Social Contracts as a Municipal Strategy in the Wake of the Swedish Housing Inequality - The case of Malmö municipality

Sammanfattning: Following the Swedish housing inequality, large groups are being excluded from the regular housing market and have come to need support with housing from the municipality. While the Swedish system is universal and hence does not include a selective social housing sector, a secondary housing market exists next to the regular. It consists mainly of the social contracts that the municipalities use for organizing housing for their homeless inhabitants. The number of social contracts has increased vastly over the last years together with a “new” group, described as structurally homeless, that although not having social problems due to structural factors still cannot find housing on their own. This qualitative interview study draws upon the example of Malmö municipality in an attempt to investigate and deepen the understanding of structural homelessness and use of social contracts within the contemporary Swedish housings system. The interviews have been conducted with professionals working in the municipality. With a critical approach, the situation on and development of this sub-system is analyzed in relation to the right to housing as well as to the regular market. This thesis is done within the interdisciplinary field of urban studies, but also engages in concepts from social work. In summary, this case study explores the formation and characteristics of the group structurally homeless and accordingly category at the social service. It engages in the challenges and implications of the use of social contracts for this group, both for the municipality as well as in relation to the regular housing market from the perspective of the right to housing. The analysis points to a situation where those who lack years in the housing queue, or the right kind of connections or income, risk becoming (structurally) homeless and have to turn to the Social Service for support with housing – factors that can be summarized as originating from housing inequality. A new category at the social service (i.e. structural homelessness) has evolved that, apart from the organizational rationales, could be understood as a form of statement of that this group should be able to find housing on the regular market. Along the emergence of this new group and increased need of support, the municipal organization around housing have accordingly also changed over time and in a sense become more formalized. Based on the notion that the Social Service has the utmost responsibility for the living conditions of those who are in the municipality, housing is provided not only for households with social problems but also for the structurally homeless. I would argue that a conflict between a public, although vague, responsibility for housing for all on the one hand, and the availability of housing largely controlled by the market on the other, becomes distilled in the discussion of structural homelessness and the solution of social contracts. The study raises the question of how the core problems, rather than symptoms can be handled.