Joseph Rowntree report highlights complexity of multiple needs

Last week, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation published Tackling homelessness and exclusion: understanding complex lives, a round up of four research projects investigating the overlap between homelessness and other problems such as mental ill health, drug and alcohol dependency, and experience of prison.  

Understanding complex lives is the culmination of the four projects of the Multiple Exclusion Homelessness (MEH) Research Programme, a £700,000 research initiative under the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), launched in 2008 in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Communities and Local Government, Tenants Services Authority and Homeless Link (representing the voluntary sector).

The programme aims to provide a “statistically robust” account of the problems facing this group and the causes of those problems, drawing data from seven cities in the UK from February 2009 to September 2011.

The key points of the report are:

• There is a strong overlap between homelessness and other support needs. Nearly half of homeless service users experienced institutional care, substance misuse and street activities such as begging.
• Contact with homeless services, i.e. “visible” forms of homelessness, commonly occur after contact with other unrelated agencies such as mental health, drug agencies and the criminal justice system.
• A traumatic childhood featuring abuse or neglect is very common among homeless people and in adulthood the incidence of self-harm and suicide attempts are significant.
• Homeless men aged 20-49, and especially those in their 30s, experienced the most complex needs.
• Homelessness and housing support agency workers can often feel isolated and out of their depth when faced with taking on the primary responsibility for supporting people with multiple needs. There is the suggestion that housing support workers are now filling the gap left by the retreat of social workers from direct work with adults.
• People with multiple, complex needs are at risk of falling through the cracks in service provision. Highlighting the need for an integrated response across health, housing and social care.

The research indicates the majority group of people experiencing multiple exclusion homelessness are men over 30 with substance misuse and depression issues, often resulting from childhood abuse. This group are often placed in a “general needs” group while specialised services focus on young people and women.

This mirrors Oliver Letwin’s comments at the launch of our Vision Paper , that the focus of the current government has been on families and children with multiple needs but specialist support needs to be given to the individuals without families and social support structures.

Understanding complex lives recognises the cost to society of this group of people with complex support needs who go unassisted. Echoing our own work,  the paper concludes that tailored services which focus on delivering positive holistic outcomes are  a cost-effective strategy for the country in a time of reduced public spending.

To download the report, click here.