Occupational and residential trajectories of the homeless and how these interact

Pascale Dietrich-Ragon, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Delphine Remillon, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Since the 1990s, the homeless have been a recurring topic in the media. Here, we use a new French statistical survey, “Sans-Domicile 2012”. In a context of an increasing number of homeless, it is important to improve our knowledge of the processes by which people are excluded from the housing market and see if any new mechanisms are operating. Among factors or events associated with losing normal accommodation, loss of employment is probably one of the most crucial elements. We look closer at this point and analyse critical transitions in occupational and residential trajectories and how these interact. First, we describe the interactions, on the basis of data on residential and occupational transitions during the 12 months preceding the survey. Is the loss of housing the consequence or cause of the loss of a job? Although we look mainly at employment, we also pay attention to other life events and examine interactions with the standard socio-demographic variables (age, gender, origin). Second, we focus on a particular situation that has recently become more common: people with a job but without normal housing. This specific population group raises again the question of the relationship between occupational and residential trajectories. What obstacles prevent them having normal housing? Is it mainly due to the type of job held (low income, part-time, short contract) or other life events?