1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of Global Perspectives on Homelessness, Law & Policy
This handbook provides a comprehensive global survey and assessment of the law and policy relating to homelessness prevention. Homelessness is regarded internationally as one of the most pressing issues facing humanity and one of the greatest social challenges of our times. This has been further amplified as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Across the globe, there is an enormous divergence in both experiences of and responses to homelessness from governments and state actors. This handbook examines how different jurisdictions from across all five continents of the world have encountered, framed and responded to homelessness. Written by expert scholars and leaders in their field, the book engages in a multidisciplinary and comparative analysis of homelessness as an issue of acute social concern. Understandings of homelessness are geographically, culturally and historically situated, making analysis of each jurisdiction’s approach by a national expert deeply insightful. The collection examines legal and extra-legal policy interventions targeted at reducing or preventing homelessness from across the globe. Drawing on diverse perspectives, differing cultures and welfare regimes, it thus constitutes a timely evaluation of current approaches to homelessness internationally. This book will appeal to students and scholars of homelessness, sociology, social policy, anthropology, and urban sociology, as well as international and national policymakers.
Introduction: Learning Lessons Across Borders
Chris Bevan
1. 25 Years of Devolution and a (dis)United Kingdom Homelessness Policy
Chris Bevan, Regina Serpa and Paddy Gray
2. Homelessness in Ireland: Law, Policy, and Practices
Mark Jordan and Padraic Kenna
3. Categorization, Selection, Displacement, and Invisibilization: Housing and Accommodation for the Homeless in France
Pascale Dietrich-Ragon and Marie Loison
4. (Still) Much Untapped Potential in Homelessness Services: Challenges and Good Practice in Germany from a Social Work Perspective
Susanne Gerull
5. Homelessness in Italy: Old Private Stories and New Public Opportunities
Teresa Consoli and Antonella Meo
6. Homelessness and Hidden Homelessness in Spain: Tackling a Somewhat Unknown Yet Increasing Phenomenon
Núria Lambea Llop
7. Homelessness Law and Policy in Greece: Challenges and Opportunities
Nikos Kourachanis and Mando Zisopoulou
8. Norway: A Housing-led Homeless Policy within a Weak Legal Framework
Evelyn Dyb and Hilde Hatleskog Zeiner
9. Ending Homelessness or Managing the Homeless? Homelessness, Housing Policy and Practice in Sweden
Marcus Knutagård and Matti Wirehag
10. Governing Homelessness in the Netherlands: Incremental Change towards Providing Housing First
Nienke F. Boesveldt
11. The Illiberal State and Homelessness: the Case of Poland
Adam Ploszka
12. Homelessness in Switzerland: Federalist Pathways Between Ignoring, Passing on Responsibility for and Proactive Prevention of Homelessness
Matthias Drilling, Magdalena Küng and Jörg Dittmann
13. Homelessness in Canada: A Wicked Problem that Requires Genuine Political Commitment to Fix
John R. Graham, Yale D. Belanger and Christine A. Walsh
14. The Policy of State as a Social Determinant of Health: Canada's Indigenous Homelessness Policy
Yale D. Belanger
15. Homelessness in the United States of America: Dreams of A Shining City, Realities of Homelessness
Maria Foscarinis and Eric S. Tars
16. Innovative Policy Responses to Housing Need in the United States: Case Studies on Safe Parking, Tiny Homes, and Direct Cash Transfers
Daniel Brisson, Katherine Hoops Calhoun and Jennifer Wilson
17. ‘Nothing about us, without us’: How Homeless People Protagonism has Shaped the Law and Public Policy on Homelessness in Brazil
Kelseny Medeiros Pinho, Luiz Tokuzi Kohara, Erminia Maricato
18. Public Policies for the Homeless in Chile: A Shifting Picture
Ignacio Eissmann and Felipe Estay
19. Homelessness in Nigeria: Issues and the Way Forward
Andrew Ebekozien, Clinton Ohis Aigbavboa, Wellington Didibhuku Thwala, Mohamad Shaharudin Samsurijan and Rex Asibuodu Ugulu
20. Preventing and Ending Homelessness in South Africa: Fusing Research, Policy and Practices – Lessons from the City of Tshwane
Stéphan de Beer
21. The Housing Crisis and Homelessness in Zimbabwe: examining the exclusionary nature of urban legislation and planning practice in Harare
George Masimba Nyama
22. Homelessness and Residential Policy in Japan
Yoshihiro Okamoto
23. ‘Positive Non-policy:’ Homeless Services and Transitional Rehousing Initiatives in Hong Kong and Malaysia
Geerhardt Kornatowski, Constance Ching
24. Homelessness in India: A State Legislative and Civil Society Perspective
Kalpana Goel, Mohd Tarique, Meenu Anand, Elvis Munyoka
25. Centrality of the Home and Homelessness in Singapore
Poh Leng Teo
26. From Vagrancy to Public Nuisance in 200 years: Is it Still a Crime to be Homeless in Australia?
Tamara Walsh
27. Homelessness Prevention in Australian Residential Tenancies and Social Housing law: the Case for Reform
Chris Martin and Hal Pawson
28. A Snapshot of a Fragmented Landscape: Homelessness Law and Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand
Brodie Fraser, Clare Aspinall, Elinor Chisholm, Jenny Ombler, Sarah Bierre, Lucy Telfar-Barnard, Ellie Johnson and Philippa Howden-Chapman
Biography
Chris Bevan, Professor in Property, Housing and Homelessness, Durham University, UK
'This is a significant reference book exploring the regulations and policies on the unresolved phenomenon of homelessness in the world by the best international experts. I would highly recommend this book.'
Professor Sergio Nasarre-Aznar, Professor and Founder of the UNESCO Housing Chair at the University Rovira i Virgili, Spain
