The theoretical part of this master's thesis deals with rising numbers of homeless people from different national and ethnic groups in Slovenia as well as the rights and issues they are facing with regard to their legal status while trying to integrate in the host country. The goal was to explore the immigration process and integration of immigrants in the Slovene environment, the level of risk of immigrants becoming homeless, and the organisation and strategies of the state and relevant NGOs aiming to solve the issue. The master's thesis was founded on various pieces of research conducted by the European Observatory on Homelessness (EOH), which forms part of the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA), and on various relevant documents and information available in Slovenia and elsewhere.
The research was based on a qualitative approach. The data was collected using a semi-structured interview with five people who had experience with homelessness. The data was processed with content analysis by means of open coding.
The empirical part, which was based on the interviews with five immigrants who had experience with homelessness, aimed at exploring the reasons for their arrival to Slovenia, their integration process and related issues, and their assessment of various aspects of life in Slovenia (i.e. social assistance, assistance from the state and NGOs, housing, health and employment policy etc.). A new and fairly neglected problem that is unique to Slovenia emerged during the interview – the erased.
The purpose of the research is to point out that this vulnerable group has been neglected in Slovenia in the sense of insufficient assistance. In turn, that could help shift the focus on this extremely difficult issue.
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