In this assignment, I am claiming that poverty is not the only reason why someone may be homeless. In the Society we live in, it is not unknown that there are sleeping rough; however, some people do act oblivious to the idea as it is not ‘them’ in the situation. Those people who do experience homelessness can be oppressed and discriminated against in many ways which I will explore throughout the assignment. According to the Housing Act 1996 (Save Lives, 2020) ‘‘homelessness’ does not solely mean the lack of a home’. The Office for National Statistics (2019) in England, ‘over the past five years, the numbers of rough sleepers identified across the whole of England have nearly doubled, from 2,414 to 4,677’. However, when considering these statistics, we need to understand that homelessness is recorded differently in each nation, and some people who are homeless, do not show on the statistic at all. There is another statistic that states that “five years’ core homelessness has been rising year on year in England, reaching a peak just before the pandemic when the numbers of homeless households jumped from 207,600 in 2018 to over 219,000 at the end of 2019” (Crisis, 2020). As stated by Adams, R., Dominelli, L and Payne, M (2002, p.227) ‘As social work practitioners, we have a moral, ethical and legal responsibility to challenge inequality and disadvantage’. I will explore the influence that social workers can have on service users and how their profession helps to address discrimination that can potentially lead to oppression. In the professional Social Work Standards, social workers are duty-bound to “Value each person as an individual, recognizing their strengths and abilities” (Social Work England, 2020).
There are vastly different types of poverty that people can experience, and when we think about poverty, it is what we interpret for ourselves as someone being ‘poor’ (Beckwith, 2015, p.32). This can also be addressed for homelessness, for example, some people would not see someone who is ‘sofa-surfing’ as homeless. Poverty and deprivation are something that the social work profession has always dealt with (Stoeffler, Stephen W. 2019), and continues to be addressed in the profession by ‘The Code of Ethics of the National Association’. I believe that we as social workers can hold as much power as the service user we work with (power-with). Bundy-Fazioli (2004) suggests power in social work to be: hierarchical and imbalanced, shared, and balanced, or negotiated and reciprocal. Social workers can use their power in tackling discrimination and oppression and can help to empower service users to have more choice and control in their life. In Joy’s analysis (2019, pp.09) ‘Oppression is manifested in any behavior or system that mirrors and supports the exercising of unjust power and control over another or others’. Discrimination by the Cambridge Dictionary (2020) means ‘treating a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way than how you treat other people’. Discrimination is enforced by the Government as a Law and certain characteristics are protected; however, ‘Poverty’ is not one of them but according to Backwith (2015), poverty can be influenced by the social divisions of ‘race’, class, disability, gender, etc. Neil Thompson (2016) created the PCS model which included three levels that are used to interconnect with one another to recognize how and why discrimination occurs. The three levels include what an individual feels, their emotion, and how they choose to react which can impact inequality and oppression. When reflecting on poverty and homelessness, some individuals may stereotype the person due to their cultural and personal beliefs in that situation and refer to them as ‘lower class’ which leads to negative labels. In that person’s reaction, they may choose to be rude, violent, or ignorant towards that person who is experiencing poverty or is homeless.
In 2019, it was reported that 135000 children are homeless which had been the highest statistic in 12 years (Shelter, 2020). Children can experience homelessness for many different reasons which some parts of society overlook and would rather generalize such as ‘dysfunctional family problems’ which is part of the Cultural Model (Crisis, 2020) which restricts people to the reality of what causes homelessness. Children who experience homelessness can be oppressed by the society we live in, for example, by education which could then lead to poor opportunities in the future for them. The future worker could experience a minimum wage job where they would experience the theory of the “glass ceiling” where they are not able to move up the hierarchy in the workplace (Pietrangelo, A. 2020). However, we could also investigate the labeling theory by Goffman 1974 (cited by Ravenhill, Megan), that some people may attach to those children who are homeless, people may think someone homeless, is more likely to commit a crime. Kantar Public interviewed 8 teachers and 3 education professionals to see the effect that homelessness had on children, which included affecting the child’s educational journey, for example, exams because they are unable to catch up with the relevant work. A teacher admitted that some teachers would stop trying to help that child and that they felt like there was little point in trying to make a difference (Shelter, 2017). In a way, this shows that the child has been oppressed by the education system which could lead to further failures in the future. This can also show the power that Teachers hold over children, and how they can make a massive impact on that child’s education. I believe that all children deserve equal access to education and should all experience the same materials needed to succeed, for those children who experience poverty or homelessness, could have the potential to lack resources which can lead to educational failure (material deprivation). A social worker would have the power to act upon a child’s homelessness and would look at the different avenues to get them out of that situation. Children have the right to participate in decisions that are made about them (Legislation, 2013) which can make it difficult sometimes for social workers to engage with them. Children may feel exposed due to information shared about them by different professional agencies. In my opinion, if I were a social worker, I would rather use the term ‘Empowerment’ to allow that individual to have a voice in what they think of the situation and what outcomes they want from the interventions. A social worker would use their authority following the human rights principle so that the service user they are working with has as much control over their own lives.
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According to Mullat, 2009 (as cited by Thompson, N., 2016, p.18), power and oppression are closely linked. We as social workers need to use the anti-oppressive practice to challenge the inequalities we face today. Sometimes we are not always successful, and it can have an effect on the service users we work with, for example, If I were not able to get a young person-supported lodging, it could affect how they feel towards me as a professional. I feel that my values reflect the social work professional values, I want to be able to create the change needed in our society today to prevent inequalities from happening. I need to recognize that my personal views and values may conflict with those with who I work, and I understand that I need to act by the values stated by Social Work England (2020). I have spoken about challenging oppression for the service user, but also, we should consider that service users may use discrimination against themselves in practice. In my beliefs, I would want to address this with them in a calm and mannered way so they did not think I was attacking them and that we could work past that idea that they had. We need to consider that social workers can sometimes oppressively use their power and sometimes cannot be sensitive to issues in terms of the service user (Thompson, 2016, p.18) In my experience of being discriminated against relating to poverty, I cannot relate to being in poverty in the sense I have always had everything needed to function in my life by my family. However, when I started my first job at McDonald’s, where the public would speak to people in work like dirt because they classed us as lower class and stuck a negative label on us in the sense that we had no careers going for us. In that situation, I never said anything to members of the public as the owner of the company would think we would not be complying with the regulations. I wish at the time there was someone in the workplace we could talk to about our thoughts and feelings towards members of the public, it can be an upsetting situation and I felt powerless in the sense I could not say anything back to them.
The Individual Model influences people in society to perceive the causes and consequences of homelessness. People are seen to assume that if they saw a young person sleeping rough, they would instantly think that they have had an altercation in the family home, however, the approach would look deeper into the problem and see why the different factors could have happened in that family home (Crisis, 2020). This would benefit us as social workers because we need to consider all avenues and should not make assumptions as to why that person is homeless. However, this theory will not help to stop labels and discrimination against people who are homeless by all members of society and is something to be considered by those who work with homeless people.
In data, it states that 33% of women who have become homeless, had been associated with domestic abuse (Mungo, 2017). When someone has experienced domestic abuse, it can be quite easy to stay or return to the relationship if they have no alternative housing. It was reported by Safe Lives (2020) that 52% of those who experienced domestic abuse, have stayed with the abuser, and needed support with new accommodation. Jahiel 1992 was a functionalist (cited by Ravenhill, 2016, p.27-29) who talks about the different functions of what the home brings, and what barriers are faced without one. To critique this theory, it stereotypes a homeless person to be a ‘deviant, dysfunctional, even abnormal’. The theory brings a negative label and makes that homeless person feel very much judged badly by society when at times, the individual has no other option but to be homeless. The individuals involved can feel oppressed in the sense that they either stay in a violent relationship or they can face being homeless. Mead’s 1934 study of self (cited in Ravenhill, 2016, p.33,) is about how an individual uses social interaction to get an idea of ‘self’ and how other people would perceive them. This theory can relate to the idea of homelessness in the respect that the reasons why someone is homeless are overlooked by the wider society and society assumes that they became homeless on their own accord. They can be discriminated against in services such as Hostels and Refugees, as they may not be taken seriously which can make the individual feel powerless in that situation. If I was in that service user’s situation, I may feel powerless and feel untrustworthy towards other professions. As a social worker, I would want to gain that trust with that individual for them to open up to me about their lived experiences. I would need to act for the individual and recognize the professional power I must speak up for that individual and find them an appropriate refuge for the time being. A social worker may experience an ethical dilemma in this situation of breaking confidentiality to benefit the client, for example, speaking to the police about the domestic abuse they have experienced which causes the abuser to be alert.
As we can see from the text above, poverty is not the only reason why someone can face homelessness. There are many different avenues down homelessness which some people in society tend to overlook, I have spoken around a couple of different types of reasons why someone may become homeless. In statistics I have shown, they may not be accurate due to hidden homelessness where they are not in the eye of the public. Youth and domestic abuse victims are some of the main groups of people who come into homelessness, they can be discriminated against which can lead to oppression which we as Social Workers should challenge. As social workers, we should exercise our power and authority correctly in line with the Human Rights Act 1998 (Equality Human Rights, 2018) to make sure the service user is not oppressed by us as professionals. I have investigated different studies and ideas which help us to understand why discrimination happens, and how it could lead to oppression. Social Workers have a set of professional standards they should abide by in their practice, and this will help them to get the most out of their practice.
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