Homelessness in Slovenia: extent, profile and attitudes

In Slovenia housing policy and development has been neglected and underdevelopment of the social housing sector and the predominance of homeownership makes entry into stable, permanent housing more difficult for groups that are more vulnerable. Furthermore, new risks arising during the period of economic crisis, such as high unemployment rates, poverty and increasing eviction rates put additional pressure on existing welfare systems and are source of additional vulnerabilities. These recent developments have fractured the traditional solidarities, and it is vital to understand these and research welfare attitudes and deservingness perceptions regarding the homeless as most vulnerable group of welfare recipients. The aim of this project is twofold. Firstly, to gather data on homelessness in Slovenia at the national level, addressing the lack of data on extent of homeless and the profile of homeless in Slovenia. Secondly, to gather data on public perceptions to better understand the attitudes to this diverse and very vulnerable population groups. We will evaluate the extent and profile of homelessness in Slovenia, as defined by Feantsa, ETHOS light – European typology of homelessness and housing exclusion. We will use existing databases to test their ability to measure extent and profile of homeless, (such as EVAPRO database, database of social programmes, Social data database - BSP), which are not systematically used and analysed for the purpose of measuring homelessness in Slovenia. The relevance of using existing databases is that it would enable sustainable development of measures and development of regular data gathering method. We will supplement this data with primary research – carrying out a survey among the Slovene households that would enable us also to measure hidden forms of homelessness and housing exclusion, as well as attitudes toward homeless as welfare recipients. The latter will be supplemented by qualitative approach (focus groups), following most recent developments in the welfare attitudes research and addressing the gap in this field.