In the research project GENTWo, on the one hand, the question is examined to what extent homeless people or people threatened by homelessness are disadvantaged in the allocation of (rental) housing due to their social and economic status (living situation) and how they experience displacement processes, i.e. what experiences they have when looking for housing. On the other hand, in the context of this, the spatial displacement processes (gentrification) to be addressed will be examined more closely on the basis of urban transformation processes.

In Berlin, more and more people are threatened by housing shortages, as rents in the inner city areas of Berlin are increasing drastically. According to specialist publications, the daily press, etc., the reasons for this are. Gentrification processes, which are increasingly taking place in the old quarters and spreading to neighbouring quarters. In this process, it is evident that in the context of the support services provided by the social workers/educators in the counselling centres for people who are threatened by homelessness, the search for housing becomes more difficult or is often unsuccessful. This means that the search for housing is inevitably limited to the outskirts of the city. It is striking that people threatened by homelessness are disadvantaged in the allocation of rented housing due to their social and economic status (living situation).

The research project focuses on homeless people themselves, who are included in the research by means of narrative biographical interviews. The question is examined how homelessness is presented as a complex of individual difficulties, which social changes trigger the exclusion and stigmatisation of people in precarious housing situations and homeless people, which practices have a destabilising effect (exclusion by housing associations, prejudices and categorisations, time factor) and how urban development policy programmes such as upgrading and social mix have an impact on the described structural conditions in the context of urban transformation processes.