Social Workers’ and Homeless People’s Understanding of Ways to Redress Homelessness

Abstract

Homeless people are arguably the most marginalised and vulnerable of communities. The marginalisation of homeless people not only occurs in economic and social terms, but also with respect to participation in the process of service delivery and decisions that affect them. Consequently, some researchers have identified the disjuncture between services offered to homeless people and their needs. In this article, using a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approach, we explore the understanding of social workers and homeless people in redressing homelessness. We used face-to-face semi-structured interviews to generate data. The data were analysed thematically. The findings indicate that social workers’ and homeless people’s accounts of understanding and redressing homelessness are contradictory. Conversely, collaboration between social workers and homeless people could create an informed understanding of homelessness and the opportunity for the two parties to learn from each other.