Home Street Home. Experiences of Homelessness in a City in French-Speaking Switzerland

Abstract

In a city in western Switzerland (as in other cities), homeless people are targeted by three policies: a compassionate policy, specific to social emergency measures; a policy of repression; and, as far as residents are concerned, a traditional welfare policy. Based on accounts by homeless people, the article highlights their logics for using the night emergency system. It also shows how their vulnerabilities are produced by the simultaneous deployment of local, national, and European policies.