Citation
(2012), "57% of rough sleepers seek help before the streets", Advances in Dual Diagnosis, Vol. 5 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/add.2012.54105caa.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
57% of rough sleepers seek help before the streets
Article Type: News item From: Advances in Dual Diagnosis, Volume 5, Issue 3
Homeless Link is the only national charity supporting people and organisations working directly with homeless people in England. They represent homelessness organisations among local, regional and national government. As the national collaborative hub for information and debate on homelessness, they seek to improve services for homeless people and to advocate policy change. Through this work, they aim to end homelessness in England.
Homeless Link has recently called on politicians, public and voluntary sector professionals to “Take a Step” to help end rough sleeping at an event held at the House of Commons in London on the 7 March 2012.
With UK Government figures showing a 23 percent increase in the number of rough sleepers in England, Homeless Link has launched a campaign to encourage NHS, council, criminal justice and other professionals to join charities in the drive to prevent people sleeping out.
New research from the umbrella body for homelessness charities indicates that 57 percent of new rough sleepers seek advice or use services before ending up on the streets.
Interviews with 197 individuals found that, in the period between leaving their last home and the first instance of rough sleeping, people sought help from a wide variety of sources:
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27% had accessed day centres, homelessness advice or outreach services.
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26% had accessed council housing departments or social services.
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12% had accessed drug, alcohol, mental health or GP services.
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6% had accessed job centre plus.
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6% had sought advice from family and friends.
Speaking at the launch of the “Take a Step” campaign at the House of Commons today, Matt Harrison, Interim Chief Executive of Homeless Link, said:
On any one night over 2,000 people sleep out. Our recent research suggests that over half of these people would have approached services for help before sleeping on the streets. While we need to do more to encourage people to seek help, it is clear that those who do are not getting the support they need to stay off the streets.
We can stop this. Whether you’re a nurse, police officer, housing professional, politician or a member of the public you can play your part. Join us and help end rough sleeping.
Commenting, Housing Minister Grant Shapps said:
Ending rough sleeping requires all of us to play our part to tackle the range of complex issues that can lead someone to lose their home.
That’s why I will be launching a new national hotline so any member of the public worried about someone sleeping rough can get them the help they need to find a place to stay.
And it’s why I’m backing Homeless Link’s Take a Step campaign, and would urge charities, the police and the health service to come together to tackle rough sleeping.
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In addition, Homeless Link have produced a “Homelessness, mental health and well-being” guide which is aimed at workers and managers in the homelessness sector and is intended to help in understanding and assisting people who have complex needs. The link to the full report can be found on Homeless Link web site (http://homeless.org.uk/mental-health-guide#.T7zYYNR5mK0).
Homeless Link “Complex Lives” research has also shown that nearly half of people who have slept rough have a combined history of substance misuse, institutional care and street activities like begging. It is the first study to systematically reveal the extent to which homelessness amongst single adults is linked with other problems such as mental ill-health, alcohol dependency and experience of institutions such as prison.
Meanwhile their annual survey (Survey of Needs and Provision) 2012 indicates that funding cuts to other services such as mental health are affecting homelessness services because they have fewer services to make referrals to. Availability of drug, alcohol and mental health services have all fallen. Also of note is that homelessness projects delivering mental health services in-house in partnership fell from 1 in 5 in 2009 (22 percent) to 1 in 10 in 2012 (12 percent).
This year’s survey followed 2010 and 2011 with the largest proportion of projects reporting problems with accessing mental health services and the second largest proportion alcohol services. The projects that reported problems with access attributed these to external services being inadequate and clients lacking motivation. Notably, the problems with accessing mental health services were primarily explained in terms of the inadequacy of external services.