Abstract

In the recent years, we have experienced an increase of young homeless people in Denmark and Scandinavia, which has led to an increased focus on that particular topic. Politically, a number of social political initiatives have been tried, including the initiative financed by the rate adjustment pool, The homeless-strategy.
The homeless-strategy contains four major aims, which all together states that no citizens are necessitated to live on the street, and that stays at care homes and shelters should not exceed tree to four months for those citizens that are ready to be installed in there housing. A solution of the citizen’s housing situation should be arranged prior to release from prisons or discharge from hospitals et cetera.
The homeless-strategy has, regarding the young population, the aim that no young people should stay at care homes, but be offered alternative solutions.

The aim of this Master thesis project, is to get an insight into the young homeless peoples own perspectives, including their own opinions and experiences, in regards to their current life situa-tion as homeless. We have decided to base our thesis on the young persons’ own perspective in order to gain insight to the overall issue of homelessness, based on their stories. Regarding that, it has to be mentioned that this particular master thesis is not about the definition of being homeless, but about the young homeless people's own life-stories.
The young people's life-stories presented in this master thesis have helped us understanding what choices and reasons lay behind their homeless positions. Additionally, we learn about how the young people manage their lives and every day, which also gives us insight into their dreams and future perspectives.

The empiric foundation of this master thesis is based on four life-stories, which are all made from a phenomenological point of view to ensure the young people's subjective perspectives and opinions about their situations and their life-story. A hermeneutic method is used in the analysis of the four life stories, including Antonovsky's theories about coping and theory regarding life stories.
The analysis has led to a more theoretic interpretation of the life stories and through this, we are able to point at childhood-situations and family-patterns as two major causes for their homeless life. Additionally, facing the social offices and suffering from various mental disorders and disturbances also play an important role on their situation as homeless.

The young homeless people have utilized various mastering strategies. The strategies were part-ly collective, partly individual, and they all contributed in one way or another to the pattern, with which the young homeless handle their homeless situation.
At the end of the analytical part of the master thesis, we get insight into the young people's dreams and hopes for the future, which in all cases are directed towards getting a "normal" life with a job, house and family. Their future perspectives are, however, highly affected by their current situation and the past that they are now a part of. They are telling their life-stories from their current positions leading to a highly hypothetical view of their futures, as well as of their pasts.

The investigation presented in this master thesis illustrates four life stories of four young home-less people. Even though the stories reveal several common features, differences and varieties are also shown. These life-stories are parts of the general youth-situation in Denmark, which is highly affected by social political changes and the increased unemployment rate among young people.