Analyzing homelessness in globalizing Istanbul with social work perspective (Beyoğlu case)

This study, which is based on a field research conducted in Beyoglu, Istanbul district with the social service perspective, aims at analyzing the relationality between structural and individual determinants of homelessness as a process through the self-narrated life stories of homeless people. By doing that, this research also intends to propose inclusive and realistic social policy and service recommendations on homelessness. With these goals in mind, this study first discusses the homelessness concept and theories together with homelessness policies and services. After that, it analyzes the data on the welfare indicators, welfare state implementations, housing policies and city administration to understand the structural determinants of homelessness in Turkey and Istanbul. Homeless people in Turkey are not defined as a disadvantaged group that deserves to get help within the public assistance and social service system. The public assistance and social service system is one of the structural determinants of the emergence and experience of homelessness. For this reason, in the first stage of field research, some interviews are conducted with leading specialists to understand the reasons of having the current social service system. Thirty-two semi-structured interview and two focus group discussions are conducted to analyze the social services for homeless people, the strategic goals of these services, the institutional perspectives about homeless people, new service forms planned by authorities, some possible social service forms, the numbers and characteristics of homeless people, and the ordinary people's information and attitudes on homeless people. In the second stage of the field research, thirty biographic and semi-structured interviews with homeless people are conducted to analyze the structure/actor relationality to establish causality and to understand the role of everyday life experiences that lead to homelessness. Overall, in this study, the homelessness is analyzed and some policy recommendations are proposed by combining the micro findings with macro data in the light of major concepts of homelessness theories.