| Abstract [eng] |
The topic of this thesis is "The experience of social housing residents and their relations with the community: the case of Vilnius Pilaitė micro-district". The aim of the thesis is to analyse the experience of the residents of social housing in Vilnius Pilaitė micro-district and their relations with the local community. 1) define the theoretical concept of social housing, 2) identify the problems of social housing residents' integration into the community and the possibilities of their solution, 3) empirically investigate the experience of social housing residents in the Pilaitė micro-district. The methods used in the study are: analysis of scientific literature and documents, focus group discussion, semi-structured interviews and qualitative data analysis using the induction method. The theoretical part of the study establishes that social housing is non-commercial housing provided by the state or public institutions for vulnerable, low-income groups of people. In Lithuania, housing policy follows a liberal model, with low state involvement and social support only in exceptional cases. This approach leads to severe social exclusion, stigmatisation and ineffective integration into communities. The results of the empirical research showed that the residents of Pilaitė social housing feel excluded from the community, experience stigmatisation both in real and virtual environment, and their social ties between different social groups are weak. The study highlighted the need to strengthen community cohesion, improve infrastructure and promote participatory social work practice. Keywords: social housing, community, stigmatisation, integration, Pilaitė, community social work. |
