https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2889-5104
![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Access to adequate housing is a fundamental right and considered decisive for the social inclusion of persons in homelessness. This article offers a socio-legal analysis of access to rights in the context of the Danish welfare state for young persons in homelessness. Statistics indicate that the number of persons aged 18 to 29 living in homelessness in Denmark almost doubled from 2009 to 2019. Drawing on analyses of law and on interviews with young persons in homelessness, the article examines legal opportunity structures for accessing rights and the young persons’ experiences of mobilizing law. Danish social law outlines opportunities for support in cases of homelessness, and this article’s findings suggest that professionals play a pivotal role for young persons’ access to rights as they can use their expertise and knowledge of both the systemic institutional welfare set-up and a person’s social situation to translate that person’s situation into a social law context, which is decisive for the mobilization of social rights. Without this expertise to draw on, young persons may find themselves lost in a complex welfare state system which has the potential to leave them in an increasingly marginalized situation.
Disclosure statement
The authors report that there are no competing interests to declare.
Notes
1 European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission, ‘European Pillar on Social Rights’ (2017) < https://europe-solidarity.eu/documents/social-pillar-goteborg.pdf > accessed 14 November 2023.
2 The Danish definition of homelessness: ‘Persons who do not have their own place, and who are referred to temporary housing or who live temporary and without tenancy agreement with friends and family’. Lars Benjaminsen, ‘Hjemløshed i Danmark 2019. National kortlægning’ (2019) < https://www.vive.dk/media/pure/jvn66yzm/3352843 > accessed 20 November 2023, 15.
3 Michael Kolocek, ‘The Human Right to Housing in the 27 Member States of the European Union’ (2013) European Journal of Homelessness, 7(1), 135-154.
4 The European Commission, ‘The Lisbon Declaration’ (2021) https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=24120&langId=en accessed 20 November 2023, 5.
5 Ibid, 2.
6 Gøsta Esping-Andersen, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, (Princeton University Press 1990).
7 William Felstiner, Rick Abel and Austin Sarat, ‘The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming’, 1981, Law & Society Review, 15(3-4); Pascoe Pleasence, Hazel Genn, Nigel J. Balmer, Alexy Buck, and Aoife O'Grady, ‘Causes of Action: First Findings of the LSRC Periodic Survey’, 2003, Journal of Law and Society, 30(1), 11-30; Stine Piilgaard Porner Nielsen and Ole Hammerslev,‘Gadejuristen [The Street Lawyers]: Offering Legal Aid to Socially Marginalised People’ in Olaf Halvorsen Rønning and Ole Hammerslev (eds.), Outsourcing Legal Aid in the Nordic Welfare States (Palgrave Macmillan 2018); Dave Cowan and Rosie Harding, ‘Legal consciousness and administrative justice’ in Joe Tomlinson, Robert Thomas, Marc Hertogh, and Richard Kirkham (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Administrative Justice (Oxford University Press 2021).
8 Lis Sejr et al., Retshjælp i et lokalområde (Aarhus Universitetsforlag 1977); Bettina Lemann Kristiansen, ‘Legal aid in Denmark’ in Ole Hammerslev and Olaf Halvorsen Rønning (eds.), Outsourcing Legal Aid in the Nordic Welfare States (Palgrave Macmillan 2018).
9 Hazel Genn Paths to Justice: What People Do and Think about Going to Law. (Hart Publishing 1999).
10 Ole Hammerslev and Stine Piilgaard Porner Nielsen, ‘Afveje til retshjælp: Betydningen af anerkendelse, adressering samt problemmediatorer for borgeres adgang til retshjælp’ (2021) Retfærd: Nordisk Juridisk Tidsskrift, 1(168), 79-91.
11 Byron Miller, ‘Political empowerment, local—central state relations, and geographically shifting political opportunity structures: Strategies of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Peace Movement’ (1994) Political Geography, 13(5), 393-406; Bettina Lemann Kristiansen, ‘Legal aid in Denmark’ in Ole Hammerslev and Olaf Halvorsen Rønning (eds.), Outsourcing Legal Aid in the Nordic Welfare States (Palgrave Macmillan 2018).
12 William Felstiner, Rick Abel and Austin Sarat ‘The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming’ (1981). Law & Society Review, 15(3-4); Hazel Genn, Paths to Justice: What People Do and Think about Going to Law (Hart Publishing 1999); Matthias Baier, ‘Citizen Participation in Legal Decision-Making’ in Bettina Lemann Kristiansen and Anette Storgaard (eds.), Nordisk retssociologi. Status – aktuelle udfordringer – visioner (2010 Jurist- og Økonomforbundets Forlag).
13 Frances K. Zemans, ‘Framework for Analysis of Legal Mobilization: A Decision-Making Model’ (1982) Law & Social Inquiry, 7(4), 1068.
14 Pierre Bourdieu, ‘The Abdication of the State’ in P. Bourdieu (ed.), The weight of the world: social suffering in contemporary society (Polity Press 2016).
15 Patricia Ewick and Susan S. Silbey, The common place of law: stories from everyday life (University of Chicago Press 1998), 99.
16 Jørgen Dalberg-Larsen, Retsstaten, velfærdsstaten og hvad så? : sammenhænge mellem retsudvikling og samfundsudvikling set i et retssociologisk perspektiv (Akademisk Forlag 1984); Bettina Lemann Kristiansen, Pantefogderne og deres retsanvendelse (Jurist- og Økonomforbundet 2001); Stine Piilgaard Porner Nielsen, Ikke-jurister i et retligt højspændingsfelt – når sagsbehandlere og borgere samproducerer sagsbehandling (PhD, University of Southern Denmark 2020).
17 Based on the young persons’ narratives, this paper applies a broad understanding of professionals as state and non-state actors who support the young persons’ process of mobilizing rights.
18 Bettina Lemann Kristiansen ‘Access to justice i forvaltningssager i Danmark’ in Anna W. Ghavanini and Sebastian Wejedal (eds.), Acces to justice i Skandinavien. (Santérus Academic Press 2022).
19 Evelyn Z. Brodkin and Malay Majmundar, ‘Administrative Exclusion: Organizations and the Hidden Costs of Welfare Claiming’ (2010) Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory: J-PART, 20(4), 827-848; Bettina Lemann Kristiansen ‘Access to justice i forvaltningssager i Danmark’ in Anna W. Ghavanini and Sebastian Wejedal (eds.), Access to justice i Skandinavien. (Santérus Academic Press 2022).
20 Stine Piilgaard Porner Nielsen and Ole Hammerslev, ‘Digitalizing Welfare: The role of encounters in supporting marginalised citizens’ access to rights in the Danish welfare state’ (2022) Recht der Werkelijkheid, 2.
21 Jannick Schou and Anna S. Pors, ‘Digital by default? A qualitative study of exclusion in digitalised welfare’ (2019) Social Policy & Administration, 53(3), 464-477 (465).
22 Inger-Johanne Sand, Styring av kompleksitet : rettslige former for statlig rammestyring og desentralisert statsforvaltning (Fagbokforlaget Vigmostad og Bjørke 1996); Inger-Johanne Sand, ‘Hybridization, Change and the Expansion of Law’ in Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen and Inger-Johanne Sand (eds.), Hybrid Forms of Governance - Self-suspension of Power (Palgrave Macmillan 2012).
23 Hilary Sommerlad, ‘Some Reflections on the Relationship between Citizenship, Access to Justice, and the Reform of Legal Aid’ (2004) Journal of Law and Society, 31(3), 345-368; Annette Olesen and Ole Hammerslev, ‘Nye udbydere af retshjælp i Danmark’ in Reza Banakar, Karl Dahlstrand and Lotti Ryberg-Welander (eds.), Festskrift til Håkan Hydén (pp. 461-475) (Juristförlaget 2018)
24 Byron Miller, ‘Political empowerment, local—central state relations, and geographically shifting political opportunity structures: Strategies of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Peace Movement’ (1994) Political Geography, 13(5), 393-406; Ellen Ann Andersen, Out of the closets and into the courts: legal opportunity structure and gay rights litigation. (University of Michigan Press 2005); Michael McCann, ‘Litigation and Legal Mobilization’in Gregory A. Caldeira, R. Daniel Kelemen and Keith E. Whittington (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Law and Politics (Oxford University Press 2008).
25 Ellen Ann Andersen, Out of the closets and into the courts: legal opportunity structure and gay rights litigation. (University of Michigan Press 2005).
26 Pauline Westerman, Outsourcing the law: a philosophical perspective on regulation (Edward Elgar Publishing 2018).
27 Frances K. Zemans, ‘Framework for Analysis of Legal Mobilization: A Decision-Making Model’ (1982) Law & Social Inquiry, 7(4), 989-1071.
28 Ibid, 1068.
29 Ibid, 1001.
30 Ibid.
31 In her article, Zemans does not define the concept of ‘rights consciousness’. Instead, we draw on the following definition of rights consciousness, namely ‘whether citizens are capable of formulating rights-based claims in everyday conflict situations.’ Balázs Fekete, Attila Bartha, György Gajduschek and Fruzsina Gulya, ‘Rights Consciousness in Hungary and Some Comparative Remarks. Could an Increasing Level of Rights Consciousness Challenge the Autocratic Tradition?’ (2022) Review of Central and East European Law, 47(2), 220-248., 224.
32 In their forthcoming article, Annette Olesen and Ole Hammerslev define ‘negotiating audience’ as ’the legal and non-legal individuals and groups who, in different ways, through oral, written, or other non-verbal communication, have an influence on the dispute transformation’.
33 Annette Olesen and Ole Hammerslev, ‘Nye udbydere af retshjælp i Danmark’ in Reza Banakar, Karl Dahlstrand, & Lotti Ryberg-Welander (eds.), Festskrift til Håkan Hydén (pp. 461-475) (Juristförlaget 2018).
34 Pierre Bourdieu, ‘The Force of Law: Toward a Sociology of the Juridical Field’ (1986) The Hastings Law Journal, 38.
35 Frances K. Zemans, ‘Framework for Analysis of Legal Mobilization: A Decision-Making Model’ (1982) Law & Social Inquiry, 7(4), 989-1071; Evelyn Z. Brodkin and Malay Majmundar, ‘Administrative Exclusion: Organizations and the Hidden Costs of Welfare Claiming (2010) Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory: J-PART, 20(4), 827-848.
36 Lars Benjaminsen, ‘Boliger til unge i hjemløshed – muligheder og barrierer: En case-undersøgelse i tre kommuner (2019) < https://www.vive.dk/media/pure/2z1mk7zj/3419298 > accessed 14 November 2023; Lars Benjaminsen. ‘Hjemløshed i Danmark: National kortlægning (2019) <https://www.vive.dk/media/pure/14218/3352843> accessed 14 November 2023.
37 Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Young Homeless People (Palgrave Macmillan 2000); Lars Benjaminsen and Stefan Bastholm Andrade, ‘Testing a Typology of Homelessness Across Welfare Regimes: Shelter Use in Denmark and the USA’ (2015) Housing Studies, 30(6).
38 Bent Flyvbjerg, ‘Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research’ (2006) Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219-245; Albert J. Mills, Gabrielle Durepos and Elden Wiebe. Extreme Cases. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research (2010).
39 Matthias Baier, ‘Citizen Participation in Legal Decision-Making’ in Bettina Lemann Kristiansen and Anette. Storgaard (eds.), Nordisk retssociologi. Status – aktuelle udfordringer – visioner (pp. 149-160) (Jurist- og Økonomforbundets Forlag 2010); Ole Hammerslev and Stine Piilgaard Porner Nielsen, ‘Afveje til retshjælp: Betydningen af anerkendelse, adressering samt problemmediatorer for borgeres adgang til retshjælp’ (2021) Retfærd: Nordisk Juridisk Tidsskrift, 1(168), 79-91.
40 Lars Benjaminsen and Stefan Bastholm Andrade, ‘Testing a Typology of Homelessness Across Welfare Regimes: Shelter Use in Denmark and the USA’ (2015) Housing Studies, 30(6); Katrine Iversen, Didde Cramer Jensen, Mathias Ruge and Mads Thau, ‘Kommunernes perspektiver på centrale udfordringer på voksensocialområdet’ (2018) <https://www.vive.dk/media/pure/10887/2300830> accessed 14 November 2023.
41 Bettina Lemann Kristiansen, Pantefogderne og deres retsanvendelse (Jurist- og Økonomforbundet 2001); Rik van Berkel, Dorte Caswell, Peter Kupka and Flemming Larsen, Frontline delivery of welfare-to-work policies in Europe: activating the unemployed (1 Edition ed.) (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 2017); Stine Piilgaard Porner Nielsen, Ikke-jurister i et retligt højspændingsfelt – når sagsbehandlere og borgere samproducerer sagsbehandling (PhD, University of Southern Denmark 2020).
42 Patricia Ewick and Susan S. Silbey, The common place of law: stories from everyday life (University of Chicago Press 1998), 99.
43 Kennet Lynggaard, Discourse Analysis and European Union Politics (Palgrave Macmillan 2019), 21.
44 Ben Rosamond, Theories of European Integration (Palgrave Macmillan 2000), 172.
45 Lars Benjaminsen, Morten Holm and Tine Jeppesen, ‘Hjemløshed i ungdommen: En registerbaseret undersøgelse af unges forløb før og efter en hjemløshedssituation’ (2020) <https://www.vive.dk/media/pure/15045/4254982> accessed 14 November 2023; Lars Benjaminsen, ‘Hjemløshed i Danmark 2022. National kortlægning’ (2022) < https://www.vive.dk/media/pure/ozokjnvn/9732199> accessed 20 November 2023.
46 Marc Hertogh, Nobody's Law: Legal Consciousness and Legal Alienation in Everyday Life (Palgrave Macmillan 2018); Nanna Mik-Meyer, Fagprofessionelles møde med udsatte klienter: dilemmaer i den organisatoriske praksis. (Hans Reitzel 2018).
47 Steinar Kvale, InterView (Hans Reitzels Forlag 1994).
48 Framing access as difficult is based on interviews with NGOs, municipal authorities, and own experiences related to identifying and accessing the young persons who experience homelessness.
49 Janice M. Morse, ‘The Significance of Saturation’ (1995) Qualitative Health Research, 5(2), 147-149; Greg Guest, Arwen Bunce and Laura Johnson, ‘How Many Interviews Are Enough?: An Experiment with Data Saturation and Variability’ (2006) Field Methods, 18(1), 59-82.3
50 Frances K. Zemans, ‘Framework for Analysis of Legal Mobilization: A Decision-Making Model (1982) Law & Social Inquiry, 7(4), 989-1071; Hazel Genn, Paths to Justice: What People Do and Think about Going to Law (Hart Publishing 1999); Pascoe Pleasence, Hazel Genn, Nigel J. Balmer, Alexy Buck and Aoife O'Grady, ‘Causes of Action: First Findings of the LSRC Periodic Survey (2003) Journal of Law and Society, 30(1), 11-30; Michael McCann, ‘Litigation and Legal Mobilization’ in Greory A. Caldeira, R. Daniel Kelemen and Keith E. Whittington (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Law and Politics (Oxford University Press 2008); Stine Piilgaard Porner Nielsen and Ole Hammerslev, ‘Gadejuristen [The Street Lawyers]: Offering Legal Aid to Socially Marginalised People’ in Olaf Halvorsen Rønning and Ole Hammerslev (eds.), Outsourcing Legal Aid in the Nordic Welfare States (pp. 169-191). (Palgrave Macmillan 2018); Ole Hammerslev and Stine Piilgaard Porner Nielsen, ‘Afveje til retshjælp: Betydningen af anerkendelse, adressering samt problemmediatorer for borgeres adgang til retshjælp’ (2021) Retfærd: Nordisk Juridisk Tidsskrift, 1(168), 79-91.
51 Stine Piilgaard Porner Nielsen and Ole Hammerslev, ‘Velfærdsstatens regulering af ungdomshjemløshed: Retlige handlemuligheder og deres potentielle effekt’ (2022) Retfærd: Nordisk Juridisk Tidsskrift. 2, 172, 11-22.
52 Hilary Sommerlad, ‘Some Reflections on the Relationship between Citizenship, Access to Justice, and the Reform of Legal Aid’ (2004) Journal of Law and Society, 31(3), 345-368.
53 Lars Benjaminsen, ‘Hjemløshed i Danmark: National kortlægning’ (2019) <https://www.vive.dk/media/pure/14218/3352843> accessed 14 November 2023.
54 This information is extracted from field observations and interviews with welfare professionals working at the shelters.
55 This information is extracted from municipal documents that, out of anonymisation consideration, are not referred to in this version.
56 This information is extracted from interviews with municipal welfare professionals working with matching young persons in homelessness with housing.
57 This information is extracted from interviews with staff and residents at the respective shelter, and with the outreach counsellor.
58 This information is extracted from municipal documents that, out of consideration for anonymity, are not referred to in this version.