It's your own fault...right? A comparative, urban sociological explanation of homelessness in the interplay of individual, institutional, and structural factors
Final Report Abstract
“If you sleep rough, it's your own fault!” This assumption is widespread in the discussion about the causes of homelessness, not least with reference to the well-developed German welfare state. Yet the number of homeless people has continued to rise in recent years. Instead of a one-dimensional focus on individual factors or reasons, this research project focuses on the reciprocal effects of individual, institutional and (spatial) structural contexts in the emergence and consolidation of homelessness. The focus is on the development and subsequent application of a heuristic on the basis of which conditions can be determined that prove to be decisive for the occurrence of housing emergencies. To this end, we systematically examined three medium-sized cities - Göttingen, Kassel and Paderborn - in terms of their urban structures and the patterns of action of the relevant actors. We collected data by conducting over 90 interviews with (formerly) unhoused persons, municipal representatives and employees of the local support system and related institutions. We paid particular attention to the identification of mechanisms of (partial) exclusion from welfare state services at the municipal level, which we interpreted and classified taking into account the individual dispositions and biographies of those involved, municipal (regulatory) practices and the de facto failure of the (welfare) state and market-based solutions. This allowed us to draw conclusions about the concrete mechanisms of social inclusion and exclusion 'on the ground', which differed considerably in the three cities.
Publications
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„Wohnungslos in der Stadt: Soziologische Perspektiven auf Exklusionsdynamiken im Wechselspiel individueller, raumstruktureller und institutioneller Kontexte“, in: Villa Braslavsky, P.-I. (Hg.), Polarisierte Welten. Verhandlungen des 41. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie in Bielefeld 2022
Weishaupt, J. T., Hinrichs, C. & Weckwerth, J.
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Der Nationale Aktionsplan gegen Wohnungslosigkeit. Ein Kommentar. DIFIS-Blog
Weishaupt, J. T.
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EPOCH-making? – the tool to end homelessness. Social Europe Blog
Weishaupt, J. T. & Hinrichs, C.
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Wohnungslos in Göttingen in Zeiten der Pandemie. Obdach- und Wohnungslosigkeit in pandemischen Zeiten, 297-314. transcript Verlag.
Hinrichs, Christian & Weishaupt, Timo
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„The European Platform on Combatting Homelessness: Delivering the Goods Against the Odds?“, in: Vanhercke, B., Sabato, S., und Spasova, S. (Hg.), Social Policy in the European Union: State of Play 2023. Brussels: ETUI and OSE, 115-132
Weishaupt, J. T. & Hinrichs, C.
