Abstract
This article discusses public social welfare provision to homeless EU migrants in Norway. Most of these migrants have no or weak affiliations with the formal labour market, resulting in restricted rights to public social assistance. Drawing on the concept of precarious inclusion, I suggest that rather than being simply excluded from public social welfare, homeless EU migrants are included in the welfare state but in fragile and insecure ways through provisions directed at safeguarding bodily survival. I understand these limited inclusionary policies and practices as forming part of the Norwegian state’s management of ‘undesired’ migrants. Building on interviews with social workers in the public social welfare administration, I reflect on how assessments of cases involving homeless EU migrants signal hierarchical conceptions and differentiation of human worth within Norway’s borders and how territorial belonging emerges as a prerequisite for ‘deservingness’ in social workers’ accounts.
Highlights
The excerpts from my interviews with Nils and Karianne allude to the overall questions guiding my analysis of the deliberations of social workers in the public social welfare administration on provision of social assistance to homeless EU migrants in Norway: What are these ‘other things’ referred to by Nils, that influence assessments of applications from this group of migrants? Where do social workers ‘draw the line’ when it comes to who they deem entitled to – or deserving of – social assistance, and how do they morally justify and legitimise such decisions? Which dilemmas does this entail for social workers? What role do concerns of migration management play in this nexus?
The situation of homeless EU migrants in Norway is characterised by poverty and lack of protection concerning basic needs such as health care, food and housing (Djuve et al, 2015; Stiftelsen Kirkens Bymisjon Oslo, 2016)
Drawing on the concept of precarious inclusion (Karlsen, 2021), I suggest that rather than being excluded from public social welfare in Norway, homeless EU migrants are included in the welfare state but in fragile and insecure ways, through short-term provisions directed at solving emergencies and safeguarding bodily survival
Summary
The excerpts from my interviews with Nils and Karianne allude to the overall questions guiding my analysis of the deliberations of social workers in the public social welfare administration on provision of social assistance to homeless EU migrants in Norway: What are these ‘other things’ referred to by Nils, that influence assessments of applications from this group of migrants? Where do social workers ‘draw the line’ when it comes to who they deem entitled to – or deserving of – social assistance, and how do they morally justify and legitimise such decisions? Which dilemmas does this entail for social workers? What role do concerns of migration management play in this nexus?The situation of homeless EU migrants in Norway is characterised by poverty and lack of protection concerning basic needs such as health care, food and housing (Djuve et al, 2015; Stiftelsen Kirkens Bymisjon Oslo, 2016).
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