The Precariously Housed and the Risk of Homelessness: A Longitudinal Study of Evictions in Sweden in the 1980s

Abstract

This study is intended as a contribution to the ongoing US and European debate on housing inequality and homelessness. We do this by focusing on the problems faced by the 'precariously housed', or people repeatedly threatened with eviction, in the advanced welfare state of Sweden. Our empirical analysis is based on a sample of individuals repeatedly threatened with eviction in Sweden in the period 1982-86. Using proportional hazard regressions, we show that the increase in risk for a new eviction threat for these individuals can best be explained by a combination of unfavorable social circumstances and difficult personal problems, both of which need to be addressed by housing policy.