Vägen ut ur hemlöshet? En studie av Trappstegsmodellen, Bostad först samt socialarbetares handlingsutrymme i de båda modellerna

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine how social workers working with the Staircase Model and Housing First can help long-term homeless people with a long history of alcohol and/or drug abuse, their view of the models and how they describe and use their discretion. I used a qualitative method and data was gathered by semi-structured interviews. I interviewed five social workers in four different municipalities in Sweden. To interpret and understand the collected material I used Svensson, Johnsson and Laanemets´ theories about the discretion of social workers. The study showed that none of the respondents expressed a negative opinion of the Staircase Model and two of them even thought it was superior to Housing First. One negative aspect of both models was according to the respondents the limited access to housing. All five respondents had limited discretion but felt their opinions and proposals were taken seriously and had an impact.