Las personas sin hogar en España, Italia y Slovenija

Abstract

Homelessness, to live without a home or in street situations, is perhaps the most extreme form of poverty and exclusion that we can face. In the case of developed countries, it is not only the result of the lack of means on the part of those suffering from it, but the consequence of a failure at multiple levels that includes structural problems such as inequality in the income distribution or the scarcity of affordable housing, deficiencies in the social policy or in the benefit system and social benefits, relational ruptures and all sorts of deficits that might have been accumulating throughout life. This research presents a comparative analysis of the evolution and the current situation of homelessness in three countries of southern Europe, such as Spain, Italy and Slovenia. In the three cases, we are presenting countries with a cultural tradition closely linked to Catholicism, in which the social action aimed to the poorest and most excluded people presents abundant common points. However, they are three very different examples in respect of the path followed in the historic development of trying to configure as modern welfare States. The differences in their historical evolution during the twentieth century have left their mark to the present day. While Italy could be part of the process of the construction of the European Union since the beginning of it, Spain and Slovenia were excluded of this process because of their right-wing in the first case and left-wing authoritarian and dictatorial regimes in the second example. The research explores through targeted and biographical interviews the experience of homeless people in the capital cities of these three countries, and analyses the results obtained in the light of the collected material by means of observation techniques and interviews that have been done to professionals and managers of some of the homeless assistance services that exist in Madrid, Rome and Ljubliana.