Residential Exclusion Research Articles

Alcoholism is the mental health issue that best predicts the mortality of individuals experiencing homelessness.

IntroductionThe mortality rate among individuals experiencing homelessness tends to be premature and is linked to mental disorders and chronic diseases. In Spain, there is a significant gap in the study of mortality among individuals in situations of residential exclusion with real clinical data.ObjectivesThis study aims to analyze mortality among individuals experiencing homelessness and its relationship with mental disorders and chronic diseases.MethodsAn observational and prospective longitudinal study was conducted on a cohort of 855 homeless individuals in the province of Girona over a 15-year period. Sociodemographic variables, mental health conditions, chronic diseases, and infections were analyzed, employing descriptive and inferential analyses. A binary logistic regression model was created to establish explanatory relationships between mortality and associated variables.ResultsAmong the participants, 87.7% were males with an average age of 53.03 years. A majority of 62.8% were foreign-born, mainly from Africa and Europe. It was identified that 40.8% had mental disorders, with substance dependencies (41.3%) and other disorders (36.4%) being the most prevalent. A total of 30.6% presented chronic diseases, notably hypertension (12.8%) and type 2 diabetes (10.9%). Furthermore, 22.3% had infections, with hepatitis C virus (8.7%) and HIV (4.7%) being the most common. During the follow-up period, 81 individuals (16.4%) passed away, with causes such as cancer (25%), suicide (21.7%), and heart conditions (11.7%).The regression analysis demonstrated that age (OR = 0.915; 95% CI 0.884-0.947), alcohol addiction (OR = 2.354; 95% CI 1.486-3.731), and being born in Spain (OR = 2.906; 95% CI 1.594-5.299) were significantly associated with mortality in the homeless population.ConclusionsThis study highlights the high prevalence of mental disorders, chronic diseases, and infections among individuals experiencing homelessness. Mortality was associated with factors such as age, alcohol addiction, and place of birth. These findings underscore the importance of developing interventions aimed at enhancing the health and care of individuals experiencing homelessness, particularly within the immigrant population.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Homeless people: Images and imaginaries

This article argues that the construction of social imaginaries around homelessness, which usually focus on the individual variables involved in situations of exclusion, have given way to a broader understanding of homelessness as part of a process of residential exclusion of structural scope. However, both imaginaries, that of the individual causes and that of the structural causes of homelessness, struggle in social practice. Thus, we start from the idea that the different social imaginaries around homelessness are related, in a dialectic way, with the images, produced by different media, of situations in which life in public space is susceptible to be scrutinized in its daily life.In this sense, our analysis of the photographs taken by the journalist Rafa Arjones in the city of Alicante (Spain), between 2002 and 2020, has as its main objectives (Meert and et al., 2004) [1] to reveal these relationships (Rubio-Martín, 2017) [2], to describe which imaginaries may be influencing the production of images on homele02222ssness and (Caeiro and y Gonçalves, 2015) [3] to reveal how the photographer reproduces or questions them throughout the period studied. To achieve these objectives, our analysis is based on a comprehensive Weberian sociology and a hermeneutic/interpretative methodology that attempts to reveal the inner meaning of the photographic images from the external ideological discourse.The findings of our study point to a shift in the photographs analysed, from an approach to homelessness that highlights individual situations to one that seeks contradiction and a focus on the structural problem of access to housing. This is in line with wider social changes that may be occurring in imaginaries of homelessness.

Review of socio-residential vulnerability identification methodologies. Application to the cities of Bilbao and Barcelona

This article presents the most widely used methodologies to measure, analyse and assess the state of the building stock and the life conditions of people living in vulnerable neighbourhoods, in an attempt to identify limitations and opportunities within the design of more suitable instruments that will allow us to identify residential communities in a vulnerable situation, residential exclusion or at difficulty to access rehabilitation subsidies or allowances. The methodology adopted is based on the obtention of a first vulnerability index constructed from quantitative data that allows us to focus on the most vulnerable areas of the cities under study. Later, it is complemented with qualitative analysis, interviews to technical officers, entities’ representatives, and site visits and observations. The main obtained results consist of different methodological approaches and analytic and geospatial measurements of the residential vulnerability in the cities of Barcelona and Bilbao: from quantitative large-scale multicriterial analysis, geospatial analysis on specific aspects, to small-scale qualitative study cases, fieldwork and interviews to different actors. In conclusion, by applying those different methodologies in the same specific areas, we were able to determine how data disaggregation and specificity in relation to urban and building form and location provide relevant differential results that help to qualify certain patterns that can be detected but not explained by quantitative larger-scale integrative analysis. Besides, the qualitative information provided by key local agents of different networks was crucial to explain and understand the nature of geographical and time-changing patterns of residential vulnerability.

Evolution of the accommodation situation among women living homeless in Madrid, Spain: A longitudinal study.

Women constitute a particularly vulnerable subgroup of people living homeless, with their own set of circumstances and life histories that are different from men in the same situation. In this paper, we present the results of a longitudinal study on the situation, needs, characteristics, and process of change among women in a homeless situation in Madrid (Spain). This study involved 136 homeless women who were spending the night at shelters, drop-in centers, on the street, or in public spaces. Data was collected through structured interviews conducted every 6 months for a total of 3 years. Throughout that period of time approximately half of the interviewed leaves the most extreme situation of homelessness. One in four interviewees gained access to independent accommodation, although in most cases this did not mean that they were no longer in a position of residential exclusion. The logistic regression analyses performed suggested that the variables with the closest correlation to improved accommodation were: receiving stable government economic benefits, obtaining income from work, not having Spanish nationality, not having a disability and having suffered fewer stressful life events at baseline, as well as a better perceived state of health. However, with regard to access to independent accommodation, the most closely-related variables were receiving stable government economic benefits and obtaining an income from work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Relatos de vida de personas sin hogar en la ciudad de Barcelona: desafiliación social y salud

El objetivo de este artículo es visibilizar las diferentes situaciones de salud que presentan las personas sin hogar en la ciudad de Barcelona.1 A partir de la narrativa de las propias personas se pueden observar cómo perciben su salud, así como las diferencias en relación al género y a sus procesos de desafiliación social. La investigación se ha realizado con 12 personas informantes (hombres y mujeres que estaban atravesando por diversos procesos de exclusión residencial). Se han seleccionado 6 relatos por ser más significativos en relación a los temas de salud. Destaca como conclusión principal que la presencia temprana de dificultades en entornos sociales y familiares, así como la suma de sucesos traumáticos a lo largo de sus trayectorias vitales, incrementan el riesgo de padecer un deterioro de la salud física y mental en etapas adultas que comporte situaciones de sinhogarismo.The objective of this article is to make visible the different health situations presented by the homeless in the city of Barcelona. From the narrative of the people themselves you can see how they perceive their health, as well as the differences in relation to gender and their processes of social disaffiliation. The research was carried out with 12 informants (men and women who were going through various processes of residential exclusion). 8 stories have been selected because they are more significant in relation to health issues. The main conclusion is that the early presence of difficulties in social and family environments, as well as the sum of traumatic events along their life trajectories, increase the risk of suffering a deterioration of physical and mental health in adult stages that involves situations of homelessness.

Las mujeres sin hogar: realidades ocultas de la exclusión residencial

El propósito de este artículo es aportar conocimiento sobre la exclusión residencial de las mujeres sin hogar. La exclusión social se produce a partir de procesos o trayectorias de vida en las que las personas se van desvinculando progresivamente de las instituciones sociales que garantizan la integración en nuestra sociedad. En el caso de las mujeres, dichos procesos se vinculan a las desigualdades sociales de género y transcurren de forma invisible a lo largo de sus trayectorias vitales. Para comprenderlos se hace necesario identificar los factores desencadenantes y protectores que inciden en la exclusión residencial femenina y reflexionar sobre ellos en clave de género. El presente artículo aborda esta materia a partir de los resultados derivados de una investigación realizada en la Universidad de Barcelona (2016-2018). Los principales factores desencadenantes de la exclusión residencial femenina son una mayor vulnerabilidad a cambios estructurales en su entorno que limiten su independencia económica y la sucesión de diversas formas de violencia en sus trayectorias vitales. Destacan como factores protectores, las estrategias vinculadas a las redes de soporte social y al acompañamiento social realizado por los trabajadores sociales. Se concluye el artículo aportando algunas propuestas desde la perspectiva de género y bajo un prisma integral y comunitario que tenga como objetivo la consecución de una ciudadanía inclusiva.

Análisis espacial de los indicadores de habitabilidad en los municipios de la Región de Murcia (España)

La exclusión residencial es un fenómeno complejo y multicausal, desencadenado fundamentalmente por la exclusión social. Su principal manifestación es la falta de acceso a una vivienda digna y apropiada. Lamentablemente, muchas familias no disponen de una vivienda con las condiciones básicas para su habitabilidad. En esta investigación, en primer lugar, se describen las características de las condiciones de habitabilidad de las viviendas en los municipios de la Región de Murcia y, en segundo lugar, mediante un análisis exploratorio espacial, se estudia la evolución en la región de los indicadores que miden las condiciones de habitabilidad con datos proporcionados por los Censos de Población y Vivienda de 2001 y de 2011. Las principales conclusiones son que los valores de los indicadores están distribuidos de forma heterogénea a lo largo de la región, que dichos indicadores están condicionados por las viviendas de los municipios vecinos, que la mayoría de los municipios han mejorado sus indicadores y que existen concentraciones de municipios con viviendas que presentan similares valores en sus indicadores de habitabilidad, lo que sugiere que las políticas y actuaciones públicas deben focalizarse en una extensión superior al término municipal. Este estudio puede servir para la toma de decisiones de los gestores públicos en la planificación de políticas de intervención social, así como para que las trabajadoras y trabajadores sociales puedan actuar sobre la problemática relacionada con las malas condiciones de habitabilidad de las viviendas en zonas urbanas y rurales.

Airborne geographical dispersal of Q fever from livestock holdings to human communities: a systematic review and critical appraisal of evidence

BackgroundQ fever is a zoonotic disease caused by Coxiella burnetii. This bacterium survives harsh conditions and attaches to dust, suggesting environmental dispersal is a risk factor for outbreaks. Spatial epidemiology studies collating evidence on Q fever geographical contamination gradients are needed, as human cases without occupational exposure are increasing worldwide.MethodsWe used a systematic literature search to assess the role of distance from ruminant holdings as a risk factor for human Q fever outbreaks. We also collated evidence for other putative drivers of C. burnetii geographical dispersal.ResultsIn all documented outbreaks, infective sheep or goats, not cattle, was the likely source. Evidence suggests a prominent role of airborne dispersal; Coxiella burnetii travels up to 18 km on gale force winds. In rural areas, highest infection risk occurs within 5 km of sources. Urban outbreaks generally occur over smaller distances, though evidence on attack rate gradients is limited. Wind speed / direction, spreading of animal products, and stocking density may all contribute to C. burnetii environmental gradients.ConclusionsQ fever environmental gradients depend on urbanization level, ruminant species, stocking density and wind speed. While more research is needed, evidence suggests that residential exclusion zones around holdings may be inadequate to contain this zoonotic disease, and should be species-specific.

Más dispersos pero más excluidos. Análisis de la evolución de la diferenciación y exclusión residenciales de los inmigrantes económicos en Andalucía

The important increase that the number of economic foreign immigrants has experienced in the last decade in Andalusia has been characterized, from the spatial point of view, and at least in a number selected of municipalities, by a decrease of the levels of residential differentiation, measured using Dissimilarity Index. Nevertheless, when we refer to moderate residential exclusion, measured using the volume of population according to the condition of the building in which they live, the trend is exactly the opposite one. This is the synthesis of the main findings of the present contribution, obtainde from the comparison of the information corresponding to the Census of Population of 2001 and of the recent Census of 2011.

Ser inmigrante y vivir en España en un contexto de crisis internacional. Análisis crítico de la evolución de las políticas públicas de inmigración y vivienda

El acceso y la permanencia en una vivienda digna constituyen elementos fundamentales en los procesos de inclusión social. Los inmigrantes son un colectivo tradicionalmente vulnerable ante los procesos de exclusión residencial y, desde el origen de la crisis, esta vulnerabilidad se ha visto incrementada, en gran medida por su expulsión del mercado de trabajo. Desde el enfoque de las trayectorias residenciales de los inmigrantes, se ha analizado la situación actual de la exclusión residencial de este colectivo en España. Para ello se han combinado técnicas cuantitativas con revisión de estudios previos y legislaciones. Mediante el análisis cuantitativo realizado con datos procedentes de las principales fuentes estadísticas oficiales, se han analizado las principales problemáticas que afectan a los inmigrantes en relación con la exclusión residencial. Posteriormente, se ha realizado un análisis de la evolución y el impacto de las políticas públicas destinadas a combatir la exclusión residencial de los inmigrantes en España. Finalmente, se presenta un diagnóstico de la situación actual. The access to and the stay in a decent housing are key elements in social inclusion processes. Immigrants are a traditionally vulnerable group to residential exclusion processes and since the beginning of this economic crisis, this vulnerability has greatly increased due to immigrants have been excluded from the labour market. From the approach of the immigrants’ residential trajectories, the current residential situation of immigrants in Spain has been analysed. For that purpose, quantitative techniques and the review of previous studies and legislations have been combined. By the quantitative analysis carried out with data from the official statistical sources, the main problems affecting immigrants in terms of residential exclusion have been analysed. Subsequently, an analysis of the evolution and impact of the public policies aimed at combating the immigrants’ social exclusion in Spain has been carried out. Finally, a diagnosis of the current situation is submitted.

The Value(s) of Space: The Discourses and Strategies of Residential Exclusion in Cape Town and Long Island

This article analyzes the discourses and strategies of residential exclusion in Cape Town and New York. Although representing vastly different regions, both case studies are historically middle-class residential areas that have recently undergone significant immigrant influx. The responses of long-term residents and local governments are explored, in particular, the role of “values” (sociocultural, physical, and economic) ascribed to space by residents in shaping and legitimizing exclusive discourses and practices. The authors conclude that while long-term homeowners express some very “real” and “valid” reasons for exclusionary attitudes, the consequent exclusion of already underprivileged demographic groups is problematic.

Sundown Towns and Counties: Racial Exclusion in the South

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Between 1890 and 1960, thousands of towns across United States drove out their black populations or took steps to forbid African Americans from living in them, creating towns, so named because many marked their city limits with signs typically reading, Nigger, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On You In--. In addition, some towns in West drove out or kept out Chinese Americans, and a few excluded Native Americans or Mexican Americans. developed a little later, most between 1900 and 1968, many of which kept out not only African Americans but also Jews. (1) This is a misunderstood phenomenon, especially as manifested in North. African Americans surely never uprooted by choice, and investigation reveals that most white towns are so by design. In Illinois, for example, 502 towns were all white or almost so, decade after decade; many still are. Research confirms formal and informal racial policies of 219 of them. Of those, 218, or 99.5%, kept out African Americans. About 500 Illinois communities-- two-thirds of all incorporated municipalities larger than 1,000--were sundown towns. Some still are. Oregon, Indiana, and some other northern states show similar proportions. (2) These facts remained hidden because of our cultural tendency to connect extreme racism with South. In reality, sundown towns were rare in most of Dixie, and places they did spread reveal interesting facets of region's racial history after Reconstruction. The later development of sundown suburbs in South emulated northern patterns of race relations. Although we must take note of gated communities now spreading across South, decline of sundown suburbs and towns may show that region is moving beyond municipality-level and countywide residential exclusion at a faster clip than Midwest and Northeast. DEFINING A SUNDOWN TOWN Sundown towns are (or were) all white by design. To determine whether a community is or was a sundown town, considering racial composition is paramount. Towns with no African Americans on their rolls pass this first test, of course, but so do towns with non-household blacks. Izard County, Arkansas, for example, had 191 black residents in 2000, but only two African American households; rest were inmates of state prison. Live-in servants in white households also do not violate taboo against independent black residents. A or county with very few African American households decade after decade, or with a sharp drop in African American populations between two censuses, is a sundown if their absence is intentional. Credible sources must confirm that whites expelled African Americans, or took steps to keep them from moving in. Such local sources as county histories, wpa files, and even centennial coffee-table books may acknowledge that a community drove out its African American population or took steps to ensure that none ever entered. More often, though, residents do not write such things down, but conversation can be revealing. Credible details about what happened, gathered from more than one person, confirm a town's sundown status. Newspaper articles, tax records, or manuscript census can corroborate oral histories. Information from written and oral sources in nearby towns is also valuable. (3) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Towns need not be quite all white to be considered sundown. When Boone County, Arkansas, expelled its African Americans in a 1909 race riot, for example, one remained as a servant to a white family. Alecta Caledonia Melvina Smith boasted she was the best nigger ever born, 'cause all rest was run off. (4) Sometimes sole black resident might be shoeshine boy, living in basement of hotel. White residents invoked such exceptions to exemplify rule to newcomers. Thus, a community could still meet definition of town even with a black household or two if it posted sundown signs or otherwise kept out African American newcomers. …

La influencia de los sistemas de vivienda en las condiciones residenciales de la población inmigrante. Los casos de Barcelona y Amsterdam

Aquesta investigació es qüestiona els factors explicatius i els mecanismes productors de les desigualtats i les diferències en les condicions residencials de la població d’origen immigrant. S’emfasitzen especialment aquells relacionats amb el sistema d’habitatge. Per fer-ho, es duu a terme un estudi comparatiu de les condicions residencials dels immigrants a Barcelona i a Amsterdam. Els resultats mostren que aquests mecanismes i factors són molt diferents en totes dues ciutats. Mentre que a Amsterdam el rol de l’estat és el factor explicatiu clau, a Barcelona aquest protagonisme recau en el mercat. Mostren també que l’impacte sobre l’exclusió residencial és molt més acusat en el cas de Barcelona com a resultat d’aquests mecanismes.

Discursos sobre el hacinamiento: una oportunidad para reflexionar sobre el conflicto

The following article seeks to contribute to the supply of knowledge about social context required by the categories that social intervention professionals use. Delving into the intellectual production related to the phenomena of social exclusion in contemporary societies offers us the opportunity to go more deeply into the relationship between residential exclusion and immigration. Since housing is one of the most highly valued material objects in our society (increasing value in proportion to the restriction placed by the mechanisms of the market on access to housing) and immigrants comprise the group that historically has found greatest difficulty in the use of housing, an analysis of overcrowding as a manifestation of the precarious state of housing provides us the opportunity to reflect on the perception of the public and private space that inhabitants of cities have and on the intercultural relationships that different social groups establish between themselves, as well as the community of social intervention professionals and the foreign population.

The Language of Residential Exclusion

The author addresses the conflictual nature of space and territory–and that control over space is a very clear signifier of power relations in society–by examining events in Cape Town and Farmingville, New York. The fact that these settings have seemingly little to nothing in common conveys the central theme of this paper: attempts at residential exclusion are consistent across space and time, and the rationale behind exclusion, while often seemingly based on ethnic and/or racial grounds, should be rooted in the spatial inequality that is a feature of property relations within capitalist societies.

'Divided Cities' as a Policy-based Notion in Sweden

It is argued in this paper that Swedish policies are undergoing changes in relation to 'geographical thinking'. Traditionally, urban issues have played a less significant role in the national policy domain than have regional issues. The shift towards a greater emphasis on urban issues is based mainly on arguments for equality, indeed on the same basic arguments that have been pushed for decades by advocates of the regional policy domain. The concept of distance, however, is changing from notions of physical distance in regional policy to social distance in the field of urban policy. Three years ago, the Swedish Social Democratic Government set up several committees and commissions. Their purpose was to analyse thoroughly issues concerning housing, immigration, immigrant policies, and social exclusion in the metropolitan areas. These commissions comprised Members of Parliament and experts from universities and central and local public authorities. Most of these commissions have now finalised the work and made their policy recommendations. One of the commissions-the Commission on Metropolitan Areas-called its latest report, published in September 1997, Divided Cities. The commission's main conclusion was that the three major metropolitan areas in Sweden are clearly segregated according to ethnic and socio-economic criteria, but that economic and social segregation-not ethnic-is the basic underlying nature of the division of population groups. Some of the data analysed by the commission are presented here, but some further empirical findings have been added that place their analyses into a different perspective. As we are now witnessing a partial retreat from general welfare policies with more emphasis being placed on selective policies, one of the selective programmes is presented-an area-based policy-that aims to counteract ethnic residential segregation and social exclusion processes. Finally, issues of city planning in the production and reproduction of segregation processes in contemporary Sweden are discussed.

Public Goods and the Politics of Segregation: An Analysis and Cross-National Comparison

Despite the persistent inequality of advanced industrial society, traditional class politics has receded as an influence on policy. One reason stems from the divergent ways consumption and property interests linked to residence qualify the support of privileged citizens for policies to provide public goods. My analysis of these spatial influences focuses on localized provision of urban environmental amenities in nine midsized urban service centers scattered across France, Germany, and the United States. I first separate out analytically distinct hypotheses about effects from neighborhood dominance, residential exclusion, decentralized settlement and jurisdictional opportunities on political and market interests among this group. Cross-national testing then validates these hypotheses across the variety of national states, public policies, political economies, and political cultures in the sample.

Intra-Metropolitan Variation in Earnings and Labor Market Discrimination: An Econometric Analysis of the Atlanta Labor Market

One of the most enduring debates concerning racial differences in earnings is whether housing segregation within metropolitan areas adversely affects the employment opportunities of urban blacks. Two possible negative effects can be listed. First, the decentralization of lower-skilled jobs, combined with the suburban residential exclusion of low income households, may have caused wage rates within the suburban labor market to rise above those paid within the central city. If this is the case, and if housing market discrimination restricts the relative ability of blacks to offer their labor supply to suburban employers, then at least part of the racial difference in earnings can be attributed to housing segregation.' Second, housing segregation may cause private sector labor market discrimination to be more severe within the central city in comparison to suburban areas. As suggested by Becker's taste-for-discriminating model [3], a relatively large black labor supply within the central city may require a lower black-to-white earnings ratio in order to induce prejudiced employers to hire large numbers of black workers. With the workforce of most central cities becoming increasingly black, this may be an important factor in explaining racial differences in earnings. Surprisingly, while variation in discrimination among occupations, regions, industries, and sectors have been examined in some detail, spatial differences in discrimination between the central city and suburbs have largely escaped analysis. In this paper the earnings of private sector workers broken down by occupation, race, and sex are compared between worksite areas encompassing the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. While an extensive literature can be found on interregional differences in earnings, little evidence exists on the spatial variation in wage rates within metropolitan regions. In fact, virtually nothing has been done on this issue since the classic study of the Chicago labor market by Rees and Shultz [19].

The Closing Door: The Supreme Court and Residential Segregation

Abstract Although for many years the United States Supreme Court refused to consider zoning cases, in the past few years it has had to grapple with cases raising exclusionary issues. This article examines recent Supreme Court decisions relating to suburban exclusion. After an examination of the role of the courts, the article discusses the development of doctrines which have increasingly limited the use of the United States Constitution as a wedge to end residential exclusion and segregation. Following this discussion the author closes with a consideration of other available remedies, including federal statutes (such as the Fair Housing Act) and state constitutional provisions.

Prejudice, Orthodoxy and the Social Situation

Prejudice, Orthodoxy and the Social Situation