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CONTESTED LANDSCAPES OF POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS IN SOUTHERN EUROPE Reflections from Athens Vassilis P. Arapoglou Kostas Gounis Contested Landscapes of Poverty and Homelessness In Southern Europe “Firmly anchored in the relevant scholarship Contested Landscapes takes stock of the unsettled state of European homelessness, with special attention to Greece. The authors critically assess extant reports, provide area portraits of overlapping indices of need, and conduct original surveys, interviews and fieldwork. This is sociology with an unquiet heart – tempered but not stilled by reason, data and experience. Impatient with merely interpreting the dossier of unacknowledged need, Arapoglou and Gounis turn their attention to vernacular sites of opposi- tion, improvisation and inclusion.” —Kim Hopper, Columbia University, New York “This book is about homelessness and poverty and the ways their relation is addressed under conditions of severe recession and neoliberal hegemony. Southern European cities are showcases not only of extreme recession condi- tions, lack of welfare policies know-how, imposed –or self-imposed– austerity regimes, but also of community-based alternatives to address social problems. A must-read towards understanding the barriers that obstruct the advancement of sustainable alternatives to poverty management.” —Thomas Maloutas, Harokopio University, Athens “Contested Landscapes is a superb analysis of new geographies of poverty and homelessness in Southern European cities, where IMF/EU policies of austerity have created vast populations of invisible and visible poor people. Combining history, geography, and ethnography, the authors paint landscapes of welfare state devolution, institutional responses to destitution, and communitarian efforts to alleviate exclusion, and homelessness. The refugee crisis throws the book’s already powerful conclusions into high relief.” —Jennifer Wolch, University of California, Berkeley Vassilis P. Arapoglou · Kostas Gounis Contested Landscapes of Poverty and Homelessness In Southern Europe Reflections from Athens Vassilis P. Arapoglou Kostas Gounis Department of Sociology Department of Sociology University of Crete University of Crete Rethymno, Greece Rethymno, Greece ISBN 978-3-319-62451-8 ISBN 978-3-319-62452-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-62452-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017947180 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: © Stephen Bonk/Fotolia.co.uk Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland A cknowledgements The support of the Hellenic Observatory at the European Institute of the London School of Economics and the National Bank of Greece gave us the opportunity to embark on research that led to this book. During his visiting fellowship at the LSE, Vassilis Arapoglou benefited from discus- sions with the members of the Hellenic Observatory and wishes to thank Vassilis Monastioritis for extra hours of academic and friendly conversation. The support of the Hellenic Anti-Poverty Network and the Greek Network for Housing Rights was immense in encouraging their mem- bers to respond to our requests and giving us valuable insights on pol- icy changes. Special thanks to Katerina Poutou, Spyros Psychas, Ioanna Pertsinidou, and Dimitra Soulele. Dimitra Siatitsa assisted us with the organisation of workshops, interviewing, and survey data collection, and Eleftheria Tivikeli prepared the maps in this book. Professor Thomas Maloutas kindly enabled access to the geographic database of the National Statistical Service of Greece and the Greek National Centre for Social Research. We are grateful to Professor Kim Hopper at Columbia University, Dr. Sam Tsemberis and Dr. Ana Stefancic at ‘Pathways to Housing’ Inc., Isabel Baptista at the European Observatory on Homelessness, and Professor Lila Leontidou for their insights during the course of research and for constructive comments on individual chapters. We thank the Editors of the European Journal of Homelessness for permission to use excerpts from a previous publication (Arapoglou, Gounis, and Siatitsa 2015) in Chap. 5 and the anonymous reviewers of the book proposal for their insights. v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Deep thanks to the respondents of the survey and the people we interviewed, especially to the staff of the case studies organisations for sharing with us their valuable experiences. Vassilis coordinated research and fieldwork. Research design and field- work were shared. Vassilis wrote Chaps. 1–6, and 9, and Kostas wrote Chaps. 8 and 7. Spatial and quantitative analyses were undertaken by Vassilis. Qualitative analysis involved intense cooperation. Reviewing each other texts was a way of safeguarding coherence, while Kostas edited the final text. At the time of editing this book, Tzanetos Antypas, a leading figure in anti-poverty and homelessness advocacy, sadly passed away. His inspired vision and pioneering work will be missed. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Hellenic Observatory and the National Bank of Greece that partially funded research. All errors remain the authors’ responsibility. c ontents 1 Introduction 1 2 Landscapes of Homelessness and Poverty in North American and European Cities 15 3 Poverty and Homelessness During the Great Recession and Its Aftermath 41 4 Contested Landscapes of Homelessness in Athens 63 5 Welfare State Rescaling and Austerity Since 2011 77 6 Landscapes of Emergency: Roll-With Poverty Management? 89 7 Problematising Emergency and Poverty Management 105 8 Landscapes of Hope, Experiments with Community Care 117 9 Reflections and Policy Implications 135 vii viii CONTENTS Bibliography 143 Index 145 A cronyms AROPE At Risk of Poverty and Social Exclusion indicator EEA European Economic Area EAPN European Anti-Poverty Network ESF European Social Fund EPAP European Platform against Poverty ETHOS European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion EU-SILC European Union Survey on Income and Living Conditions FEANTSA European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless fio.PSD Italian Federation of Associations for the Homeless GMI Guaranteed Minimum Income GNP Gross National Product HUD [United States] Department of Housing and Urban Development INE Instituto Nacional de Estadística. Spanish National Statistics Institute ISTAT Italian National Institute for Statistics MHE Mental Health Europe NGOs Non-governmental organisations NIMBY Not In My Back Yard NSSG National Statistical Service of Greece NUTS Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics RMI Revenue Minimum d’ Insertion-Minimum Insertion Wage SHA Social Housing Agency ix x ACRONYMS SIP Social Investment Package SSI Social Solidarity Income UNCHS United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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