Single Homelessness: an Overview of Research in Britain
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Single homelessness An overview of research in Britain Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Peter Kemp and Susanne Klinker The•POLICY P P PRESS First published in Great Britain in April 2000 by The Policy Press 34 Tyndall’s Park Road Bristol BS8 1PY UK Tel no +44 (0)117 954 6800 Fax no +44 (0)117 973 7308 E-mail [email protected] http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Publications/TPP © The Policy Press and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2000 Published for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation by The Policy Press ISBN 1 86134 255 1 Suzanne Fitzpatrick is Lecturer in Housing and Social Policy, Peter Kemp is Professor of Housing and Social Policy and Susanne Klinker is a Researcher at the Department of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow. All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has supported this project as part of its programme of research and innovative development projects, which it hopes will be of value to policy makers, practitioners and service users. The facts presented and views expressed in this report are, however, those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation. Acknowledgement The Joseph Rowntree Foundation thanks CRASH, the construction and property industry charity for the single homeless, for its support with this project. CRASH were partners in discussions which led to the Foundation funding this initiative, and have been important members of the Advisory Group which provided guidance to the research team. One of the objectives of the initiative is to make the most robust research information available to agencies who are trying to improve their services to homeless people. CRASH have made this possible by generously supporting the distribution of this work to key agencies. The statements and opinions contained within this publication are solely those of the authors and contributors and not of The University of Bristol or The Policy Press. The University of Bristol and The Policy Press disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any material published in this publication. The Policy Press works to counter discrimination on grounds of gender, race, disability, age and sexuality. Cover design by Qube Design Associates, Bristol Front cover photograph supplied by Mark Simmons Photography Printed in Great Britain by Hobbs the Printers Ltd, Southampton Contents Acknowledgements v •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1 Introduction 1 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 2 The context: a brief history of single homelessness in Britain 3 Introduction 3 The emergence of homelessness 3 The Homeless Persons legislation and homelessness services 3 The growth of homelessness in the 1980s and 1990s 4 The Conservatives’ approach to homelessness 5 The Labour government’s response to homelessness 6 Summary 7 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 3 The nature of single homelessness: definitions and experiences 8 Introduction 8 What is homelessness? 8 Is ‘hidden’ homelessness really homelessness? 9 Homeless people’s definitions 9 Experiences of homelessness 10 Conclusion 10 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 4 The scale of single homelessness 11 Introduction 11 Measuring homelessness 11 The homelessness statistics 13 Trends in homelessness 17 Summary 18 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 5 Causes of single homelessness 19 Introduction 19 Structutal or individual causes? 19 Structural factors: the national picture 19 The geography of homelessness 22 Preventing homelessness at the structural level 24 Summary 25 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 6 Predictors of single homelessness 26 Introduction 26 Characteristics 26 Risk factors 28 Triggers 28 Preventing homelessness at the individual level 28 Summary 29 iii Single homelessness 7 Wider aspects of single homeless people’s lives 30 Introduction 30 Health 30 Employment and training 33 Education 34 Social security benefits 34 Family relationships 34 Friendship networks 35 Crime and the criminal justice system 35 Begging 36 Summary 36 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 8 Meeting single homeless people’s accommodation and support needs 37 Introduction 37 Trends in responses to single homeless people 37 Access to mainstream accommodation 38 Temporary accommodation 38 Combining accommodation and support 39 Support services 42 Local homelessness strategies 43 Self-help initiatives 44 Summary 44 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 9 Conclusions and recommendations 45 Introduction 45 Trends in single homelessness research 45 The quality and coverage of single homelessness research 46 Recommendations 48 And finally... 50 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• References 51 Appendix: The methodology 60 iv Acknowledgements We would like to thank the Joseph Rowntree In addition, the Project Advisory Group helped Foundation for funding this project, and to arrange a meeting with a range of particularly Theresa McDonagh who managed practitioners to discuss the presentation of the the project on the Foundation’s behalf. We are research review. We are very grateful to the also grateful to CRASH, and particularly to Tony following people who took the time to come to Denison and John George, for initiating and this meeting or to give us written comments: supporting this research review. The Project Tom Biddlecombe CRASH Advisory Group offered the research team valuable advice and practical assistance Jenny Backwell Brighton Housing Trust throughout the process. Its members were: Mark Grant Riverpoint, London Steve Waller Shelter James Francis St Botolph’s Project, London Kate Tomlinson Crisis Beverley Knights The Depaul Trust, London Brian O’Callaghan DETR Iain Smith The Cowgate Centre, Jan White DETR Edinburgh Nicholas Pleace University of York Andy Shields St Mungos, London Dominic Fox National Homeless Alliance We have also received considerable support from Les Milner St Basils HA Ltd, our colleagues at the University of Glasgow in Birmingham completing this work. Special thanks are due to Stephen Miller for preparing the Internet Isobel Anderson Stirling University versions of the research outputs. Last, but Andrew Connell Homeless Network certainly not least, we are very grateful to Betty Johnstone for performing the unenviable task of Cathy Havell Centrepoint finalising the pre-publication presentation of all Gavin Corbett Shelter Scotland three outputs of the research review. Andrew Lerigo St Anne’s Centre, Leeds v 1 Introduction Single homelessness is most visible in London used as a shorthand term to cover all homeless and other major cities, but it affects a wide range households without responsibility for dependent of urban, rural and coastal areas. A vast quantity children – childless couples as well as single of research on single homelessness has been people are included. The review covers work conducted over the last decade. Some of this published from 1990 onwards, although the most work has been carried out by national recent material is generally given precedence. homelessness agencies and is well publicised, The appendix to this report outlines the methods but much interesting research has been done by by which the review was accomplished. local agencies and is not widely available to others who may benefit from it. Other sources There are three principal outputs from this of useful material, such as articles in academic review of single homelessness research which journals, are somewhat inaccessible to involve varying degrees of ‘comprehensiveness’: homelessness practitioners. In addition, the • a bibliography which includes all research sheer volume of research and information can be material on single homelessness identified in daunting, particularly to those new to the the review (Klinker and Fitzpatrick, 2000); homelessness field. The Joseph Rowntree • summaries of the 200 most significant pieces Foundation and CRASH (Construction and of research identified in the review (Klinker Property Industry Charity for the Single et al,