‘My home is my people’ homemaking among rough sleepers in Leipzig, Germany

Let me take a vacation in prison before the streets kill me! Rough sleepers’ longing for prison and the reversal of less eligibility in neoliberal carceral continuums

“…What is more, capitalism exceedingly annihilates space to ensure its production thereby turning unclaimed places into quicksand between its mills (Harvey, 2009). This means that involuntary movement-due to being uprooted, evicted or driven away-is a condition of sleeping rough (Schneider, 2020b). Prison as a predictable place is then juxtaposed with unknowable streets and shelters.…”

“…Much of the assistance available to rough sleepers on the streets is reduced to services that cover basic needs, like food, water and access to a toilet, while assistance that could invoke a change of living situation must be actively sought out and navigated (responsibilisation). The shelter and social housing system is characterized by impermanence and individualisation (see Schneider, 2020b). Unlike countries which understand housing as a basic right and make apartments available unconditionally (housing first approaches see Tsemberis, 2011), Germany operates according to a staircase model.…”

“…Those who are not officially registered with the municipality and who do not receive benefits cannot stay in shelters. Those who stay in shelters explain feeling policed, controlled and judged´ (Schneider, 2020b: 7). They point to the fact that shelters are impermanent, that what goes on there is highly uncontrollable and uncertain.…”

“…They explain that there is a high turnover and a concentration of people with addiction and mental health issues who are offered a bed but no in-house care because such aid has to be sought elsewhere. They explain feeling unsafe and being subject to theft and verbal-, as well as physical attacks (see Schneider, 2020b). Overall, many describe that staying in a shelter adversely affects their physical and mental health (see Credland et al., 2004) not least because making the jump from a shelter to independent housing is difficult.…”

“…During the week they close in the mornings and open again in the evenings. Then there are a few temporary shared apartments which ‘should serve as the next step on the ‘staircase’ before transitioning to independent accommodation’ (Schneider, 2020b: 3). In these night shelters, short term accommodations or flat shares, unhoused people are taken care of within the institutional framework of ‘(re-)learning how to live independently’: they are accompanied by various service providers before they can transition to independent housing.…”