Housing rites: young people’s experience of conditional pathways out of homelessness

Stewart, A. B.R. (2019) Housing rites: young people’s experience of conditional pathways out of homelessness. Housing Studies, 34(7), pp. 1117-1139. (doi: 10.1080/02673037.2018.1520818)

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Abstract

Since devolution, Scotland has been perceived as an international trailblazer in homelessness policy. This is principally due to The Homelessness Etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 which led to the ‘priority need’ category being abolished in 2012, thus placing a statutory duty upon local authorities to provide settled accommodation to nearly all homeless households. This has been widely praised for extending citizenship rights to those experiencing homelessness. In contrast to this, this paper examines the experiences of young people (aged 16–24) where judgements on whether they were ‘housing ready’ delayed them being provided settled accommodation. Drawing on Bourdieu's writing on rites of institution, it is shown how the symbolic categories deployed by support services and landlords operated as a means of ‘vision and division’, creating new social positions that lengthened the pathway out of homelessness. In a complimentary move, there was a fusion of support with control mechanisms to determine a person's readiness for settled accommodation.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council and Homeless Action Scotland [ES/I901051/1].
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Stewart, Dr Alasdair
Authors: Stewart, A. B.R.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
Journal Name:Housing Studies
Publisher:Taylor and Francis
ISSN:0267-3037
ISSN (Online):1466-1810
Published Online:08 November 2018
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor and Francis Group
First Published:First published in Housing Studies 34(7): 1117-1139
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

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