Housing Exclusion and Social Work Strategies in Luxembourg

In the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, the demand for affordable housing is significantly higher than the existing offer (Reuter, 2017). For financially disadvantaged households, the housing costs around 40% of the available budget represent a very high expenditure. Ametepe (2019) observed an exacerbation of the risk of poverty in relation to housing costs.
The SOHOME (SOcial housing and HOMElessness) project pursues research questions related to individuals who are experiencing housing difficulties in Luxembourg, thereby drawing the current state-of-affairs as well as exploring potential solutions. Main questions are: (1) “What characterizes the concerned population in Luxembourg?”, (2) “How do social policies and social work respond to the identified issues?” and (3) “What are the main challenges of the social work in the field of homelessness and housing exclusion?” Through the qualitative design, several focus groups and interviews with social workers provide important insights to answer the research questions.
Probably the largest proportion of homelessness services across Europe consists of low-threshold services that provide basic support outside of the housing sector or emergency/temporary accommodation. In contrast, services that immediately provide homeless people with a permanent home are only present to a certain extent in most countries (Pleace, Baptista, Benjaminsen & Busch-Geertsema, 2018). The SOHOME project targets various social services, from the emergency accommodation to the municipal social welfare office. The results from the discussions with social workers acting in the municipal social welfare offices show how great the demand for social and affordable living room is and how present forms of housing exclusion as well as solution-focused strategies are.