealand experience severe housing deprivation, hindering engagement in everyday occupations that support physical and psychological health.
Objectives: Research on homelessness often emphasises pathology and deficits. This thesis was designed to focus on the positive. Using an occupational perspective, it explores what works to make the transition to sustaining a home possible for families who have experienced homelessness.
Methods / Approach: An Appreciative Inquiry (AI) study was conducted with Visionwest, a local social housing provider. Four families and nine staff participated in AI's 5-stage process: define, discovery, dreaming, design, and destiny. The family interviews informed a 1-day workshop with staff, also following the 5-D process.
Results / Practice Implications: Reflexive thematic analysis generated three themes: 1) a good place for us, 2) what we want and need to do and be, and 3) belonging to a community. These themes reveal what families need from their home environments, meaningful occupations, and communities to settle successfully and what supports and opportunities empower them to do this.
Conclusion / Contribution to the occupational therapy profession: This research highlights that families have a right to adequate housing but also need policies and services that provide them with an adequate standard of living. AI and an occupational perspective can give vulnerable people a voice, revealing the social and institutional structures that help or hinder their journey to a home where they can live in security, peace and dignity.