Hi Eric! What got you interested in homelessness issues?
"I come from Hong Kong, a city that has been on the top list of most expensive cities in the world for 12 years. It's a nightmare to buy a flat there. I lived in a very small apartment and the rent takes more than 50% of my salary", he says.
There are homeless people in Hong Kong, and although the climate is better for sleeping outdoors, homeless people are persecuted by the police, says Eric. This made him interested in studying homelessness in Sweden.
"I wrote my master's thesis about homelessness in Malmö, about structural homelessness and how social workers see it. Homelessness is a complex issue. There are many reasons for homelessness: drugs, mental illness, a dysfunctional rental market. This makes it difficult to tackle the problem."
When he applied for the doctoral programme in social work at the university, he had no connection to Gothenburg. But now the city of Gothenburg's work with and against homelessness is part of his research.
"Housing in Sweden is becoming more and more of a market where the players have to make a profit. We are seeing an increasingly liberal welfare policy in Sweden after the 90s, and housing issues are falling more and more into this path", says Eric.
What do you want to study in your dissertation?
- ‘For thirteen years there was a policy vacuum where there was no national homelessness policy. Then there was a national homelessness strategy in 2022. I want to see how the policy initiative at national level plays out and affects the local level.
How are you going to recognise it?
"I will be looking at how the local level aligns its policy with the national policy. One of the national policies highlighted is the ‘Housing First’ model. In Gothenburg, "Housing First" is quite well organised, so I decided to look at that."
Eric will also use expert interviews with policy makers at the strategic level, such as the county administrative board and social services. How do they translate and transform the national strategy to the local level? He wants to compare this and also study the local policy documents.
"I want to use focus groups to find out how social workers in adult services think about the housing needs of the homeless people they meet. To see what impact national and local policy has on their practical work."
Eric feels that research on homelessness has low status in academia.
"Children and family are the issues that are prioritised. It is not always easy for practitioners to articulate clear needs for research. What we want from research is not always immediately useful. But both aspects need to be present so that we can understand what makes social work special. It's not just about theories, it's also about practice. That is also my vision"
Text: Anna Fredriksson
