Categorical inequality in homelessness – How has the Neoliberalisation of housing policies in Sweden affected homelessness in Malmö from social workers’ perspectives?

Abstract: During the 90s, the Swedish government implemented a series of neoliberal housing policies in search of a wayout for the economic crisis, including demolition of the ministry of housing, deregulations and disincentivising housing construction, which has created decline in housing production and privatisation of municipal housing companies. The neoliberal policy reform was attributed to the shortage in the housing market, which allegedly led to the reemergence of homelessness in Sweden. The Swedish government has also shifted homelessness into individual and the social services’ responsibility through political discourse. Since then social workers and practitioners have been facing enormous pressure and challenges in offering assistance to the homeless clients. This study has conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 social workers and practitioners working for Malmö Stad or NGOs in Malmö in order to find out the challenges they encountered under neoliberal housing policies. The data was sorted into three categories, namely new handling guide on categorisation of homelessness in Malmö Stad, New Public Management (NPM) and shortage in public housing and stigmatisation. The data is as well analysed with the theory of power in sensemaking processes (Schildt, Mantere & Cornelissen, 2019) in order to understand the sensemaking of the challenges from the interviewees.