”Slav under soss”

- Om behov och rättigheterbland hemlösa missbrukare

”Anonymous progressive author”,written 2009 in Lund

Abstract

Homeless people – particularly regarding the ones that are dependent on alcohol and drugs –are faced with specific problems in relation to society at large. They are often viewed asbeing a separate or distinct “species”, like “hobos”, “bums” or “vagabonds”. And as a resultof these ideas and attitudes, the homeless now and then appropriate these very same conceptsfor themselves, seing themselves as “hobos” or “bums” also. This makes it harder for boththe homeless, the adjacent environment of people working with homeless, and social serviceauthorities to understand the problems of homelessness. For homelessness is a state of being,a collection of habits, things you can do and things you cannot do. It is – to put it simply – alack of permanent housing. It is not a description of a person’s individual or collectivequalities. It is a practice – something you do (living without a stable and safe dwelling placeof your own), not an “essence” or “species” – something you are.In this study I examine the ways in which homeless are viewed, treated and discussed in thesociety of non-homeless, in particular the society of social service. My focus is on thehomeless with various kinds of drug addictions and alcohol abuse problems, which accordingto surveys make up the vast majority – some 70 % – of the total number of homeless inSweden. In their encounters and dealings with social services the homeless drug and alcoholaddicts often experience negative emotions, like feelings of inferiority, undesired, forcedupon dependence and degradation. My thesis is that these feelings depend on – or are to alarge extent caused by – the prevalent housing policy, job policy, social security policy andthe attitudes that support and reproduce these policies. Social services often set up harsh,strict and rigid rules for the potential and real homeless client asking for an apartment of hisor her own. One very common prerequisite for being considered a possible “candidate” to anapartment by the social security office, is the demand of total abstinence. Only a very smallnumber of homeless drug and alcohol addicts can meet this demand. And the difficult livingconditions implied by living on the streets makes it very hard to directly – and withoutrelapse – go from addiction to soberness. In fact, it is doubtful whether this strict practice ishelpful at all. It might even be argued that the state of being homeless can itself amount tosuch a stressful and hard life that drug and/or alcohol abuse is initiated. The aim of counteracting the “bad behaviours” of the homeless through a harsh social regimen is thus invain.

The conclusion of this paper is that the problems of homelessness are best solved byuniversal social rights without demands for “quid pro quo” or forced upon regulationsoppressing the client or citizen.