The gap-mending concept is an analytical tool that helps teachers and researchers in social work to reflect upon what, in their practice, increases, maintains or mends gaps between professionals and service user groups. The article suggests a theoretical background on how gaps in social work practice can be challenged. This includes theories about power and recognition. It then moves on to describe the development of gap-mending strategies in research and education at the School of Social Work at Lund University. Lund University was one of three partners that took the initiative to the international network PowerUs that has focused on gap-mending strategies in social work education. The authors have been working over 10 years in collaboration with service user participation in the education of social workers and in different research projects. In the article, they give examples of gap-mending practices and of challenges that they have faced. The first example is an experimental course that has been given since 2005 where social work students study together with students from service user organizations in a university course. The second example is an attempt to combat homelessness in several Swedish municipalities. Supported by researchers, the development project has been a collaboration between homeless groups, politicians and social workers.

Research shows that resistance to change might occur in organisations that implement new evidence‐based practices (EBP). Formal and informal structures may work to retain traditional interventions, potentially counteracting the implementation process. Little is known about the de‐implementation of traditional practices to leave room for and enhance the implementation of EBPs. This study uses implementation structures as a theoretical framework with the aim of analysing implementation and de‐implementation factors among Swedish municipalities that provide support to vulnerable clients through the Housing First (HF) or Individual Placement and Support (IPS) interventional programmes. This cross‐sectional study is based on a digital survey and collects descriptive and qualitative data from three organisational levels in each responding municipality in Sweden. The descriptive statistics and qualitative texts were analysed using content analysis. The results show the incidence of HF and IPS, if and to what extent the interventions are going to be developed further, and partially, describe the organisational settings of HF and IPS. Organisational factors shown to have a negative impact on the implementation of HF and IPS were identified. The mapping of professional experiences from the intersection between HF or IPS and organisations such as the Swedish Health Insurance Office, the social services, and other similar welfare organisations, indicates that the realisation of HF and IPS requires expanded collaboration, which raises the consideration as to whether it is necessary to de‐implement broader frameworks and guidelines in these organisations to provide the prerequisites that enable the implementation of EBPs.

The aim of this article is to develop theory and generate knowledge about the challenges and possibilities of co‐producing change in a social housing programme. The purpose of the project was to implement the Housing First philosophy in the social housing programme in the city of Helsingborg, Sweden. The aim was also to create opportunities for service user involvement. Several innovative measures were implemented in order for these changes to occur from autumn 2016 to summer 2017. The social services commissioned a university course on which social workers and their clients studied together on equal terms to create project plans for the further development of their own workplace. A “Future” workshop was held by the researchers with representatives from all the different housing options (the shelter, transitional housing, category housing, Housing First apartments), both clients and social workers. Repeated dialogue meetings were conducted at the different housing options to discuss how service user involvement could be developed and to discover new ways of participation. This article is based on a strengths‐based perspective using the theoretical discussions on social traps, as well as the concepts of enabling and entrapping niches. We show the importance of social workers identifying and supporting missing heroes—service users who want to participate and be involved in co‐producing change. We also show that if an organisation is not prepared for the initiated changes, there is a risk of disappointment due to awakened expectations that are not fulfilled. Building trust is also an important component to emerge from the material, but we also found that change processes can be initiated that continue and have impact beyond the initial project’s goals.

There has been an increased interest in Housing First services in Sweden over the past few years. The model was first developed in New York by the organization Pathways to Housing. The growing interest in Housing First as a response to ending long-term homelessness is seen not only in the US and Canada, but also in Europe. One reason for this is the mass of evidence showing high housing retention rates with Housing First services as compared with traditional services. This article aims to analyse the drivers and barriers that hinder or facilitate the scaling up of Housing First pilots. The research question is: Is it possible to incorporate lessons learned from the Housing First pilot into the existing system of homelessness services? In other words: Is it possible to put new wine into old bottles? This is an ongoing research project on Housing First services in Sweden, with the specific focus on the Housing First pilot in the city of Helsingborg. The empirical material consists of in-depth interviews and focus group interviews with project managers, support workers and other stakeholders. The main results show that leadership is essential and a key driver for the scaling-up process. Another driver is the importance of repeating the vision and goals of the idea to keep the story alive. A third key driver is that the staff has identified the Housing First approach as a relative advantage and believes in the idea. The main barrier to the scaling-up process lies in the structures that maintain and surround the social housing programme.

Social innovation in the context of social services is generally portrayed as a way of doing things better by directly involving individuals and communities in the design and co-production of such services. In this chapter, we argue that social innovation has an ambivalent character. We identify mainstream and radical policy discourses on social innovation that share the view that social innovation is a positive social phenomenon but differently outline the meaning of social innovation. Four case studies on local welfare initiatives for the provision of social and health services in Finland, France, Greece and Sweden highlight how the values and aims of social innovation that have been mobilized are flexible and vary according to the context in a pragmatic manner. In addition, the four cases show how institutionalization and up-scaling are a major challenge, with sustained societal change remaining partial and somewhat unreachable for local welfare initiatives. We conclude that social innovation can be differentiated on the basis of who the key actors are and what the role (and power) of citizens is in relation to institutional actors and the dominant social order.