Scanian homes: Reception, settlement or rejection

About the project

The social services provide accommodation for some local homeless people while the majority are left to themselves. Since March 2016 Swedish municipalities are obliged to help settle a certain number of newly arrived migrants, except for those who have come there on their own initiative. Many municipalities have a shortage of rental housing and a high share of homeless inhabitants and experience the reception of new migrants as a challenge.

The aim of this project is to investigate the practice, interaction and results of municipal homelessness policies and refugee reception strategies in Skåne county, in order to identify policy elements that are helpful for providing secure and adequate housing for these groups.

Project design

Three interconnected empirical studies are planned:

1. A survey of policies regarding homelessness and refugee reception in the 33 municipalities of Skåne county
2. a mapping of migrants’ moving in the county
3. case studies in four strategically selected municipalities aiming at an in-depth, contextual understanding of how they deal with their obligation to accommodate assigned refugees as well as existing homeless inhabitants. The case studies include investigations of the “housing trajectories” of three groups, a) newly arrived refugees, b) homeless clients of the social services, and c) other local homeless people for whom no authority accepts responsibility. We will especially attend to the impact of status changes and gender on these groups’ housing situations.