@article{3124902,
  abstract     = {{For centuries, the debate about homelessness concentrated on the ways in which the issue of vagrancy could be dealt with as a criminal problem. In recent decades, this perspective faded out and alternative approaches to dealing with vagrancy were argued for and implemented. In this article, we discuss the emerging reconceptualisation of a repressive approach into a welfare approach to the issue of vagrancy – which is called homelessness later on – as a social problem, in which social work in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) has a mandate to intervene. By means of a historical analysis of discourses and practices concerning ‘vagrancy’ we show that (1) a welfare approach was already present before the formal decriminalisation of vagrancy; (2) the conceptual shift from vagrancy as a criminal problem to homelessness as a poverty problem was accompanied by an emphasis on a psycho-social approach to homelessness; and (3) social work practices intervening in social problems of homelessness are made increasingly conditional, which points to questions about the accessibility of social services for homeless people.}},
  author       = {{Maeseele, Thomas and Roose, Rudi and De Bie, Maria and Roets, Griet}},
  issn         = {{0045-3102}},
  journal      = {{BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK}},
  keywords     = {{vagrancy,homelessness care,decriminalisation,welfare approach,homelessness,SOCIAL-WORK,BRITAIN,STREET HOMELESSNESS}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{1717--1734}},
  title        = {{From vagrancy to homelessness: the value of a welfare approach to homelessness}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bct050}},
  volume       = {{44}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}

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