Authored by Stacey Livingstone, PhD, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Homelessness Hub at University of California San Diego
Housing insecurity, or the lack of stable, quality housing, is a widespread issue in the United States. An umbrella term, housing insecurity typically encompasses housing costs/unaffordability, substandard living conditions such as pests or mold, overcrowding, and neighborhood deprivation. However it manifests, housing insecurity disproportionately impacts low-income households and has consistently been connected to poorer physical, mental, social and financial health.
A frequently overlooked aspect of housing insecurity is the experience of living in un or under furnished spaces.
Such “furniture poverty” occurs on a spectrum. While some individuals have none or very few essential furniture items such as beds, couches, kitchen tables, and chairs, other individuals experiencing furniture poverty have most of these items but could not cover the cost if one should need replacement. Furniture poverty is hard to quantify as furniture is consistently not considered a basic need in this country. Yet evidence suggests that as many as one in three American households experience furniture poverty.
Recognizing the connections between furniture, health and housing, organizations across the country work hard to connect individuals to the essential furniture items that they need. One such organization is Humble Design.
In 2024, myself and two of my colleagues at my lab, the Homelessness Hub at UC San Diego, conducted an evaluation of Humble Design’s impact. Our study discovered that Humble’s intervention improved their clients’ physical, mental, social and financial health.
Humble Design opened its San Diego branch in 2018 and serves individuals emerging from homelessness by custom-designing and fully furnishing their new home. Humble’s mission is to provide clients with compassionate home design services that build trust and cater to each client’s specific needs and interests. Beyond furniture assistance, Humble’s intervention results in a fully decorated home complete with personalized decor.
Based on surveys and interviews conducted with Humble clients, our research found compelling evidence that Humble Design’s efforts improve holistic health:
- Improvements to physical health: Essential furniture items enhanced clients’ physical health. Beds improved sleep. New pots and pans allowed clients to cook nutritious meals. Inviting spaces in one’s living room encouraged yoga and other forms of exercise.
- Improvements to mental health: While new beds improved sleep, so too did the new sense of security clients felt in their fully furnished housing. This was especially important for parents who felt their mental health improve when they knew that their kids were secure. As one mother told us,
“I sleep better knowing that my kids are comfortable.”
- Improvements to social health: Clients expressed that their new home environments had bolstered their social wellbeing as many now felt that they could host friends and families in their new homes. New sofas and TVs meant movie nights. New tables and chairs allowed clients to host holiday meals. Beyond the ability to see loved ones with more frequency, Humble additionally improved client social health by making people feel like they were part of society again. As one client told us,
“I was still very, very anxious around anyone because I had been judged for so many years [while experiencing homelessness]. They were so welcoming and friendly and made me feel so comfortable which was really important to me…to me the fact that anyone would want to take the time to do that for somebody like me that had been out of the loop of normal society for so long was shocking and I couldn’t believe it. It made me feel important like somebody cares and that’s priceless to me.”
- Improvements to financial health: As physical, mental and social health improved, clients felt ready to take on new goals, including going back to school and finding better jobs. As such, many of the clients reported increased incomes since their Humble intervention.
Our findings have important research and policy implications. As furniture poverty is a very under-researched issue, more studies should be conducted on this topic, especially those that can compare outcomes for similar groups who do and do not receive furniture assistance. Even as we wait for further research to definitively determine furniture’s role in holistic health and housing stability, early studies demonstrate the impacts of both furniture poverty and furniture assistance.
Here are a few recommendations for local leaders to consider:
- As furniture assistance is an easily scalable intervention, local governments should consider using flexible funding sources to support such initiatives to help low-income households stabilize, pairing this assistance with built-in and ongoing evaluation of furniture assistance programs.
- Communities should create a coalition of housing and homelessness service providers to assess the current availability of furniture assistance in one’s region, coordinate efforts, and raise awareness of furniture poverty.
- Continuums of Care that work to prevent and end homelessness should partner with local furniture businesses, thrift stores, and philanthropies to connect families to furniture.
Stacey Livingstone is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Homelessness Hub at UC San Diego, where she conducts community-engaged, action-oriented research with various community partners, including researchers with lived experience of homelessness who have participated in her lab’s Homelessness-Experienced Action Research Training (HEART) Fellowship.
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