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Controlling Homeless People? Power, Interventionism and Legitimacy
Author(s): Beth Watts, Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Sarah Johnsen
Publication Date: 2017
There is intense debate over the legitimacy of interventions which seek behavioural change on the part of street homeless people. ‘Hard’ measures, such as arresting people for begging, are particularly controversial, but ‘softer’ interventions such as motivational interviewing have also prompted objections on grounds that they are paternalistic. At the same time, the ‘non-interventionist’ stance of some service providers has been accused of perpe...
Welfare Regimes, Social Values and Homelessness: Comparing Responses to Marginalised Groups in Six European Countries
Author(s): Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Mark Stephens
Publication Date: 2013
This paper examines the exposure to homelessness of socially marginalised groups to understand better the applicability of, and limits to, welfare regime analysis. A vignette methodology is deployed in six European countries to interrogate and compare responses to marginalised groups at high risk of homelessness, including people with substance misuse problems, ex-offenders, young people excluded from the family home, migrants and women fleeing d...
Homelessness, Need and Desert in the Allocation of Council Housing
Author(s): Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Mark. Stephens
Publication Date: 1999
The polarised positions of the 1979-97 Conservative Government and pressure groups over the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 impeded rigorous analysis of its merits. To assess the value of the homelessness legislation, this paper broadens the debate to review the moral basis underlying all council house allocations. A utility maximising frameworkis adopted to clarify the principle of allocation according to need, and it is argued that this is...
Multiple Exclusion Homelessness amongst Migrants in the UK
Author(s): Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Sarah Johnsen, Glen Bramley
Publication Date: 2012
This article examines the experience of ‘multiple exclusion homelessness’ (MEH) amongst migrants to the UK. Homelessness and destitution amongst migrants has become a matter of growing concern in many European countries in recent years, particularly with respect to asylum seekers and refugees, irregular migrants and, increasingly, economic migrants from central and eastern Europe. Drawing on a multistage quantitative survey, this paper demonstra...
Pathways into Multiple Exclusion Homelessness in Seven UK Cities
Author(s): Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Glen Bramley, Sarah Johnsen
Publication Date: 2012
This paper interrogates pathways into multiple exclusion homelessness (MEH) in the UK and, informed by a critical realist theoretical framework, explores the potential causal processes underlying these pathways. Drawing on an innovative multistage quantitative survey, it identifies five experiential clusters within the MEH population, based on the extent and complexity of experiences of homelessness, substance misuse, institutional care, street c...
The European Consensus Conference on Homelessness – Reflections of a Pleasantly Surprised Sceptic
Author(s): Suzanne Fitzpatrick
Publication Date: 2011
I interpreted my brief here as having been asked for very much a personal view on the Policy Recommendations of the Jury for the European Consensus Conference on Homelessness (ECCH), albeit informed by research evidence where appropriate. This viewpoint is predominantly, though not exclusively, informed by my rootedness in the UK, and particularly the Scottish, context.
The Statutory Homelessness System in England: A Fair and Effective Rights-Based Model?
Author(s): Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Nicholas Pleace
Publication Date: 2011
The statutory homelessness system, first established by the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977, is an important but frequently criticised element of the British welfare state. Drawing upon a survey of 2053 ‘statutorily homeless’ families in England, this paper applies a utility-maximising conceptual framework to demonstrate that (a) the statutory homelessness system is on the whole ‘fair’ with respect to the housing needs that it addresses, and...
Multiple Exclusion Homelessness in the UK: Key Patterns and Intersections
Author(s): Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Sarah Johnsen, Michael White
Publication Date: 2011
This article presents preliminary results from a multi-stage quantitative study of ‘multiple exclusion homelessness’ (MEH) in seven urban locations across the UK. It demonstrates a very high degree of overlap between a range of experiences associated with ‘deep social exclusion’ – namely, homelessness, substance misuse, institutional care and ‘street culture’ activities (such as begging and street drinking). It also provides evidence to support t...
Pursuing Social Justice Or Social Cohesion?: Coercion in Street Homelessness Policies in England
Author(s): Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Anwen Jones
Publication Date: 2005
This article contends that the New Labour government's current policies on street homelessness in England prioritise 'social cohesion' over 'social justice' objectives. While the government has implemented substantial improvements in services for street homeless people in recent years, and has achieved a significant reduction in the numbers sleeping rough, a strong 'social control' emphasis has now emerged in this policy agenda, as those remainin...