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Review article: Homelessness and Housing Support Services: Rationales and Policies under New Labour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2011

Rachael Dobson  and
Jenny McNeill
Rachael Dobson
Affiliation:
School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds E-mail: [email protected]
Jenny McNeill
Affiliation:
School of Sciences, Nottingham Trent University E-mail: [email protected]
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Extract

This discussion offers a thematic introduction and contextual framework across the welfare domains of homelessness and employment. The Labour Government (1997−2010) introduced a range of policies, which drew connections between homelessness and employment strategies. Such approaches were indicative of efforts to responsibilise and empower marginalised groups by way of conditional responses, which intended to steer clients towards independent and ‘active’ citizenship. In this context, work-related activities were regarded as transformative and meaningful. In broad terms, this approach can be understood as part of a wider set of therapeutic interventions that aimed to support clients with multiple support needs, albeit through somewhat coercive and regulatory overtones (Harrison and Sanders, 2006). A review of social policies developed under the Labour Government is useful for a critical understanding of welfare approaches and practices during that period, and it also enables us to evaluate how far there is continuity or change in approaches in successive political administrations. Labour introduced a set of policy principles that represented distinctive responses to disadvantaged groups, and this review highlights some of the key rationales and techniques of governance from that era. The conclusion will discuss the potential legacy for welfare policy, with specific reference to the Coalition Government.

Type
Themed Section on Exploring Multiple Exclusion Homelessness
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 2011 , pp. 581 - 589
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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