Eviction Prevention : The Social Services Actions to Counteract Homelessness

One of the most basic human needs is access to a home, but the Swedish welfare state can not guarantee all of its citizens roof above their heads, and homelessness is – as it's always been –one of our major societal problems. An essential part of society's effort to counteract homelessness is to work with preventing evictions, which is something the municipal social services have main responsibility over. But despite great efforts evictions are a problem, and especially vulnerable are affected children. In 2021, the amount of children who were evicted was the highest in ten years. The purpose of this study has been to examine how social services can work successfully to prevent evictions. Through a qualitative text analysis based on reports, guidelines and statistics from Socialstyrelsen and Kronofogden, among others, working methods and success factors within the social services were identified. The results show among other things that organization, cooperation, knowledge and information, and identification of risk factors were elements that lead to success in preventing evictions