Transformaciones en las prácticas alimentarias de mujeres en situación de sinhogarismo severo: análisis de experiencias en un proyecto de Communal Housing First en Barcelona

Marta Llobet-Estany; Araceli Muñoz; María Eugenia Piola-Simioli; Claudia Rocío Magaña-González

doi:10.18294/sc.2026.6170

Transformations in the food practices of women experiencing severe homelessness: an analysis of experiences in a Communal Housing First project in Barcelona

Marta Llobet-Estany PhD in Sociology. Professor and Researcher, Unitat de Formació i Recerca en Treball Social, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain , Araceli Muñoz PhD in Social Anthropology. Professor and Researcher, Unitat de Formació i Recerca en Treball Social, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. , María Eugenia Piola-Simioli PhD in Social Anthropology. Professor and Researcher, Unitat de Formació i Recerca en Treball Social, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. , Claudia Rocío Magaña-González PhD in Social Anthropology. Serra Húnter Professor and Researcher, Unitat de Formació i Recerca en Treball Social, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Received: 13 March 2026, Accepted: 6 July 2026, Published: 15 July 2026

https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2026.6170

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Abstract

Food is often addressed in institutional responses to women’s homelessness as a basic need to be met through standardized forms of assistance. While these interventions ensure subsistence, they may also restrict choice, depersonalize care, and reproduce relationships of dependency, overlooking the role of food practices in restoring autonomy, identity, and social relationships. This article examines transformations in the food practices of women living at Llar Rosario Endrinal, a feminist and intersectional Communal Housing First project in Barcelona that provides permanent, unconditional housing in a shared living environment for women with histories of severe homelessness. Based on in-depth interviews conducted in 2024 with nine residents, the article presents findings from the first phase of a longitudinal study. The participants’ narratives show that the transition from street homelessness and emergency shelter services to stable housing with a private kitchen reshapes the material, embodied, relational, temporal, and decisional dimensions of well-being. The opportunity to store, choose, prepare, and share food supports the reconstruction of everyday routines and care practices, the reclaiming of domestic space, the restoration of affective relationships, and the strengthening of agency, autonomy, memory, and identity. The findings highlight the need to recognize food as a strategic dimension of recovery processes and of policies addressing women’s homelessness.

Keywords: Women, Homeless Persons, Housing, Food, Well-being, Feminism, Spain

Categories: Feeding, Gender, Healthcare models, Inequality

Funding: Generalitat de Catalunya | 312501

Full-text of the article is available for this language: Español.

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