Homelessness Research and Policy in Switzerland - A First Country Report Embedded in the UN and European Framework

Abstract

Even today there is little knowledge about the extent of homelessness in Switzerland; there is no legally binding definition of homelessness, and statistics that can be used at national level for profiling this form of poverty are scarce. This paper is based on the “First National Report on Homelessness in Switzerland” (Drilling et al., 2020). The report was motivated by the desire to share currently successful social science based research projects by the authors (especially: first national count; comparability study between Switzerland and Croatia; analysis of politics against homelessness in federalist regimes). In this paper we present findings in order to contribute a sound Swiss perspective to the European landscape of homelessness research and to highlight important future challenges.