Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-15T02:27:34.930Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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: r.dobson@leeds.ac.uk
Jenny McNeill
Affiliation:
School of Sciences, Nottingham Trent University E-mail: jennifer.mcneill@ntu.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blair, T. (1995), ‘The rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe’, The Spectator Lecture, London: Labour Party, 22 March.Google Scholar
Clarke, J. and Newman, J. (1997), The Managerialist State, London: Sage.Google Scholar
DCLG (2006), Places of Change: Tackling Homelessness through the Hostels Capital Improvement Programme, London: Department for Communities and Local Government.Google Scholar
DCLG (2008), No One Left Out: Communities Ending Rough Sleeping, London: Department for Communities and Local Government.Google Scholar
DCLG (2010a), Local Decisions: A Fairer Future for Social Housing, Consultation, http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/1775577.pdf [accessed 11.01.2011].Google Scholar
DCLG (2010b), Evaluating the Extent of Rough Sleeping, http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/1713784.pdf [accessed 11.01.2011].Google Scholar
Dean, H. (2007), ‘The ethics of welfare-to-work’, Policy and Politics, 35, 4, 573–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Driver, S. and Martell, L. (2002), Blair's Britain, Cambridge: Policy Press.Google Scholar
DWP (2008a), No One Written Off: Reforming Welfare to Reward Responsibility, Public Consultation, Norwich: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
DWP (2008b), Raising Expectations and Increasing Support: Reforming Welfare for the Future, White Paper, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Dwyer, P. (2000), Welfare Rights and Responsibilities: Contesting Social Citizenship, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Fairclough, N. (2000), New Labour, New language?, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S. and Jones, A. (2005), ‘Pursuing social justice or social cohesion? Coercion in street homelessness policies in England’, Journal of Social Policy, 34, 3, 389–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flint, J. (2009), Governing marginalised populations: the role of coercion, support and agency, European Journal of Homelessness, 3, 247–60.Google Scholar
Gregg, P. (2008), Realising Potential: A Vision for Personalised Conditionality and Support, an Independent Report to the Department for Work and Pensions, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Grover, C. (2009), ‘Privatising employment services in Britain’, Critical Social Policy, 29, 3, 487–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, M. (1995), Housing, ‘Race’, Social Policy and Empowerment, Aldershot: Avebury.Google Scholar
Harrison, M. and Sanders, T. (2006), ‘Vulnerable people and the development of “regulatory therapy”’, in Dearling, A., Newburn, T. and Somerville, P. (eds.), Supporting Safer Communities: Housing, Crime and Neighbourhoods, Coventry: Chartered Institute of Housing, pp.155–68.Google Scholar
Homeless Link (2010), Letter to Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan Smith MP, 4 June 2010.Google Scholar
House of Commons Library (2010), Homelessness in England, 13 December 2010, http://www.parliament.uk/briefingpapers/commons/lib/research/briefings/snsp-01164.pdf [accessed 11.01.2011].Google Scholar
House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee (2010), Changes to Housing Benefit Announced in the June 2010 Budget, Second Report of 2010–2011, 22 December 2010, London: The Stationery Office, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmworpen/469/469.pdf [accessed 11.01.2011].Google Scholar
Johnsen, S. and Fitzpatrick, S. (2010), ‘Revanchist sanitisation or coercive care? The use of enforcement to combat begging, street drinking and rough sleeping in England’, Urban Studies, 47, 8, 1703–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, A. and Pleace, N. (2010), A Review of Single Homelessness in the UK 2000–2010, York: University of York.Google Scholar
Kempsall, H. (2002), ‘Key organizing principles of social welfare: from need to risk’, in Kempsall, H. (ed.), Risk, Social Policy and Welfare, Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Levitas, R. (2006), ‘The concept and measurement of social exclusion’, in Pantazis, C., Gordon, D. and Levitas, R. (eds.), Poverty and Social Exclusion in Britain: The Millennium Survey, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Lindsay, C. and Dutton, M. (2010), ‘Employability through health? Partnership-based governance and the delivery of Pathways to Work condition management services’, Policy Studies, 31, 2, 245–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindsay, C., McQuaid, R. W. and Dutton, M. (2008), ‘Inter-agency cooperation and new approaches to employability’, Social Policy and Administration, 42, 7, 715–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lister, R. (1998), ‘From equality to social inclusion: New Labour and the welfare state’, Critical Social Policy, 18, 2, 215–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Housing Federation (2010), Housing Benefit and Local Housing Allowance, Briefing, August 2010, http://www.housing.org.uk/Uploads/File/Policy%20briefings/Neighbourhoods/HB-reform%20-%20nspo2010br17.pdf [accessed 11.01.2011].Google Scholar
ODPM (2003), More than a Roof: A Report into Tackling Homelessness, London: Department for Communities and Local Government.Google Scholar
ODPM (2004), Supporting People, Review of Development of Policy and Work, London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.Google Scholar
ODPM (2005), Hostels Capital Improvement Programme (HCIP): Policy Briefing 12, London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.Google Scholar
ODPM and SEU (2004), Tackling Social Exclusion: Taking Stock and Looking to the Future, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Ridge, T. and Millar, J. (2002), ‘Parents, children, families and New Labour: developing family policy?’, in Powell, M. (ed.), Evaluating New Labour's Welfare Reforms, Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 58–106.Google Scholar
Rough Sleepers Unit (2000), Coming in from the Cold: The Government's Strategy on Rough Sleeping, London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.Google Scholar
Whiteford, M. (2010), ‘Hot tea, dry toast and the responsibilisation of homeless people’, Social Policy and Society, 9, 2, 193–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar