Social Work with Homelessness in Sweden: On Local Discretions and Social Inequality

Globally, Sweden is often perceived as a relatively equal society. Swedish citizens pay significant amount of taxes and taxation on income is progressive. In addition, it is an explicit task of Swedish social services nationwide to counteract inequality and serve as a “last resort” for the country’s most vulnerable people. Social services are publicly funded, and support from the social services are supposed to be equally accessible and needs based. However, since 2021 inequality has plummeted and Sweden’s Gini-coefficient, a measure of income disparity, reached 0,333 in 2021, is a telling story of the largest inequality gap in Sweden over the latest 75 years (The Lancet Regional Health Europe, 2023). An underlying assumption in this chapter is that the what and the how of social work practices are analytical entry gates into understanding inequality in welfare states as Sweden (cf. Villadsen 2004). Wirehag (European Journal of Homelessness, 15(1), 83–105, 2021) describes the Swedish homeless service systems as “loosely intertwined systems consisting of legal frameworks, national and/or local homeless policies, methods to tackle homelessness and measures to house the homeless” (p. 170). Sweden is a highly decentralized country offering great discretion to local municipalities when delivering social welfare. This local delivery-and-responsibility-design offers local discretion but also challenges peoples’ equal rights and opportunities (Hansen Löfstrand, Bostadslös! Lokal politik och praktik [Homeless! Local policy and practice]. Gleerups, 2007; Grander, For the benefit of everyone: Explaining the significance of Swedish public housing for urban housing inequality. Doctoral thesis, Malmö University. Malmö University Electronic Publishing, 2018). Researchers on homelessness interventions in Sweden agree that the local organization of social services is of pivotal importance to service user outcome (Sahlin, Den sekundära bostadsmarknaden [The secondary housing market]. In C. Hansen Löfstrand & M. Nordfeldt (Eds.), Bostadlös: Lokal policy och praktik [Homeless: Local policy and practice]. Gleerups, 2007; Knutagård, Skälens fångar: Hemlöshetsarbetets organisering, kategoriseringar och förklaringar [The prisoners of reason: The organizations, categorizations, and explanations of homelessness work]. Égalité, 2009; Wirehag, Hantering av hemlöshet En kartläggning och analys av organiseringen av lokala hemlöshetsystem i Sveriges kommuner [Ending homelessness or managing the homeless] Skriftserien: 2022:3. Institutionen för socialt arbete Göteborgs universitet [Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg], 2022). This chapter provides a picture of the structure and outcomes of Swedish municipal social services focusing specifically on local discretion and the making of inequalities in social work with homelessness. This is framed by highlighting historical and contemporary preconditions and their interplay in municipal social work with homelessness.