‘Without an address, you do not exist’: the administrative invisibility of people experiencing homelessness in Belgium

Burdens on the gateway to the state: Administrative burdens in the registration of people experiencing homelessness in Belgium and the Netherlands

“…Finally, we have applied Ostrom's (2005) Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (IAD) to provide additional insight into administrative burdens and understand these burdens as the consequence of the way both municipal policymakers and street-level bureaucrats responsible for the actual registration deal with institutional incentives and constraints. More specifically, our analysis shows that municipalities face conflicting policy goals due to governance-level mechanisms: they are obligated to include those that are administratively excluded (Robben et al, 2023a) and are responsible for monitoring the quality and reliability of population registrations. Furthermore, they face financial consequences when registering homeless people and making them eligible for local welfare services.…”

“…Another cost observed is the compulsory acceptance of a personal care program when applying for a reference address at a homeless shelter or civil society organization (NL) or at a local welfare office (B). Finally, specific for Belgium are costs related to waiting times for de-registration from the "standard" address registration in case an applicant has recently fallen into a situation of homelessness (see also Robben et al, 2023a). Interviewees mentioned cases where this took up to 6 months.…”

“…Initially created as an instrument for the state to identify and localize people for purposes of taxation and conscription in military service (Scott, 1998), the expansion of welfare states also made formal registrations a sine qua non for citizens to obtain access to social benefits and public services. Having an official identity document and a registered residential address are preconditions for people to be recognized by the state as citizens or residents (Robben et al, 2023a). Consequently, population registries are a crucial mechanism of inclusion and exclusion in modern states (Poulain & Herm, 2013).…”