The digitization of advice and welfare benefits services: re-imagining the homeless user
Jennifer Harris
Housing Studies, 2020, vol. 35, issue 1, 143-162
Abstract:
Digitization is transforming the way in which people in England access advice and welfare benefits. Face-to-face advice provision is being increasingly replaced by telephone and online services, whilst the online application and management of benefit claims have become mandatory within the introduction of Universal Credit. This paper argues that the current shift to digitization fails to recognize the variation and complexity surrounding homeless people’s use of technology, with homeless people as technology users often placed into homogenizing categories. Based on findings from qualitative interviews and observations carried out with homeless people and voluntary sector organizations, this paper discusses the social and contextual factors affecting homeless people’s use of technology for advice and benefit purposes. The paper highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of homeless people’s use of technology.
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)
Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02673037.2019.1594709 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:chosxx:v:35:y:2020:i:1:p:143-162
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/chos20
DOI: 10.1080/02673037.2019.1594709
Access Statistics for this article
Housing Studies is currently edited by Chris Leishman, Moira Munro, Ray Forrest, Alex Schwartz, Hal Pawson and John Flint
More articles in Housing Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().