Navigating constraints and opportunities

The multiple roles of social workers in local housing development

Abstract

This study explores the multiple roles of social workers by connecting the concept of the broker from critical development literature with the notion of the street-level bureaucracy. It examines how social workers navigate the tensions between providing care and enforcing control, seeking to balance often conflicting interests. Beyond their primary duties, they also serve as implementers of social development programmes. Through a case study of a small town’s housing policies and related development initiatives, the paper analyses the extent to which social workers can express their professional opinions within exclusionary poverty governance that emphasises individual responsibility. It looks into the resources they leverage for their clients while meeting the expectations of local decision-makers and the broader community. The study questions whether their discretionary autonomy enables professional resistance and the creation of everyday alternative practices, and whether it can challenge exclusionary policies at both local and national levels.