Social policy & housing. refugees, asylum seekers and the homeless Essay

Social policy & housing. refugees, asylum seekers and the homeless - Essay Example William Beveridge identified five key problems that the society faces and stressed the need for elimination of the Giants as he called them. These vices include ignorance, squalor, idleness and disease. His report known as The Social Insurance and the Allied Services was published in 1942 and issued to parliament for consideration (Groves, Murie and Watson 2007). He had proposed the assistance of the working class to the dependent group of the society - those who are working are to save some amount of their salary to assist the needy people such as the unemployed, the sick, widows and widowers, retired and the orphans. By doing this, Beveridge was convinced that the welfare of the state would be met. However, this can not be achieved without proper social policy. Social policy is linked with legislation and social work practice intricately. Social policy is the result of input from various sectors of the society and usually entails wide consultations to address an issue in the society. This is then underpinned in law, thus bring in the legislation aspect. For instance, social services have statutory child care and protection roles which lead to involvement with homelessness and housing policy and legislation (Stewart and Stewart 1992, p. 76). According to the Department for Social Development (2011), social policy streamlines the law to reflect changing social attitudes and making it responsive to the society. Social workers not only need to operate within the law, but also understand social policy in their areas of practice in order to maintain social work values. Social policy also helps social workers to comprehend political and ethical questions on responsibility and also understand individual and societal rights (Krieger and Higgins 200 2, p. 758). The current British housing and urban policy classifies housing according to tenure; owner occupation, housing from local authorities, registered social landlords and private rented housing.