The Young and Homeless of Denmark

Jesper Ostergaard looks like any other young Dane. Tall, blonde, bearded and wearing black. The only initial difference one might spot is that he sits on the floor over two folded copies for MetroXpress whereas many other youngsters swiftly pass him by to catch a train to work or a bus home. Aarhus central station is one of those limited places where one can see never ending crowds systematically moving through almost most hours of the day, all days of the week, all year around. But there are some faces which you can find constantly around the station. These are the homeless people of Aarhus. One of them is 24-year-old Jesper, who drinks coffee for dinner, loves cats and wants to buy a red cap saying ‘Make America great again’ as “it would be great conversation starter”.

The young man is a part of the rising homeless population in Denmark. The latest national survey showed an increase of 23 per cent in the homeless population in Denmark when compared to the year 2009. Out of this, a sharp increase of 80 per cent was seen in the number of homeless youths between the age of 18-24 between 2009-2013. This is the age group which should ideally be a part the workforce but surprisingly falls through the safety net the country provides. In this scenario, it would be easier to blame government for not coming up with initiatives that put these youngsters into a home, with a steady job and a wholesome support system. But before following the obvious ritual of pointing fingers, let us take a closer look into what homelessness in Denmark means.

Unlike many other countries, even the U.S., Denmark considers homelessness beyond not having a legal permanent house. That condition is labeled as “houseless”. Homelessness in a country like Denmark, which has solid welfare system, is considered a behavioral problem rather than an economic one. Many definitions exist in the academic literature, some help government and some the homeless.

One definition that comes close to describing the condition of the homeless youth in Denmark is the one Soren Juul, researcher came up with. It says, “They include young people who are rootless and who are primarily attached to groups belonging to the street environment. Nominally they may have an address at their parents’ or at an institution, but the crucial difference is that they actually spend little time there and that there are no adults – i.e. parents, schools, institutions and social welfare authorities – with whom they have a binding relation". The emphasis being on having no binding relation or concrete support system to fall back on despite having a family.

The Danish government, however bit late in the day (2008), initiated many specialized programmes to eradicate homelessness at every level. It adopted ‘Housing First’ strategy to fight homelessness through evidence-based intervention. For this they had three methods: Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), Individual Case Management (ICM) and Critical Time Intervention (CTI). However, they were actually implemented by the start of 2010. In one of his key studies regarding the ‘Housing first’ and its effects, Danish researcher Lars Benjamisen says, “In the 8 municipalities with a full Strategy programme, homelessness increased by 4 percent on average. In the 9 municipalities with a floating support programme homelessness increased by 11 percent on average, whereas in the remaining 81 municipalities, which had not participated in the programme, homelessness increased by a staggering 43 percent on average”. (2009-2013)

Hence, one can say that these government initiatives did work, however not with 100 per cent success rate. Then why is it that a part of young Danish population stays homeless? This loophole is generally buried in most of the literature available on Danish homelessness. Even if it is dealt with, the problem is generally oversimplified by blaming drug abuse, alcohol addiction or mental-illness. People who are or have worked with homeless population for decades, either refuse to acknowledge the fact some youths actually do not want to enter mainstream Danish society or have an unclear idea about this self-exclusion.

Poul Struve Nielsen, editor, Hus Forbi (a street newspaper in Denmark that is sold by the homeless persons ), who has worked with this section of society for over a decade, believes that, “(Homeless) people often tell you that its is their own choice- unless you are a close friend. Then they tell you their life sucks. Would you tell a stranger that you are a failure that cannot find a job to sustain your own living or actually not even a place to live? I have never (emphasis) met any young person who said: ‘When I grow up I want to be a mentally ill, homeless, drug addict. You do not live the life of a homeless if you have any other option. Nobody does.” While Poul might be right in saying that nobody wants to grow up and be a homeless person, one has think what about people who have been homeless even before they grew up, before they were adults, when they were just in their early teens?

In the same study, Benjaminsen says, that it is known fact that many youths ie people between the age group of 18-24 are known to the system. They are the people who have been receiving social intervention since childhood and often have weak family ties, social networks and most importantly are ‘system-tired’.

This term which is uncommon in literature available about homelessness in Denmark and is non-existence in common narrative formed around this specific section of homeless population. Being ‘system-tired’ means that “they have a long history of social interventions, and show resistance to receiving further support and may have withdrawn from the support system. Therefore it can be a challenge to establish contact, build a relationship, and maintain contact and motivation for further interventions”. The possible reason of omission of this term can be that its hard to assess why exactly an individual would refuse welfare assistance and choose to stay on the streets.

Thomas Medom, member of Aarhus city council and Political Director of SF (Aarhus), says that one of key reasons behind rising number of young homeless population is individualism with its increasing pressure and demands and admitted knowing a number of youths who did not respond to any of the government initiatives. Although, was unable to give an insight into who exactly these people and why do they choose to stay homeless.

“It’s not a comfortable life. Not even remotely. But I don’t want to be disappointed again, ” says 21-year-old Steffen Damgaard. He says that he know too many homeless youngsters like him who participate in initiatives like ‘Housing first’ strategy but after a while either failed to retain the house provided due to shortage of income or are kicked out eventually. Steffen does not go into much detail why he has not enrolled into any initiative in last two years but simply says, “I know very well how this works. I would like to have a job someday but I don’t want to be part of you know…(mumbles) this…whole process.” He says that he has his people in Viborg, and by “people” does he mean a family or friends or just a group of homeless youths like him, it remains unclear.

His disappointment is not completely invalid though. An SFI study actually shows that more than one in four of the young homeless never got housed despite being attached to a support programme. The corresponding figure is only 8 percent amongst persons 25 years or older. Of those who become housed most stay housed, but 9 percent of the total group of 18-24 year olds lost their housing; 5 percent were not re-housed, compared to 3 percent of those aged 25 years and older.

A stereotype when it comes to homeless population is that majority of them are either addicts or suffer from mental illness. This stereotype, unfortunately, doubles as a a key reason behind people actually choosing to stay homeless. One in three of the young homeless are reported to be mentally ill substance users while one in four of the homeless youth are reported to have neither a mental illness nor a substance abuse. To find whether the youngsters who choose to stay on the streets are doing it so because of the substance abuse, addicts, mental-illness or is it a genuine lifestyle choice, one has extensively interview every person who fails into this category assuming that they are not under denial. And this task is near to impossible to accomplish. So when we look at people like Jesper or Steffen, what should we assume about their lifestyles.

Jesper, life Steffen, has been on streets from last 3.5 years. Although his reason is clumsy as best. He has lived in different parts of Denmark, including Odense, Esbjerg and Randers, but has chosen Aarhus as his longest stay. When asked about where his family home is, he goes into a long, textbook philosophical explanation what “home” actually means. But after eleven minutes of rambling, he admits that he misses his younger sister, who is 17-year-old now. “I am thankful, she does not study here (Aarhus). Otherwise I will have to move again.” Coming from a broken home with financial difficulties, Jesper has stayed in temporary housings for almost 2 years. “It was a rough experience, because the transitional houses where I was staying had many addicts. Its difficult to live with them and be part of their group. I’m more comfortable here. I interact with international students all the time since I don’t look too shabby to be spoken to, ” he chuckles.

Their self-exclusion might make general public as well as the government feel guilt-free but one has dig deep as to what happened in their childhood or early teenage years that they preferred to live outside the Danish society. Government’s strategies, like ‘Housing First’ did not fair well in Denmark so far but might work if pushed harder by including more nuanced initiatives. “Homelessness has actually increased during the Strategy period, albeit much less in the Strategy municipalities than in the non-participating municipalities. A range of barriers at both micro and macro level explain this development,” Bejaminsen says in his study.

To expect government to provide special attention to each and every young homeless person, would be unfair. Hence what best they can do is make these initiatives more lucrative to the youths who are ‘system-tired’. It is simply a term for people who are disappointed, unmotivated and direction-less. They are the victims of complex multidimensional social exclusion, although they feel that it is their own decision, there are always contributing factors like low education, difficult family life, no support system outside the groups with people having similar habits that might include addiction and other forms of mental illness or may be its simply the reverse side of exclusion by the society which attaches a stigma to homelessness. Or combination of these factors that somehow convince individuals like Jesper and Steffen that they can never part of the Danish society so why to to even try?

Denmark has a quite a low percentage of homeless persons when compared to many other European countries but at the same time it has one of the strongest welfare system. Hence, the gap between the help provided and help received, is baffling. When one thinks of Denmark, one imagines what would the (second) happiest country in the world would have? Sound economy, good education system, hygge and lots of bikes. But no one associates homelessness with Denmark. But its there and its increasing. No world ranking can compensate for that.

When asked why does he drink coffee for dinner, Jesper says, “It helps me in staying up and enjoy the night sky”. He quickly shrugs his shoulder and in all seriousness admits, “I go around this area for dumpster diving. That’s my breakfast. And then I sleep in the late afternoon. That’s the peak hour here at the station. It helps in avoiding people”

Its 3:10 p.m. He has put down the cardboard sitting besides him -“hjemlos”.

It’s nap time.