In this article we analyse the transitions and impacts of regional social inclusion policies in disadvantaged urban areas in Andalusia conducting a longitudinal study (1989-2018). To do this, we analysed the regulations that have specifically arisen on social inclusion, weighing them against the perceptions of actors who took part in designing and implementing these policies. The results of the analysis allow us to present effective practices and approaches in these neighbourhoods. We conclude that social inclusion policies have swung from welfare approaches and insertion models based on income-employment guarantee programmes. Both approaches reveal new limitations in today’s context of job destruction and precarity.