“Somehow I Feel Calmer and I Can Move On”: Women's Coping with Housing Exclusion

Sažetak

This article analyses a range of coping strategies that women have developed to adapt to the contingencies of day-to-day life in housing exclusion, that is to say, living in inadequate and/or insecure housing. Considering the exploratory nature of this study and a focus on lived experiences of women facing housing exclusion, a qualitative approach was used. Interviews with 22 women experiencing housing exclusion were conducted in five cities throughout Croatia. Different contexts that may severely constrain the opportunities and choices available to women in relation to their abilities to cope are discussed. These include current and past experiences of housing exclusion and homelessness (rooflessness and houselessness) as well as adverse childhood experiences, abuse and violence, economic vulnerability, and social exclusion. The study documents women’s accounts of their daily difficulties and endeavors to sustain a sense of meaning while facing chronic poverty, hardships, and intersecting inequalities. The findings show that women actively use more problem-focused forms of coping, where they generate different solutions to problems and strive to change stress-provoking situations in comparison to using passive emotion-focused forms of coping. This holistic study of a previously overlooked group and unexplored topic generates new lines of inquiry and lays the groundwork for future research with practical policy recommendations.

Ključne riječi: women, housing exclusion, coping, homelessness, qualitative research