Project management: Prof. Dr. habil. Monika Alisch, wiss. Staff member Mark Borne, Dipl. Geogr.
Funded by: Research and development funding at HS Fulda
Duration: 10/2013 - 6/2014

Project description:
The GENTWo research project uses biographical narrative interviews to investigate the extent to which 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.

The renewed and at the same time significant increase in the number of homeless (...) (cf. wohnungslos 4/11: 130 ff.) is due to a whole series of social changes. Three factors are essentially decisive for the resurgence:

The increase in rent prices, especially in the conurbations, with a simultaneous increase in impoverishment of the lower income groups in connection with the shrunken social housing stock, which has not been counteracted by housing policy.

The impoverishment is closely connected to the permanent crisis on the labour market. In addition, the low-wage sector has grown dramatically due to the lack of a minimum wage.

Social policy factors: sanctioning of housing costs for young adults (U25), insufficient increase in the standard rate, flat-rate payment of housing costs, scaling back of employment promotion measures

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 at risk of homelessness are disadvantaged in the allocation of rental housing due to their social and economic status (living situation).

Publications:
In planning