Page 64 - IJPS-9-1

International Journal of

Population Studies

PERSPECTIVE ARTICLE
A note on the Düsseldorfer Model for counting

homeless people in a German city

1
Anne van Rießen *, Julia Thissen , and Reinhold Knopp 3
2
1 Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf, Germany
2 Association for Research and Practice Transfer in Social and Cultural Work, Düsseldorf, Germany
3 Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf, Germany

Abstract
This article describes the Düsseldorfer Model which was developed for the city’s
homeless census in 2021. It allows focusing on the number as well as living situations
of homeless people with the objective of analyzing their needs to derive concrete
recommendations for action. A complete quantitative count of homeless people in
the city on a key date was performed according to principles developed together with
the actors of the homeless support system in Düsseldorf. Beyond that, qualitative
interviews afforded insights into the living situation of homeless people from the
user’s perspective. Along with the research methodology, major results are briefly
presented in the article, followed by an outlook with recommendations for action.

Keywords: Full count; Germany; Homelessness; Homeless people counts; Night counts

*Corresponding author:
Anne van Rießen
(anne.van_riessen@
hs-duesseldorf.de) 1. Introduction
Citation: van Rießen, A., There are different approaches to count homeless persons across different countries. For
Thissen, J., & Knopp, R. (2023). example, in the United States, homelessness has regularly been documented nationwide
A note on the Düsseldorfer Model
for counting homeless people in a since 2003, known as a “point-in-time census.” The U.S.-wide count covers homeless
German city. International Journal of persons living “on the streets” without any shelter and homeless persons temporarily
Population Studies, 9(1):58-68. housed in emergency shelters and transitional housing facilities (U.S. Department of
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.397
Housing and Urban Development, 2020). Persons without a permanent address who
Received: October 21, 2022 stay with acquaintances, in a hospital, or in police custody on the key date of the count
Accepted: April 2, 2023 are not included in the study. Moreover, the count takes place at the end of January, a
time of year when homeless people are likely to seek protection in various places and
Published Online: April 13, 2023
therefore cannot be counted either on the street or in shelters (National Law Center on
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). Homelessness and Poverty, 2017).
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the However, in Germany, until 2022, the number of homeless people had been counted
Creative Commons Attribution in different ways but without any uniform nationwide approach for a long time. In
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, addition to the documentation system on homelessness of the Federal Association for
provided the original work is Homelessness (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Wohnungslosenhilfe) and the resulting
properly cited. annual statistical reports and estimates (Lotties, 2021), there are in particular state
Publisher’s Note: AccScience surveys in North Rhine-Westphalia (among others, on hidden homelessness and the
Publishing remains neutral with homeless without accommodation (Brüchmann et al., 2022). With the introduction of
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional the Homeless Persons Report Act, regular statistics on homeless people are expected
affiliations. to be available from 2022 onward (BMAS, 2022). A solid database on homelessness in

Volume 9 Issue 1 (2023) 58 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.397