Rau-Andersen, Philip Georg

In this paper, Axel Honneths´ Theory of recognition was first and foremost used to examinehow Housing First, through a theory of recognition-scope, could establish conditions whichrecognised the complexity regarding homelessness by providing a residence for the homelessat an early stage of the Housing First effort and simultaneously giving them a holisticoriented support, addressing their other social problems.Subsequently, the paper sought to examine whether structural barriers exist in theDanish municipalities regarding a possible propagation of Housing First, if it was deemed fitfor providing sufficient help towards the homeless and their complex challenges. The conceptof short-termism’s theory was used to identify these structural barriers, which made itpossible to point out whether short-sightedness in the municipalities’ decisions createdstructural barriers. The identification of the structural barriers is a prerequisite for examiningwhether Social Impact Bonds could be a proper tool for mitigating these structural barriersand therefore expanding the Housing First approach in the Danish municipalities.The analysis showed that the Housing First approach was capable of recognising thecomplexity of homelessness and thus improving the homeless’ self-confidence in whatHonneth calls “the love sphere”, their self-respect in “the sphere of rights” and theirself-esteem in “the solidarity sphere”. Furthermore, the structural barriers were identified asbeing a general lack of cooperation between the municipalities’ administration unitsregarding economic issues because a social problem with a high degree of complexitydemands cooperation across multiple administration areas such as the social, the employmentand the housing area.In conclusion, Social Impact Bonds is a sufficient tool for accommodating theseissues preferably through a central investment pool within the municipality. However, it isparamount that economic issues across municipalities, regions and states as well as thesocioeconomically gain through Housing First, spreads both vertically across these andhorizontally internally in the municipalities. Furthermore, Social Impact Bonds areexclusively for initiating innovative approaches to social issues such as Housing First, thoughnot as a replacement for the common governance towards social issues within themunicipality

Roskilde Universitet

Recognition of the Homeless: Housing First in a recognition theory perspective and social impact investments' potential for broadening the approach in the Danish municipalities

Recognition of the Homeless: Housing First in a recognition theory perspective and social impact investments' potential for broadening the approach in the Danish municipalities

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Roskilde Universitet