Andrea LeFlore

Housing First interventions reflect current evidence-based practice for ending homelessness. Yet people with lived experience of homelessness cite a desire for deeper community living, engagement, and participation than what current interventions provide. This gap warrants the potential for an occupational perspective gained through participatory action research to consider community and population-level interventions that address these complex needs. For this OTD project, Andrea LeFlore partnered with the ReVive Center for Housing and Healing, a service provider of permanent supportive and affordable housing options for homeless individuals. The project utilized a strengths-based Participatory Community Assessment framework – adapted for accessibility and utility in supportive housing settings – to further explore housing and community-related goals. This framework empowered community members as equal participants in the assessment and action planning process, and informed translation of findings into organizational-level changes. This project demonstrates the use of Participatory Community Assessment and action research to build capacity of community organizations for strengths-based services, design asset-based programming in partnership with community members, and contribute to research that is grounded in lived experience and community priorities.