Integration -and its synonym inclusion -is emphasised in the Western welfare states and in the European Union in particular. Integration is also a central topic in social sciences and in current mental health and homelessness research and practice. As mental health care has shifted from psychiatric hospitals to the community, it has inevitably become involved with housing and integration issues.

This article explores women-specific social work among homeless people in the context of the Finnish welfare state from the viewpoint of homeless women themselves. The point of departure in the research is whether homeless women located themselves as a part of the service, i.e. whether they thought they were users of the service, and whether they considered women-specific service necessary at all. The data consists of 17 client interviews, using the concept 'interpretative repertoires'.The repertoire 'Suits all homeless women' is based on an idea of the women being a homogeneous group and homeless women needing a particular gender-based service. The repertoire 'Suits none' is based on the welfare state idea, an idea of citizens as a homogeneous group needing the provision of universal services for all homeless people with gender playing no significance. These end points of the interpretative repertoires can be described as a general discussion on the basis of providing these services within a welfare state. The interpretative repertoires 'Suits me', 'Suits others' and 'Does not suit me' represent a postmodern individual interpretation of women-specific work. In these interpretative repertoires, there is an emphasis on diversity among women with individually tailored services and need-based services. The existence of five different interpretative repertoires shows that there is no single way of experiencing homelessness as a woman, there is no single way women experience a service constructed for them and there is no single perspective for organising a service that would suit them.