Document Type : Scientific-Research
Author
Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Quchan Branch, Quchan, Iran
Abstract
Homelessness and public drug use are complex challenges in urban social management, and their sustainable management depends on institutional coordination and continuity of treatment, support, and rehabilitation services. This study aimed to analyze the challenges of the service coordination system for homelessness and public drug use in Mashhad from the perspective of municipal professionals and frontline practitioners. A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 17 professionals and field practitioners involved in social harm management. The analysis yielded 708 initial codes, 25 subcategories, and six main categories: legal and regulatory challenges; organizational and managerial challenges; interorganizational coordination and collaboration challenges; operational, field-level, and infrastructural challenges; treatment, rehabilitation, and post-discharge support challenges; and social, economic, and cultural challenges. The findings indicate that the difficulties within the service system cannot be attributed to shortcomings at a single stage or within a single organization. Rather, the interaction of challenges across collection, transfer, admission, treatment, rehabilitation, and post-discharge support disrupts continuity throughout the service process. From the participants’ perspectives, interorganizational coordination problems, operational and infrastructural constraints, inadequate rehabilitation and post-discharge care, and persistent socioeconomic conditions make sustainable exit from the cycle of homelessness and public drug use difficult for some individuals. Reducing repeated returns to the service system therefore requires a shift from fragmented, short-term interventions toward an integrated and continuous system characterized by clear allocation of responsibilities, continuity of services beyond discharge, and stronger social reintegration.
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