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Home making and community building: Notes on empowerment and place

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Abstract

The authors warn that some supportive housing development is creating a new generation of quasi-institutional settings, and they believe that developing units of housing is not as important as enabling each person to create a personalized home. A variety of processes for cocreating environments and social settings are proposed that will result in empowerment-oriented supportive housing programs. Such efforts require new staff roles and innovative techniques. Anticipated outcomes include improved self-identity and self-esteem, increased social status and a sense of security, increased residential stability due to improved person/environment fit, and improved personal competence among residents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 247 West G. Street, 94510, Benicia, CA

    Priscilla Ridgway M.S.W.

  2. Cañada College in Redwood City, California

    Alexa Simpson M.P.H., M.F.A. (adjunct professor of interior design)

Authors
  1. Priscilla Ridgway M.S.W.
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  2. Alexa Simpson M.P.H., M.F.A.
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  3. Friedner D. Wittman Ph.D., M.Arch.
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  4. Gary Wheeler M.A.
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Additional information

She is a consultant to mental health agencies and systems.

Friedner D. Wittman, Ph.D., M.Aroh., has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Architecture and is a project director at the university’s Institute for the Study of Social Change.

Gray Wheeler, M.A., a former school psychologist, is an inventor, a designer, and a boat builder.

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Ridgway, P., Simpson, A., Wittman, F.D. et al. Home making and community building: Notes on empowerment and place. The Journal of Mental Health Administration 21, 407–418 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02521359

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