De/Medicalisation is not the problem: On the idea of a "law clinic" for people experiencing housing instability and homelessness.

Abstract

De/Medicalisation has become a staple of medical sociology to make sense of social issues at the intersection of health and illness. Broadly understood as the processes through which issues assume qualities that locate them within or beyond the remit of medicine, de/medicalisation continues to inform theoretical innovation and empirical research. The emergence of law clinics for people experiencing housing instability and homelessness offers a case study of how de/medicalisation can enrich the analysis of problems at the interstices of health and social care. Law clinics, often co-located or attached to primary and tertiary health care settings, aim to augment housing, health, wellness and social care offerings. Yet, this proximity - conceptual and spatial - may inadvertently reify understandings of homelessness as an individual pathology while aiming to offer pragmatic support to people who are otherwise excluded from core institutions in society. We present findings from a Roundtable with participants from law, social and health care professions and interviews with people experiencing housing instability (n = 27), lawyers, GPs and social workers (n = 10) in an Australian urban centre. In the vexed dynamics of the law clinic in-between different professions, de/medicalisation emerges as boundary-making and boundary-crossing to negotiate responsibilities, classify problems and reconcile competing logics.