Homelessness as a Social Construction: A Study on Marginalized Women

Abstract

The focus of the article is on homeless women in Copenhagen. One of the main arguments is that the so-called new homelessness is not as new as it might appear at first glance. Although statistics indicate an increase in the proportion of women who have no home, this does not necessarily mean that social distress among women has increased. Included in the statistics today are certain groups (such as battered women, poor single parents with housing problems) who 15 years ago would not have been registered as homeless. As a result, the homeless population has become more and more heterogeneous, at the same time as the institutions for the homeless have become more and more differentiated and professionalized. This, in turn, has resulted in a situation where priority is given to those homeless clients who can meet the system's expectations of rehabilitation. Two groups among the homeless are not welcome at these institutions: substance abusers and people with mental problems. For these two groups of socially marginalized people, there seems to be no place in the Danish welfare state.