Homelessness in Brussels – Limits of Multi-Level Governance in the Application of the Principle of Spatial Justice1 (original) (raw)

Homelessness in Brussels - limits of multi-level governance in the application of the principle of spatial justice

Justice spatiale - Spatial justice, 2019

The transformations of the Belgian state entailing multiple transfers of competences from the central state to federated entities has had fundamental territorial consequences on the management of 'the social question'. The article proposes to study anti-poverty policies (APP) for homeless people in the Brussels-capital region based on successive transformations in the relationship between public actors and the voluntary sector. This analysis focuses on the way spatial and territorial transformations have rearticulated the management of poverty as well as 'games' of cooperation or eviction among actors dealing with extreme urban poverty, in which they accept the local poor and reject poor people from elsewhere. By combining insights from sociology and urban planning, the aim is to better understand both issues of multi-level governance in metropolitan areas and how to (try to) counter forms of spatial injustice.

Dismantling or Pragmatic Adaptation? On the Restyling of Welfare and Housing Policies in Belgium

European Journal of Housing Policy, 2004

While it is generally agreed that the state has 'rolled back' from direct intervention in housing policy in many European countries, this paper attempts to demonstrate that in Sweden the central state still exerts power over issues such as homelessness, though the way it exercises that power has taken new forms. Government by 'discourse', 'projects' and 'non-decision' has largely replaced more traditional forms of intervention by means of 'legislation', 'regularization' and 'subventions'. The paper focuses on the central state's approach to initiatives against homelessness, with special regard to its stance in the power relationship between those who control housing and those who lack it. Starting from a general understanding that homelessness is not a necessary feature of a modern nation, and that it would be possible for the central state to do away with it, my aim is to identify and discuss structures and processes that hinder its abolition.

Reconceptualizing the “Publicness” of Public Housing: The Case of Brussels

Social Inclusion, 2015

This article brings together various spatial and political theorizations on the commons as a broader project to understand multiple dimensions of the inclusive nature of public housing. By picking up theorizations on the commons, the article feeds the debate on the loss of “publicness” of public housing and removes attention from what is seen as a state related business. Four core-dimensions are identified: ownership, participation, community activity and physical configuration. The article takes a sample of public housing estates in the Brussels capital region as case studies to test the capacity of this framework to detect the degree of “publicness” of various forms of public housing. The preliminary results—based on this limited sample of cases studied through interviews with privileged informers and a literature study—suggest that approaches where individual households are actively involved in the organization of the dwelling environment work best to compensate for the loss of “...

2010 “Down & Then Out in Bucharest: Urban Poverty, Governance & the Politics of Place in the Post-Socialist City,” Environment & Planning D, 28(2): 254-269.

This paper analyzes at the level of space the invention and management of homelessness in postsocialist cities. Based on more than a year of ethnographic fieldwork in a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that provides shelter space in Bucharest, Romania, this paper foregrounds the political significance of placing homeless populations to better understand neoliberal governance as a set of spatially minded practices, arguing (ultimately) that space is a key domain through which homeless populations become managed. This paper, in the end, focuses on ‘the place’ of homelessness to bring the dynamics of postsocialist liberalization into clearer relief.

Towards a geography of displacement. Moving out of Brussels’ gentrifying neighbourhoods

Journal of Housing and The Built Environment, 2008

This paper takes up recent calls for re-invigorating research activity on the socio-spatial effects of gentrification, and on gentrification-induced displacement in particular. It does so by analysing the socio-economic profiles and destination municipalities of individuals who moved out of Brussels’ gentrifying neighbourhoods in the early 2000s. Findings clearly indicate that highly contrasted residential mobility patterns are conflated in this set of migrants. Surely, the majority of these out-migrants do not match the idea of low-status residents forced out of their neighbourhoods as gentrification develops. Yet, results also highlight a specific residential mobility pattern associated with low-status individuals moving out of gentrifying neighbourhoods. I argue that these findings outline a believable picture of the geography of displacement, that is, they show where former inhabitants displaced by gentrification are most likely to relocate. These movements are mostly over short distances, and directed towards impoverished working-class neighbourhoods within the city. Nevertheless, others leave the city as a whole. These findings echo earlier comments on the growing social-spatial polarisation of the Brussels’ urban landscape, and validate to some extent appraisals by local community organisations that stress that part of the urban poor are being “exported” from gentrifying inner neighbourhoods in Brussels towards generally depressed, old industrial regions in the rest of the country.

Homelessness. Merely an urban phenomenon? Exploring hidden homelessness in rural Belgium

2019

Rural homelessness is hardly studied and minimally understood. The available studies as well as practical experience of homelessness charities show that rural homelessness is a reality and that it concerns hidden homelessness, referring to people living temporarily with family/friends or in non-conventional housing. This study aims to explore rural homelessness in Flanders based on an analysis of client files of five more rural public centres for social welfare (PCSW), and by interviewing field workers and homeless persons in this area. Based on using the ETHOS Light typology to analyse 953 client files, we identified that 1 out of 13 clients of these local social services is homeless. More than half of them are hidden homeless. Additional interviews with hidden homeless persons and social workers point to their vulnerable and unstable living situation and relationships. We identify additional barriers for hidden homeless to seek professional help. Based on this explanatory analysis, we recommend a strong research focus on rural (and hidden) homelessness.

Homelessness and Exclusion: Regulating public space in European Cities

2008

Public space is an essential component of the daily life of homeless people, whether rough sleepers or hostel dwellers or others who are inadequately housed. During 2006 a group of researchers from the European Observatory on Homelessness 2 considered the ways in which the increasing surveillance, regulation and control over public space, evident in all European cities, has impacted on the lives of homeless people. In this paper we chart the background to this latest phase in the 'regulation of urban space' and assemble evidence from across Europe and especially from our case study countries -Finland, and Sweden. We attempt an analysis of these trends using concepts of 'border control', 'discipline' and 'deterrence'. We also consider a limited number of examples of resistance by and on behalf of homeless people to the imposition of restrictions on public space access. In the concluding section, we reflect on related wider societal processes associated with urban regulation and surveillance and their impact on the use of public space.

The Efficacy of Local Governance Arrangements in Relation to Homelessness. A Comparison of Copenhagen, Glasgow, and Amsterdam

Over the last decade, several northern European metropolitan cities have developed new strategies to deal with homelessness. This article focuses on the efficacy of these new local governance arrangements in terms of service delivery and the related societal effects. By comparing and evaluating the policies, administrative structures and management styles in Copenhagen, Glasgow and Amsterdam, a better understanding is gained of the elements of local governance arrangements that influence the quality of service delivery for the homeless and benefit clients and society at large. The research findings lead to a critical view of current decentralizing trends.

(2012) The Broadening and Mystified Margins of Urban Deprivation, European Journal of Homelessness

2012

The focus of this paper is on the changing political perception of housing deprivation and neighbourhood decay in Europe, and particularly on recent changes in the new landscape produced by the sovereign debt crisis in Southern Europe. I mainly elaborate on the ways in which urban deprivation is mystified, as egalitarian discourses disappear and liberal positions become so hegemonic as to appear common sense to increasingly larger audiences.

Right(s) to Brussels's city centre and the urban project: What possibilities exist for future transformations?

2020

In this text, the right to the city is used as a prism to analyse the transformations of Brussels’s city centre, notably in relation to the edestrianization of the central boulevards. Drawing on four case studies that analyse this development plan from different perspectives – the participatory process, the experience of homeless people, the representations and practices on the edges of the gay district, the interactions between public spacesand residential spaces – the aim is to cross-reference their respective contributions with the concept of the right to the city and its specific articulations in this context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe