Bordering Homelessness: Investigating Children’s Housing First as a selective policy in a neoliberal housing regime
(2025) SGEM08 20251Department of Human Geography
- Abstract
- This thesis investigates the model Children’s Housing First as a selective policy in the neoliberal housing context in Sweden. The two research questions are (1) how is Children’s Housing First operating as a selective housing policy? and (2) to what extent does Children’s Housing First reinforce or challenge neoliberal components in the current Swedish housing regime? Children’s Housing First is a selective housing policy initiated by the NGOs Save the Children and Skånes Stadsmission which aims at combatting homelessness among families who are categorized as structurally homeless. The model mediates leases to these families by matching them with landlords which provides them with a permanent contract. Families in structural homelessness... (More)
- This thesis investigates the model Children’s Housing First as a selective policy in the neoliberal housing context in Sweden. The two research questions are (1) how is Children’s Housing First operating as a selective housing policy? and (2) to what extent does Children’s Housing First reinforce or challenge neoliberal components in the current Swedish housing regime? Children’s Housing First is a selective housing policy initiated by the NGOs Save the Children and Skånes Stadsmission which aims at combatting homelessness among families who are categorized as structurally homeless. The model mediates leases to these families by matching them with landlords which provides them with a permanent contract. Families in structural homelessness have been excluded from the Swedish housing sector because they can’t access housing through financial means or with other resources such as queuing points. These families are also denied housing support from social services because they are not considered to have enough problems. Applied methods are document analysis on one policy document and semi-structured interviews with two professions from the NGOs Save the Children and Skånes Stadsmission. The empirical findings indicate that Children’s Housing First operates as a selective housing policy through collaborations with various actors but mainly with landlords. Collaborations come with a set of compromises, primarily the negotiation of including trial periods to the leases. The model believes in voluntary commitments from the families and that the support families receive are tailored to their needs. The model is reluctantly using the homelessness definition outlined by the Swedish National Board of Social Affairs and Health, however the definition is also an important instrument in determining who’s eligible to take part in the model. Children’s Housing First challenges neoliberal components by viewing housing as a right rather than a commodity. The model also strives toward longterm housing solutions by demanding permanent leases which are allocated through needs rather than by queuing points or other means. CHF’s aims for structural change by advocating for adjustments to landlords’ rental demands. Despite its’ ambitious objective, the model has not been successful in changing the marketization elements of the neoliberal housing regime. The case of CHF reveal that the withdraw of the publics’ responsibility means more reliance on market forces and civil society to solve the homelessness situation. The line between the publics’ obligation and where other forces begin, lays in the homelessness definition, where the separation between who’s socially or structurally homeless determines who receives support from the public and who doesn’t. This thesis contributes to the field of Swedish housing policy and homelessness studies by filling a wide research gap as well as examining how a selective housing policy operates in an increased market driven housing regime. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9193785
- author
- Esfandi, Sofia LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SGEM08 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- children’s housing first, selective housing policy, neoliberal, homelessness, Sweden
- language
- English
- id
- 9193785
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-09 10:32:15
- date last changed
- 2025-06-09 10:32:15
@misc{9193785,
abstract = {{This thesis investigates the model Children’s Housing First as a selective policy in the neoliberal housing context in Sweden. The two research questions are (1) how is Children’s Housing First operating as a selective housing policy? and (2) to what extent does Children’s Housing First reinforce or challenge neoliberal components in the current Swedish housing regime? Children’s Housing First is a selective housing policy initiated by the NGOs Save the Children and Skånes Stadsmission which aims at combatting homelessness among families who are categorized as structurally homeless. The model mediates leases to these families by matching them with landlords which provides them with a permanent contract. Families in structural homelessness have been excluded from the Swedish housing sector because they can’t access housing through financial means or with other resources such as queuing points. These families are also denied housing support from social services because they are not considered to have enough problems. Applied methods are document analysis on one policy document and semi-structured interviews with two professions from the NGOs Save the Children and Skånes Stadsmission. The empirical findings indicate that Children’s Housing First operates as a selective housing policy through collaborations with various actors but mainly with landlords. Collaborations come with a set of compromises, primarily the negotiation of including trial periods to the leases. The model believes in voluntary commitments from the families and that the support families receive are tailored to their needs. The model is reluctantly using the homelessness definition outlined by the Swedish National Board of Social Affairs and Health, however the definition is also an important instrument in determining who’s eligible to take part in the model. Children’s Housing First challenges neoliberal components by viewing housing as a right rather than a commodity. The model also strives toward longterm housing solutions by demanding permanent leases which are allocated through needs rather than by queuing points or other means. CHF’s aims for structural change by advocating for adjustments to landlords’ rental demands. Despite its’ ambitious objective, the model has not been successful in changing the marketization elements of the neoliberal housing regime. The case of CHF reveal that the withdraw of the publics’ responsibility means more reliance on market forces and civil society to solve the homelessness situation. The line between the publics’ obligation and where other forces begin, lays in the homelessness definition, where the separation between who’s socially or structurally homeless determines who receives support from the public and who doesn’t. This thesis contributes to the field of Swedish housing policy and homelessness studies by filling a wide research gap as well as examining how a selective housing policy operates in an increased market driven housing regime.}},
author = {{Esfandi, Sofia}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Bordering Homelessness: Investigating Children’s Housing First as a selective policy in a neoliberal housing regime}},
year = {{2025}},
}