How mental health establishes ‘vulnerability’ as the basis for support from a housing helpline: self-descriptions and diagnostic categories

In the UK, there is a greater prospect of receiving housing support if one is considered ‘vulnerable’—that is, at unusual risk. However, there can be a disparity between applicant and provider in the assessment of whether the applicant is indeed vulnerable. We investigate how one particular criterion, mental health, is constructed to reach the required threshold of “vulnerability.” On the one hand, callers brought up their mental health either (a) before articulating their reason for calling, or (b) to strengthen their entitlement to support. Call-takers, however, asked about callers’ mental health (a) as part of routine questioning or (b) as subsequently occasioned queries. Our findings show that, and how, mental health and ‘vulnerability’ formulations are produced, organized, and negotiated at the interactional (and institutional) boundaries of subjective experience and formal medical diagnosis, and in ways that afford or constrain the assistance offered. Data are in British English.