Negotiating precarity - employment experiences of Canadian young adults in social housing.
Julia Jansen-van Vuuren, Terry Krupa, Rosemary Lysaght and 4 others
PMID 41869843WHAT IT FOUND
Young adults in social housing valued work but faced low-paid jobs, mental health strain, childcare gaps, stigma, and fear of losing benefits or housing.
Only two were employed. They said support was lacking.
Key findings
01Young adults in social housing valued employment, but only two were formally employed and many described barriers to work.
02Across groups, limited skills and education, low-paid work histories, compromised mental well-being, and inadequate supports such as childcare and employment services were common barriers.
03Social housing was described as both a secure base for finding and maintaining work and a source of instability that could harm employment, health, and safety.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample was small, 13 people from one social housing corporation in one mid-sized Ontario city, so it may not represent other social housing residents or employment contexts. Recruitment used convenience and snowball sampling, and some perspectives were likely underrepresented. The study did not analyse how overlapping forms of marginalisation, such as race, gender, and poverty, affected employment. The recruitment script focused on employment, and fear or stigma may have reduced participation or disclosure. Health conditions were self-reported, so the range of mental and physical barriers may not be accurate or complete. Most interviews were online, which may have affected rapport, although some participants valued convenience and anonymity. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show how employment experiences or goals change over time.
Declared interests
Funding came from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Mitacs. One author was the housing corporation support manager, helped distribute recruitment flyers and advised on context, but did not interview participants or access transcripts.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that any employment support improves work outcomes. This qualitative study described experiences of 13 young adults and did not test an intervention.