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Impact of homelessness
It is often difficult to disentangle the support needs that people develop as a result of homelessness from issues that made them vulnerable to homelessness in the first place. However, many studies have shown a correlation between several aspects of social exclusion/vulnerability and homelessness.
Go to the At risk of homelessness section for more information on the issues that make people more vulnerable to homelessness.
The below list outlines some of the issues associated with homelessness in terms of education, employment and health.
Education
- Children in temporary accommodation miss out on a quarter of their schooling. (1)
- More than half of homeless people want to engage in learning and skills development, but only a fifth do at present. (2)
- 37% of homeless people have no qualifications (compared to 10% of the general population). (3)
Health
- The life expectancy of someone sleeping rough is estimated to be 42 year, half that of the average UK citizen and worse than Ethiopia or the Republic of Congo. (4)
- Homeless households, in particular ‘single homeless’ and rough sleepers, have a higher prevalence of physical and mental health problems and the experience of homelessness often exacerbates problems. (5)
- 2004 research found 10 per cent of TB patients have a history of homelessness and 4 per cent were sleeping rough. (6)
Employment
- Lack of suitable accommodation or the cost of housing is a barrier to accessing employment reported by a third of single homeless people. (7)
- A study by one provider revealed that 20 years ago a majority (84%) of its clients were in paid employment, whereas less than 5% were in 2005. (8)
- Over three quarters of homeless people (77%) in hostels when interviewed want to work and 97% say they want to work sometime in the future. (9)
References:
- Shelter (2004) Living in Limbo
- Crisis (2006) Missed opportunities: the case of investment in learning and skills for homeless people, Crisis: London
- Crisis (2006) Missed opportunities: the case of investment in learning and skills for homeless people, Crisis: London
- Crisis (1996) Still dying for a home
- DCLG (2006) Homelessness Prevention: a guide to good practice, June 2006
- Story, A., Gorton, S., Glyn-Jones, J. & Hayward, A. (2004) TB and Housnig: Meeting the needs of homeless and ‘hard to treat’ TB patients in London.
- Survey respondents were mainly single homeless living in hostels. Singh, P (2005) No Home, No Job: Moving from transitional spaces. Off the streets and into work, March 2005
- St Mungo’s (2005) Hard work for homeless people, September 2005
- Singh, P (2005) ) No Home, No Job: Moving from transitional spaces. Off the streets and into work, March 2005