Organisering og planlegging av boligsosialt arbeid i norske kommuner

Abstract

The social housing field can be characterized as fragmented. Firstly, the responsibility for different elements of social housing policy is often divided across multiple administrative units. Secondly, the social housing measures include a wide range of services geared towards diverse user groups. For instance, services like municipal housing, state and municipal housing allowance, housing grants and mortgages and in-kind housing services are accessible for the elderly, homeless people, disadvantaged households and refugee households, who have different needs in terms of housing. Social housing measures are therefore difficult to isolate from each other – they inevitably interact with many other initiatives. The main purpose of this report is to provide a better insight into and understanding of what processes promote or hamper the management of social housing in a municipality. We base our findings on an exploratory case study of four selected municipalities. Our analysis provides no basis for recommending one organizational model over another or for recommending an exhaustive list of measures local authorities should take when they plan or redesign their social housing efforts. The organization and planning of social housing must be adapted to the local situation. Municipalities should therefore prepare strategic plans based on their particular social housing challenges and tailor the corresponding solutions. The main challenge within the area of social housing is to establish an organizational structure with well-defined responsibilities and guidelines for the implementation of various tasks. This requires that the municipalities formulate operational goals and ambitions. Preparing a housing policy plan will be of great importance – both to articulate the objectives of the local housing policy and to allocate responsibilities for the implementation of different measures. Our findings suggest that the responsibility for this strategic work should be centralized and placed at the strategic level in the municipal organization. The task force should be given a real mandate to develop, implement and evaluate the various social housing initiatives and working practices. Realization of plans will require adequate funding in annual budgets. It is therefore important that the political level is involved early in the preparation of plans. This may help clarify the plan's strategic basis. Furthermore, this could facilitate the inclusion of housing policy in other municipal governance documents.

Det boligsosiale feltet er et fragmentert felt. Boligsosiale tiltak involverer mange ulike tjenestefelt og de tilgodeser mange kategorier av brukere. For kommunene innebærer dette koordineringsutfordringer av både strategisk og operativ art. I denne studien er det de strategiske utfordringene som er vektlagt: Hvordan kan kommunene overvinne utfordringene knyttet til å etablere en horisontal (mellom ulike tjenesteenheter) og vertikal samordning (mellom ulike forvaltningsnivå) av den boligsosiale virksomheten? I rapporten redegjøres det for hvordan fire utvalgte kommuner har forsøkt å etablere en helhetlig og tverrfaglig tilnærming til de boligsosiale utfordringene. Studien har hatt en eksplorerende karakter. Det primære formålet med undersøkelsen har vært å få en bedre innsikt i og forståelse av hva som kan fremme og hemme styringen av det boligsosiale arbeidet i en kommune.