Nowadays, homelessness is predominantly a local responsibility. The policy challenges that local authorities face in dealing with this issue are complex or, according to some commentators, can even be described as “wicked”. Until recently, local authorities have had limited success in addressing homelessness for reasons including a lack of information and fragmentation of services, to name but two. In a new attempt to face up to these challenges, several northern European metropolises have published similar strategic approaches to ending homelessness. By studying their policy, structure and management style, this volume focuses on the impacts and outcomes of these new governance arrangements on the quality of service provision. By comparing and evaluating the different approaches in governance, the author provides deeper insight into exactly which elements of administrative and political approaches, or which governance arrangements, are most effective in this respect and how social results can be improved in general. In this way this study makes an important contribution to the academic debate on the optimum organization of governance arrangements. This volume also provides a critical perspective on current decentralising trends and contains a plea for a corporate, instrumental approach towards governance arrangements on homelessness. The author (Nienke Boesveldt http://www.nienkeboesveldt.com/) concludes that the social relief sector should be functioning as a trampoline, not as a last resort.
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