Working and Homeless: Exploring the Interaction of Housing and Labour Market Insecurity

Alongside an increasing focus on ‘prevention’, moving homeless adults into work is frequently considered an important part of helping them overcome homelessness and sustain an ‘independent’ life. However, a growing evidence base shows that work does not always offer the means to escape poverty, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSocial policy and society : a journal of the Social Policy Association Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 121 - 132
Main Authors Jones, Katy, Ahmed, Anya, Madoc-Jones, Iolo, Gibbons, Andrea, Rogers, Michaela, Wilding, Mark
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01.01.2020
Subjects
Data collection
Employment
Escape
Homeless people
Housing market
Job insecurity
Labor market
Marginality
Market entry
Poverty
Security
Social exclusion
Union membership
Welfare
United Kingdom > UK
Wales
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Summary:Alongside an increasing focus on ‘prevention’, moving homeless adults into work is frequently considered an important part of helping them overcome homelessness and sustain an ‘independent’ life. However, a growing evidence base shows that work does not always offer the means to escape poverty, and many in employment face housing insecurity. Relatedly, there is increasing concern about the phenomenon of ‘in-work homelessness’. Drawing on new data from a study of people’s experience of homelessness in Wales, this article considers the hitherto underexplored topic of being both in work and homeless. The article provides a critical examination of how homelessness policy operates in practice, through presenting evidence of the experiences of a marginalised group (namely, working homeless people as users of homelessness services). It also considers how policy and practice could be modified to improve outcomes for homeless people and how prevention could play out in other contexts and welfare regimes.
ISSN:1474-7464
1475-3073
DOI:10.1017/S1474746419000332