Between Institutional Inclusion and Invisibility? The Case of Flemish Homelessness Care

Abstract

Over recent decades, vagrancy has been deinstitutionalised and a welfare approach has been developed in which the problem definition of “vagrancy”, perceived as a criminal problem, has shifted into a problem of “homelessness”, defined as a poverty problem. In this article, we discuss the findings of a case study in Ghent, Belgium, in which the implications of this welfare approach to homelessness in social work practices are examined. The research method involved interviews with social workers and coordinators of homelessness care programs, analysis of policy documents and observations of intake conversations. The following issues are discussed: (1) conditionality in regular homelessness care; (2) conditionality in organisations that are directly accessible; (3) counterproductive dynamics of residual care; and (4) invisibility of those labelled as “care avoiders”. In our concluding reflections, we argue that a new sort of institutionalisation of the problem of homelessness can be identified.

最近几十年里，流浪被去体制化，在一种福利解决方式中，“流浪”成为犯罪问题，无家可归问题，贫困问题。比利时根特的一个个案研究对在社会工作实践中用福利方式解决无家可归问题作了研究。研究方法包括访谈社工人员以及无家者关怀计划的协调人，分析政策文件，观察内部谈话，等等。本文讨论了以下问题：1）正式无家者关照是有条件的；2）可求助的组织是有条件的；3）剩余关照的反作用；4）所谓“逃避关照者”是看不到的。我们认为，无家可归问题存在一种新型的体制化。

Keywords:

• Homelessness Care
• Social Work
• Institutionalisation
• De-institutionalisation
• Conditionality