"Man kan ju också bygga fler bostäder..." Om hemlösheten i Malmö, ur några kommunalråds och tjänstemäns synvinkel.

This is a qualitative study on bachelor level at the School of Social Work. The aim of the thesis was to describe how selected municipal commissioners and social workers in Malmö view the complex of problems, and different solutions, concerning homelessness. Malmö, the third largest city of Sweden, is struggling with serious problems concerning homelessness. Possible solutions are being debated, and the opinions differ widely, depending on ideological standpoint. We wanted to find out how selected municipal commissioners and social workers view the complex of problems, related laws and local guidelines, and measures to improve the situation. In order to have a free discussion, but within limits we used semi-structured interviews. Our results show that both the municipal commissioners and social workers regarded homelessness mainly as an individual issue, related to dissocial aspects of the individual. Even though most interviewees also mentioned the lack of small, affordable apartments in the city, this was seen as a far less important cause. Another characteristic feature was that homelessness was viewed as an unsolvable, built-in problem of society. The main conclusions of the study, is that homelessness is viewed as an unsolvable individual issue, and that proposed solutions, accordingly are mainly individualistic