In this post Emma Le Blanc discusses career work with people who are homeless and who face the risk of homelessness.
I work as a Good Work Adviser with a Local Authority. In, my role I assist residents over 18 to access education, training, and employment (ETE). However, my approach is holistic so when I conduct an initial assessment I ascertain if they have any barriers to ETE (i.e. mental health, housing, substance misuse, domestic violence, care experienced, carer, financial, food poverty, energy poverty etc.) and I refer them to the relevant internal services and external organisations.
I have clients on my caseload who have and are experiencing long-term housing difficulties (e.g. mould in their homes, being on housing waiting lists for many years in some cases even decades and families subjected to living in overcrowded and cramped conditions etc.). However, there are three clients that I am working with currently. Two can be classified as being ‘hidden homeless’ and the other is at risk of homelessness soon. Hidden homelessness can be understood as people who are homeless, but their housing situation is not as visible as people who are rough sleeping.
The housing situation in the UK
Currently, homelessness is on the increase because there is a nation-wide housing crisis in the UK and good social housing is in short supply. Rent is at a premium and it is difficult for the average person to get onto the property ladder as wages are low, house prices are sky high, and we are also in a cost-of-living crisis (UNCHR, N.D and Geraghty, 2023). Everyone deserves a safe and secure home which is affordable, and we must not underestimate the importance of good housing on: mental health, physical health, social well-being, children’s educational attainment, poverty alleviation, financial security, enhanced quality of life and positive outcomes.
According, to the Office for National Statistics there are certain populations in the UK experiencing financial vulnerability due to the cost-of-living crisis. For example, the ONS (2023) states that for a third of renters (35%) it was hard for them to afford their rent and mortgages payments. However, it highlights that this proportion is increased amongst the following populations:
- People in lone parent households with at least one child
- People in receipt of benefits
- Disabled adults
- Black African, Black Caribbean and Black British adults
Also, these groups were more likely to disclose that in the past two weeks they had ran out of food and were not able to afford to buy more (ONS, 2023). Let us not forget young people too!
The United Nations classifies housing as a basic human right:
Under international law, to be adequately housed means having secure tenure—not having to worry about being evicted or having your home or lands taken away. It means living somewhere that is in keeping with your culture, and having access to appropriate services, schools, and employment (UNHR, ND).
The government repealed the UK Vagrancy Act 1824 under a great deal of pressure from national homelessness charities like Crisis and the public which led to it being replaced with the current draconian Criminal Justice Bill 2022 (Basran, 2024). However, this bill like the Vagrancy Act effectively criminalises people and gives the Police powers to prevent ‘nuisance rough sleeping’. This means that rough sleepers can be forced to move on from where they are sleeping, they can be imprisoned and fined a maximum of £2,500 (Basran, 2024). This law does not solve the issue it criminalises people on the margins of our society and other people who due to the cost-of-living crisis are at greater risk of homelessness.
Hidden homelessness
A family with children living temporary accommodation in overcrowded conditions in London may have to be on benefits or work for under 16 hours because the parents may find it even more difficult if they work full-time. If they are in receipt of universal credit, they will be eligible for living costs/help with housing costs.
However, their children may not be able to concentrate because they may not be able to afford ample food and they live in cramped conditions and so their educational achievement may suffer. The children may not be able to bring their friends home because they may be ashamed of where they live which can impact adversely on their social well-being. There may be mould or damp in their accommodation which makes the family members more susceptible of contracting a respiratory disease.
The parents are most likely to have no savings or very low savings. Also, most of the income that comes in will most likely be spent on bills, food, and other essentials so there is no money left to save, or to allocate for extracurricular activities, and holidays which can negatively affect the parents and children’s mental well-being.
And yet despite these very real problems, political rhetoric around homelessness often seeks to blame the victims. Suella Braverman, the previous Tory Home Secretary asserted that being homeless is a lifestyle choice.
We cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, being homeless as a lifestyle choice.
Suella Braverman and individuals like her obviously have a lack of not only compassion but comprehension that the average person is more vulnerable to destitution and homelessness due to political and socio-economic conditions.
According to Shelter and You Gov:
With little or no savings to fall back on, 45% of private renters in England could not afford to pay their rent for more than a month if they lost their job, new research from Shelter shows.
Surviving from one paycheque to the next the Shelter and YouGov study found that almost three million private renters could be just one paycheque away from losing their home .
(Shelter, 2019)
What can we do as career development professionals?
As, career professionals we should:
- understand that there are different types of “hidden homelessness” (i.e. squatting, sofa surfing, living in a hostel, living in an emergency shelter, being a victim of domestic violence and living in a women’s refuge, living in temporary accommodation, living in a mobile home etc);
- visit the housing and homelessness section on your local authority’s website;
- know where to access and how to make a homelessness application/referral so you can help clients who are or who are at risk of homelessness;
- know which local and national housing and homelessness organisations to refer clients who are homeless or at risk of being homelessness;
- understand the link between homelessness and poor physical, mental, and social well-being and health;
- ensure that your interventions with clients do not merely focus only on ETE but also on helping them to overcome their barriers by signposting them to relevant organisations related to their complex needs. This requires that we are responsive to our clients’ individual needs because if we do not do that our clients will not be able to address their core needs and sustain their ETE outcomes and or move forward in their lives;
- be aware of how intersectionality and identity operate in terms of your clients’ experiencing discrimination in different domains (i.e. housing, employment, healthcare, workplace etc.); and
- support campaigns which call for there to be reforms to end homelessness and ensure that everybody has access to good and affordable housing and encourage your clients to do the same.
Take action
It is imperative that careers advisers encourage their clients to be active and not passive agents to foment change and we need to embody this ourselves relating to issues like housing and homelessness which can adversely affect so many.
To act you can:
- vote for parties that care about people and the homelessness and housing crisis and make sure that you read and scrutinise their election manifestos; and
- campaign against homeless i.e. sign petitions, write to your MP, go on protests etc;
- get involved in campaigns run by Crisis UK and Shelter;
- volunteer with your local homeless charity or group;
- volunteer with your Tenant Management Organisation; and
- find and join a pressure group in your local area to fight for change at a grassroots level, such as Renters Rights London, the London Renters Union, Justice for Tenants or the Social Housing Action Campaign
Further reading
Basran, J. (2024). Why the Criminal Justice Bill presents as much danger to people sleeping rough as taking away tents. https://www.crisis.org.uk/about-us/the-crisis-blog/why-the-criminal-justice-bill-presents-as-much-danger-to-people-sleeping-rough-as-taking-away-tents
Geraghty, L. (2024). Homelessness facts and statistics: The numbers you need to know in 2024. The Big Issue. https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/britains-homelessness-shame-cold-hard-facts/
ONS, (2023). Impact of increased cost of living on adults across Great Britain: July to October 2023. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/expenditure/articles/impactofincreasedcostoflivingonadultsacrossgreatbritain/julytooctober2023
Shelter, (2019). Almost half of working renters only one paycheque away from loosing their home. https://england.shelter.org.uk/media/press_release/half_of_working_renters_only_one_pay_cheque_away_from_losing_their_home
Townsend, M. and Savage, M., (2023). Fury as Braverman depicts homelessness as a ‘lifestyle choice. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/04/fury-as-braverman-depicts-homelessness-as-a-lifestyle-choice
UNHR, (N.D.). The human right to adequate housing. https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-housing/human-right-adequate-housing
Career guidance for social justice 