Information About Homelessness

St Mungo's Projects
St Mungo's runs 63 accommodation projects with 1287 beds for adult homeless people, a day centre and 12 job and training schemes. (18/4/01) This section gives information about our projects, with contact details where appropriate.
Hostels All our 11 hostels are open 24 hours a day, and offer residents food, shelter and companionship. While there is no time limit to a resident's stay, hostels are intended to be temporary until more appropriate accommodation can be found. Almost all hostel residents have slept rough during their lives. While in a hostel, residents are assigned a member of staff (a keyworker) to help them, are treated for any mental and physical health problems they may have and are helped to find more permanent housing. Most hostels are permanent, but some are open for a few months. The hostels where we accept all homeless people without a referral through an agency (direct access) are listed here.
Supported Housing St Mungo's runs 45 supported housing schemes, accommodating over 500 beds men and women. Hostel residents who are capable of living more independently than in a hostel are offered places here.The projects consist of shared housing, group homes, cluster flats and independent flats. Tenants are expected to cook, clean and shop for themselves, but members of staff visit regularly to help with practical matters. Depending on the needs of the tenants, staff might be based on-site, or might visit weekly. Some of the schemes specialise in housing those with mental health problems, heavy drinkers and those who are elderly. More on our Supported Housing
High Care Homes St Mungo's runs seven high care homes with beds for 156 residents. Care homes are smaller than most hostels, with a higher ratio of staff to residents, allowing staff more time to devote to residents. This is because residents have serious mental and physical health problems and are unable to look after themselves. Residents stay in care homes for months or years. Care homes are partly funded by local authorities under the Community Care system. For more on our care homes, click here
Contact and Assessment Teams These teams are responsible for searching the streets in defined areas of London to offer advice to rough sleepers on how to get accommodation. They can take people to accommodation directly if there is a vacancy. More on our Contact and Assessment Teams
Day centre Our day centre is run to give homeless people a place to come during the day where they can get shelter and companionship. They are also given advice on where to find accommodation. More on our day centre
Specialist teams Our specialist teams help people with mental health, alcohol and drug problems. They ensure that residents get the proper treatment from the Health Service and also that where appropriate St Mungo's provides care. This may be counselling or treatment in one of our specialist units in our hostels. For more on our Specialist teams, click here
Resettlement and Community Support These teams aim to take people from homelessness projects, resettle them into their own flats, and help them to settle in. More on our Resettlement and Community Support
STEPS (Skills Training, Employment and Placements Service) St Mungo's offers more help to people seeking jobs and training than any other homelessness organisation in the country. It offers an enormous range of options, from an informal activities scheme to a mobile careers service. It helps more than a thousand people each year. More on our STEPS
Headquarters St Mungo's has the full range of admin, specialist and management staff needed to run a modern organisation.

From: http://www.mungos.org/



A Brief History of Homelessness
For as long as historical records have been kept, Britain has had a homelessness problem. As far back as the 7th century, the English king Hlothaere passed laws to punish vagrants. William the Conqueror forbade anyone to leave the land where he worked. Edward the First ordered weekly searches to round up vagrants.
The numbers of vagrants has risen and fallen, and precise figures are hard to come by, but we know that 16th century estimates put the numbers of vagrants at 20,000 or more. And it was in the 16th century that the state first tried to house vagrants rather than punish them. It began introducing bridewells, set up to take vagrants in and train them for a profession - in reality dirty and brutal places. By the 18th century workhouses replaced the bridewells, but these were intended to discourage over-reliance on state help;at best they were spartan places with meagre food and sparse furnishings - at worst they were insanitary and uncaring places. Residents at one workhouse are pictured above breaking stones. Below is a photograph of the dining room of one East End workhouse.
The successor to the workhouse was the spike (dormitory housing provided by local boroughs), which was familiar to George Orwell, who stayed in them while researching poverty in Britain.
Some of the more punitive aspects of the workhouses were missing from spikes, but the standard of housing was basic. In the 1930s there were 17,000 people in spikes in the country, and 80 were found sleeping rough during a street count in London.
It was in the 1960s that the nature of homelessness changed and public concern grew. From a post-war low of six people found sleeping rough in London in 1949, the numbers began growing. Cathy Come Home, the drama about homelessness, helped raised awareness of the problem. Organisations like Shelter and St Mungo's started up. St Mungo's began housing some of the hundreds sleeping rough in the capital.
By the 1980s around 20,000 single homeless people were living in accommodation for homeless people in London (now provided by charities and housing associations rather than the state). Yet, the numbers on the streets of London, for example, had risen to more than 1,000.
The reasons for this included a change in benefits stopping 16 and 17 year-olds from claiming housing benefits - with no way of paying the rent if they ran away from home, they went on the street. The closure of many of the old, crowded impersonal dormitories for homeless people and their replacement with hostels with single rooms meant that while housing standard rose, the number of beds fell. And a general increase in the number of people with drink, drug and mental health problems exacerbated the problem. Vagrancy, or to give it its modern term, rough sleeping, was on the increase again.
The government took action: though it no longer ran hostels, it set up programmes like the Rough Sleepers Initiatives and the Homeless Mentally Ill Initiative to fund extra hostels and other services. The number on the street in London fell from over 1,000 to around 600. In 1998, the present government set up the Rough Sleepers Unit to co-ordinate its approach and the efforts of the homelessness charities and the numbers on the street continue to fall.
The source for the above facts is: Homeless For A Thousand Years, Richard Goodall (unpublished) 1999.
From: http://www.mungos.org/


Facts about homeless people
Some figures People who sleep rough end up on the street for a variety of reasons. But we can, however, make some generalisations about homeless people.
We know, for instance, that over 1,000 people sleep rough each night on the streets of Britain, more than 300 of them in inner London (the figure for this in 1949 was just six people). We also know that about one in ten are woman, and that one in six are under 25 and one in 14 over 60.
Around 20,000 people live in accommodation for the homeless in London, and this does not include people in bed and breakfasts and squats. (All statistics in this section come from publications listed in the "Links for researchers" section) More on the history of homelessness More statistics on rough sleepers
Why do people become homeless? The answer to this is complicated. Our society has changed greatly in the last few decades. Social problems such as family break-ups and crime have increased as the bonds of society have loosened, and homelessness is one aspect of this change in society.
St Mungo's believes that homelessness is usually a symptom of a more fundamental problem that rough sleepers have. Many are either mentally ill, physically ill, heavy drinkers or drug users. People who sleep rough usually have had more difficult family backgrounds than most, which may lie at the root of many of these problems. Rough sleepers may find it difficult to sustain close ties with others, and the break-up of a relationship is the most common trigger for going on the street. More details of rough sleepers' problems and needs
Accommodation Once on the street, rough sleepers may find it difficult to come off. There may not be enough beds in hostels, or they may have accommodation they are given as unsuitable. Some may not wish to come off the street because they fear authority. More details of the availability of services Our views on services for homeless people
Homeless people's health St Mungo's believes that homeless people should be treated for any physical or mental health problems they may have, helped into their own homes and found jobs. More details of homeless people's health
Government action St Mungo's supports Government help for the homeless. Details of Government actions to tackle homelessness.
St Mungo's reports St Mungo's has carried out research into homelessness in the form of reports and surveys.
From
http://www.mungos.org/




THE SALVATION ARMY AND HOMELESSNESS: a background briefing paper

THE Salvation Army has existed for more than 125 years. Throughout that time, care for the homeless has been one of its prime concerns ever since the Founder, William Booth, saw men sleeping under the bridges of London and told his Chief-of-Staff, 'Do something about it!'
The Salvation Army quickly became the largest single provider of accommodation for the homeless in Britain. Currently, 50 centres provide beds for nearly 5,000 men and women every night of the year.

In addition, specialist centres accommodate families, adolescents, men on bail awaiting trial or sentence, and men and women undergoing alcoholism detoxification and rehabilitation services. Every night, close to 500 people occupy such accommodation.
The Salvation Army in the United Kingdom also provides accommodation for more than 100 children in four children's homes, and for 1,200 elderly men and women in 36 eventide homes and sheltered housing complexes.

Strategically situated amid the larger centres of population, The Salvation Army's centres for the homeless cater for individuals who for a variety of reasons find themselves temporarily or permanently without home or lodgings. Emergency needs are met, and help given for rehabilitation and resettlement, with after-care. Special units cater for the young homeless, the handicapped and those with long-term needs.
The Salvation Army also works to meet the needs of those who sleep rough on the streets. Every night of the year, teams operate a 'soup run' around the streets of London and a number of other cities, taking hot soup, food and blankets to those sleeping rough. In addition, a 'midnight patrol' is operated on a number of London's main line railway stations, looking out for young people and others at risk who arrive in the capital late at night with nowhere to stay. A 'safe house' in King's Cross can offer an emergency bed for such people if no other overnight accommodation is available. Both the soup run and midnight patrol have been operated by The Salvation Army for many years and have been, literally, a lifeline for many.
'Remarkably clean...'
In the earliest years, Salvation Army hostels provided only very basic accommodation for homeless people. However, warmth and cleanliness have always been a priority. In 1891, The Lancet - the leading medical journal - investigated The Salvation Army's Clerkenwell shelter in London and reported: 'Within, it was found to be remarkably clean, well heated, and well ventilated. Several baths, with a sufficient supply of water, towels and soup, were at the service of the occupants.'
Today, all new Salvation Army centres for the homeless are purpose-built to standards well in excess of those legally required. Having said that, a number of very old buildings - including a few dormitory-style hostels dating back to the last century - remain in use. All are due to be replaced or refurbished as soon as funds and planning permission are obtained.
A world-wide provision
Finally, on an international level, The Salvation Army is without doubt the leading agency in the field of homelessness. Experience gained first in Britain has led to the establishment of 669 hostels for homeless people spread through 94 countries of the world - all as a result of William Booth's command to 'do something!'.
'London will never see a return of the homeless poor...'
In 1921, the officer in charge of The Salvation Army's social work in the United Kingdom wrote:
'When the "Darkest England" scheme (William Booth's dream of a welfare state) was launched, the homeless poor in the streets of London were a disgrace to our civilisation. The facts arrayed by the Founder were almost unbelievable; but they were beyond dispute. Even after men and women had been swept up out of the cold and wet by the thousand and sheltered by The Salvation Army in clean, warm buildings, there was still an open sore which continued to trouble the community.
'I suppose amongst the problems of a great city there will always be a fresh daily crop of unfortunates, who for one reason or another find themselves homeless, destitute and friendless. But there was more than that; and it required years of agitation in public and private to bring into existence the machinery necessary to reduce this blot to a reasonable minimum with a hope of its complete elimination.
'We increased the number of our shelters; we had our midnight soup kitchens on the Thames Embankment right under the nose of Parliament; we stirred up the responsible public authorities, we cooperated with them The eight years following 1904, when the first official census was taken, showed an average of over 2,000 destitute persons seeking the shelter of arches, staircases and the streets. The highest number recorded was 2,777 in 1910. Cooperation with the authorities brought the number to 532 in 1913 and to 491 in 1914.
'The war came, and conditions prevailing during that time demonstrated beyond all doubt that this disgraceful evil could be successfully grappled with, and that - as we have always said - when the community willed they could organize it out of existence. 'The numbers for the last seven years (1915-21) are: 192, 51, 32, 11, 10, 61, 76. I venture to predict that London will never see a return of its homeless poor to be huddled in doorways, stairways and arches, in the cold, bleak, miserable weather, with the biting, cutting winds which mark our English winters. The next generation will never know what London knew 50 years ago.'
He was wrong! Fifty years later, in 1971, the official census revealed a figure of 745 such 'niche dwellers' in Greater London. A further 20 years later, in 1991, The Salvation Army estimated that London was back to the 1904 total - 2,000 men and women sleeping rough on the streets.
Breaking the cycle of homelessness
Once again, The Salvation Army must do more. But, perhaps even more importantly, the public must finally realise that 'this disgraceful evil' will only be 'organized out of existence' when the community will it.
From
http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/

HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS
IN an ideal world everyone would have a place to live, somewhere to be part of a group or family, a structure for human life based on a place called home. The reality can be very different.
Society accepts that such basic resources as food, shelter, health care, education, security, love, support and understanding are essential to living a normal satisfying life. For many people these resources are provided within the home or family unit. Here young people can grow up satisfactorily with the added resource of links with other people and with access to other provisions in their wider community.
For a variety of reasons these support systems may break down at any time within a person's lifetime leaving someone to cope with often complex situations either in their own life or in that of someone else.
The issues are often dealt with individually for clarity, though life is usually far more complex and problems may be inter-related, eg homelessness may be caused by health problems or conversely homelessness is known to cause health problems.
In the United Kingdom there have been various attempts to define the reasons for and actual numbers of homeless people. For example, some people may become homeless because of broken relationships like divorce or not being accepted as part of a family; perhaps because of problems at home, possibly because of abuse, or because they have to live on a low income and find it hard to pay the rent.
There are those who define homeless people as 'runaways', 'throwaways' or 'growaways', the first definition covering that now smaller group of those who run away from the problems at home regardless of age or circumstances. However, most of the people on London streets, according to Centrepoint and others, are 'throwaways', people who have often spent much of their lives in institutions, have been thrown out of the last place where they lived and have no home to which they can return, should they wish to.
A major cause of homelessness is the shortage of good quality, suitable affordable housing in many areas. In 1995 it was reported in Time to Move On - a review of policies for single homeless people in London published by SHIL (Single Homeless In London) - that in London alone nearly 77,000 people were homeless or living in overcrowded accommodation, two-thirds of whom could have lived independently IF they had a home. The report revealed that just under 45,000 people were sleeping rough or had no permanent roof, and that a further 32,000 were living in overcrowded households.
http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/

REASONS FOR HOMELESSNESS
PEOPLE leave home for a variety of reasons - further education, marriage, work in another area or, sadly, because of family quarrels, domestic violence, abuse, economic difficulties, alcohol and substance abuse and behavioural problems.
Some of these latter reasons make people more vulnerable to homelessness than others. If young people are less than 18 years old they do not receive income support, and those between the ages of 18-25 receive a reduced level of income support. Few local authorities now accept young people as being in priority need for housing, and as a result more than ever are facing homelessness.
It is hard to measure homelessness precisely in statistical terms. Official figures include only those people who are 'accepted' as homeless by local authorities. To be accepted by a local authority a person must be:
* homeless, and not intentionally so * in priority need (be vulnerable or have independent children)
In 1995 over one million households were on local authority housing waiting lists or 'housing needs register'. Some local authorities restrict entry to their waiting lists, and so many needy people do not even bother to register.
Since the number of new homes built by local authorities and other associations has fallen, it follows that the number of homeless people has increased. Some independent assessors have estimated that 100,000 affordable houses would need to be built every year for the next 10 years to give everyone a reasonable chance of being housed.
Unemployment, low wages, mental illness and having a criminal record can also contribute to homelessness.
Usually a council will first put a homeless family in temporary accommodation until a permanent home becomes available. For some households this is only a matter of weeks; for others, especially large families in areas of scarce housing, this can last for months and even years.
The types of accommodation used by councils vary immensely, from bed and breakfast hostels to housing association properties. The numbers of people placed in temporary accommodation have fallen over the last few years, and councils are trying not to use so many B&B hotels. These statistics show the use of temporary accommodation by local authorities as part of their action under the homelessness legislation. It does not reveal the extent to which this accommodation, particularly B&B, is being used overall - there are many people, especially single homeless people, who use B&B as they have no other choice.
The whole experience of temporary accommodation for families is one of disruption and insecurity, as people are removed from schools, family, work, support networks and communities. Temporary accommodation has a damaging effect on the education, health and personal development of children, and the stress of it can contribute to family breakdown.
'No child growing up in the impersonal atmosphere of a bed and breakfast hotel, however well run, is likely to grow up into as well-rounded an individual as if he or she had had a proper home from the start.' (Sir George Young (previous Housing Minister), 1993 )

WHY DO PEOPLE BECOME HOMELESS?
When a local authority accepts a household as homeless, they have to record the reason why they lost their last settled home. These are the reasons for England at the start of 1995:

The majority of people become homeless because their current living arrangements break down. Households become overcrowded, and family members are thrown out, relationships suffer, people escape violence and abuse. Some people need a place to escape to, for others leaving home is a natural process. All need affordable, decent and secure accommodation. When this does not exist, they become homeless.
From
http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/

'FACES OF HOMELESSNESS'
THE full report of a study of homelessness in London undertaken by the University of Surrey, commissioned by The Salvation Army, Faces of Homelessness, was published in 1995. This report, looking at the range of homelessness from being roofless to lacking legal tenure, speaks of 'the significance of "hearthlessness" having a roof but no homelike qualities to that residence'.
'This research has made it quite clear that in present day London the majority of homeless people do not live on the streets with no roof at all over their heads.... There are still many opportunities, both legal and illegal, for people to find shelter from what the sky may inflict.
'However, whereas sleeping on the streets presents many obvious threats to health and well being, as well as severely limiting the opportunities for personal development, the threats and advantages posed by living in an illegal squat, being crowded with a number of strangers into an old hostel, or trying to bring up children in a bed and breakfast hotel are not so immediately obvious.'
The report goes on to say that 'London has a shanty town as large as might be expected in a Latin American city, but it is hidden . . .' If people 'do not fall into a group that the government recognises as having a special need, or they cannot locate in one of the very few spare spaces indoors, they find they have no choice but to survive on the streets. Homeless people form a floating, changing group of people trying to cope as best they can with legislative provision that is not aimed at caring for people but providing for particular needs.'
Faces of Homelessness is available from: Salvationist Publishing and Supplies, Ltd. 117-121 Judd Street, King's Cross, London WClH 9NN Price: £15.

WHAT IS HOMELESSNESS?
No home; no place to call your own;
No place to be accepted as you are;
Nowhere to be yourself without fear;
No door to lock on the outside world.
No home means searching
for somewhere to stay,
for a safe place to rest.
Forever searching,
going from place to place,
from one official to the next.
Forever on the treadmill
Looking for food, shelter, work
(it's hard to keep a job without a home).
No home means seeking
to be accepted as you are,
a member of the human race,
no different from the rest,
but handicapped without a home.
From
http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/

SINGLE HOMELESS PEOPLE: THE MYTHS AND THE FACTS
THIS information sheet outlines 12 popular assumptions about homeless single people and compares them with information from a Government report Single and Homeless, published by the Department of the Environment in 1982.

MYTH: Lots of them are alcoholics.
FACTS Only 10-12 per cent of the Single and Homeless sample were described as possible problem drinkers and very few were crude spirit drinkers. These heavy drinkers were most likely to be aged 35 to 49. Most alcoholics have homes and jobs - so alcoholism alone is no explanation of homelessness.

MYTH: They are mainly middle aged.
FACTS The age structure of homeless single men is much the same as that of the general population - homelessness affects the young and the elderly as much as the middle-aged The age structure of homeless single women actually tends to be lower than that of the general population - 36 per cent of the Single and Homeless sample were under 30 years of age.

MYTH: Most of them are men.
FACTS Homeless men do outnumber homeless women - but the proportion of women is increasing. The homelessness of many women is 'hidden'. Many stay in bad - even violent - marriages rather than leave home. Others have to sleep with men to get a bed, or share overcrowded accommodation with relatives or friends.

MYTH: They are poorly educated.
FACTS Forty per cent of the Single and Homeless sample had had some form of higher education. Forty-nine per cent had a trade or skill. More women than men had been educated beyond the normal school-leaving age.

MYTH: Most of them are unskilled.
FACTS The most recent jobs of 35 per cent of the Single and Homeless sample were in the professional, skilled non-manual and skilled classifications. However, as people become homeless, they tend to move to unskilled and casual jobs, frequently involving low pay, lack of job security, high turnover of labour and poor employment conditions. Despite their homelessness, 49 per cent of the Single and Homeless sample actually were employed. But insecure casual labour was the main source of employment.

MYTH: They're mainly Scottish and Irish.
FACTS Scottish and Irish people were over-represented in the Single and Homeless sample, particularly in their night-shelter survey. Parts of Scotland and Ireland have long been impoverished during the development of the British economy, and migration rates have been high for over 100 years. People have moved in search of work - and the development of industrial Britain depended on a mobile force of cheap labour. Today, people are becoming homeless all over Britain.

MYTH: They sleep rough.
FACTS Only 29 per cent of the Single and Homeless sample had slept rough. At their last settled base, over 60 per cent had been living in houses, flats or bed-sits. Once homeless, many people have to live in large, institutional hostels. Others end up in prison or stay in hospital because there is nowhere else for them to go. Just because people have a roof over their heads does not mean that they have a home.

MYTH: They choose to be homeless.
FACTS Surely it is inherently unlikely that anyone would positively choose a way of life involving poverty, ill-health and the risks of verbal and physical abuse! The two immediate reasons for homelessness which were stressed by Single and Homeless were social (eg, family break-up or bereavement) and employment-related. People did not become homeless by suddenly deciding to leave home and take to the streets. Instead, they become involved in a debilitating process of homelessness, gradually drifting from secure accommodation to insecure accommodation and, sometimes, to the streets.

MYTH: They like to travel around the country.
FACTS Sixty-three per cent of the Single and Homeless sample had been resident in the country in which they were interviewed for one year or longer. Forty per cent had been in the same district or borough for a year or more. Their mobility frequently is a matter of necessity, not choice. Many lodging houses have closed in the last 20 years, and other projects impose time-limits on their clients. The more mobile that people are, the more difficult it is for them to keep in touch with their families, or to obtain employment, medical care or social services. And what is there for them to move on to?

MYTH: They have a lot of personal problems.
FACTS Just under half the Single and Homeless sample reported that they had no medical or social problems. About one in six had been in mental hospital but only one in 10 reported a current mental illness. Only 10-20 per cent could be described as problem drinkers, and only four per cent were addicted to hard drugs. However, the older people were and the longer they had been homeless, the more likely they were to have such problems.

MYTH: They need looking after.
FACTS Single and Homeless tried to establish the proportion which required supportive accommodation. Taking into account their medical and social problems and their accommodation preferences, it concluded that about two-thirds required ordinary mainstream accommodation, but most could cope with grouped bedsits without residential staff. Possibly one in 20, those with multiple problems, would need much more supportive accommodation like group homes and hostels with residential staff.

MYTH: Single people are only a minority group anyway.
FACTS Over 25 per cent of all households in England and Wales are single-person households, and one-quarter of the working population is single. Single households are the most rapidly growing sector of the British population. Many young people live an independent life for some years before establishing a home. An increasing number of people live alone for a period after a marital breakdown. Also, old people are tending to live longer. Being single is not merely an interim phase; for many it is a long-term way of life.
From
http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/

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