Gilkey, S: Shelter as Sanctuary:

What is the meaning of homelessness and how does it translate into a better understanding of what the experience of homelessness represents? Exploring the experiences of those who are homeless and the meaning of those experiences is essential when attempting to gain insight and improve service response to those who are homeless. What is revealed through the personal stories suggest a need for sanctuary. It is during this experience of sanctuary that interviewees come to confirm,resist, and eventually maintain or transform the accepted norm of what it means to live in a homeless circumstance. The internalized cultural self emerges as the dominant influence in telling the story of homelessness, both on the part of the interviewees and that of the author. It is in this narrative, the beginning of an alternative model for emergency shelter services, where opportunties for sanctuary or respite are discussed as key needs for those entering emergency shelter. A proposed sanctuary model of service intervention is presented.