Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:49:18.882Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2019

Katy Jones ,
Anya Ahmed ,
Iolo Madoc-Jones ,
Andrea Gibbons ,
Michaela Rogers  and
Mark Wilding
Katy Jones
Affiliation:
Manchester Metropolitan University E-mail: [email protected]
Anya Ahmed
Affiliation:
University of Salford E-mail: [email protected]
Iolo Madoc-Jones
Affiliation:
Wrexham Glyndŵr niversity E-mail: [email protected]
Andrea Gibbons
Affiliation:
University of Salford E-mail: [email protected]
Michaela Rogers
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield E-mail: [email protected]
Mark Wilding
Affiliation:
University of Salford E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Homelessnesshousingemploymentpovertyconditionality
Type
Themed Section: Homelessness Prevention in an International Policy Context
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 121 - 132
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmed, A. and Madoc-Jones, I. (2019) ‘Review Article. Homelessness prevention policy in an international context: The Housing Act (Wales) 2014’, Social Policy and Society, doi: 10.1017/S147474641900037X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batty, E., Beatty, C., Casey, R., Foden, M., McCarthy, L. and Reeve, K. (2015) Homeless People’s Experiences of Welfare Conditionality and Benefit Sanctions, Crisis: London.Google Scholar
Brewster, D. and Jones, R. (2018) ‘Distinctly divergent or hanging onto English coat-tails? Drug policy in post-devolution Wales,’ Criminology and Criminal Justice, 19, 364–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Busch-Geertsema, V. (2010) ‘Defining and measuring homelessness’, in FEANTSA (eds.), Homelessness Research in Europe, Brussels: FEANTSA. Google Scholar
CIH (2016) The Likely Impact of the Lower Overall Benefit Cap, http://www.cih.org/resources/PDF/Lower_benefit_cap_FINAL.pdf [accessed 28.05.2019].Google Scholar
Connell, A., Martin, S., St Denny, E. (2017) ‘How can subnational governments deliver their policy objectives in the age of austerity? Reshaping homelessness policy in Wales,’ The Political Quarterly 88, 443–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP ) (2018) Universal Credit: In-Work Progression Randomised Controlled Trial, Research Report 966, London: DWP https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/739775/universal-credit-in-work-progression-randomised-controlled-trial-findings-from-quantitative-survey-and-qualitative-research.pdf [accessed 28.05.2019].Google Scholar
Dwyer, P. and Wright, S. (2014) ‘Universal credit, ubiquitous conditionality and its implications for social citizenship,’ Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 22, 27–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eurostat (2018) In-work poverty in the EU, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20180316-1 [accessed 28.05.2019].Google Scholar
FEANTSA (2007) Multiple Barriers, Multiple Solutions: Inclusion Into and Through Employment for People Who are Homeless, Brussels: FEANTSA.Google Scholar
FEANTSA (2014) Extent and Profile of Homelessness in European Member States: a Statistical Update, Brussels: European Observatory on Homelessness.Google Scholar
FEANTSA (2018) Third Overview of Housing Exclusion in Europe 2018, Brussels: FEANTSA.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S. and Stephens, M. (2014) ‘Welfare regimes, social values and homelessness: comparing responses to marginalised groups in six European countries,’ Housing Studies, 29, 215–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S. and Watts, B. (2018) Final Findings: Social Housing (fixed-term tenancies), http://www.welfareconditionality.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/39273-Social-housing-web.pdf [accessed 28.05.2019].Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, S., Pawson, H., Bramley, G., Wilcox, S. and Watts, B. (2016) The Homelessness Monitor: Great Britain 2016, London: Crisis/Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Gerrard, J. (2017) Precarious Enterprise on the Margins: Work, Poverty and Homelessness in the City, Palgrave Macmillan US.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hick, W. and Lanau, A. (2018) ‘Moving in and out of in-work poverty in the UK: an analysis of transitions, trajectories and trigger events,’ Journal of Social Policy, 47, 661–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Homeless Link (2016) Support for Single Homeless People in England: Annual Review 2016, London: Homeless Link.Google Scholar
Hough, J. Jones, J. and Rice, B. (2013). Longitudinal Qualitative Research on Homeless People’s Experiences of Starting and Staying in Work, London: Broadway.Google Scholar
Lloyd, C. and Mayhew, K. (2010) ‘Skill: the solution to low wage work?,’ Industrial Relations Journal, 41, 429–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnsen, S. and Watts, B. (2014) Homelessness and Poverty: Reviewing the Links, Heriot-Watt University.Google Scholar
Jones, K. (2019) ‘No strings attached? An exploration of employment support services offered by third sector homelessness organisations’, in Dwyer, P. (eds.), Dealing with Welfare Conditionality, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Lohmann, H. and Marx, I. (2008) ‘The different faces of in-work poverty across welfare state regimes’, in Andreβ, H. J. and Lohmann, H., (eds.), The Working Poor in Europe, London: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
McNaughton, C. (2008) Transitions Through Homelessness: Lives on the Edge, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ray, K., Sissons, P, Jones, K. and Vegeris, S. (2014) Employment, Pay and Poverty: An Evidence Review, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar
Scheerhout, J. (2017) ‘Prime Minister Theresa May vows to spend £500m to help the homeless, during visit to Stockport, Manchester Evening News’, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/prime-minister-theresa-vows-spend-12971625 [accessed 25.01.2018].Google Scholar
Shelter (2018) Over Half of Homeless Families in England are in Work, Shock New Figures Show http://media.shelter.org.uk/press_releases/articles/over_half_of_homeless_families_in_england_are_in_work,_shock_new_figures_show [accessed 31.01.2019].Google Scholar
Shelter (undated) Stop DSS Discrimination: Ending Prejudice against Renters on Housing Benefit, https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1581687/Stop_DSS_Discrimination_-_Ending_prejudice_against_renters_on_housing_benefit.pdf [accessed 28.05.2019].Google Scholar
Shier, M., Jones, M. and Graham, J. (2012) ‘Employment difficulties experienced by employed homeless people: labor market factors that contribute to and maintain homelessness,’ Journal of Poverty, 16, 27–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shin, M., Baumohl, J. and Hopper, K. (2001) ‘The prevention of homelessness revisited,’ Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 95–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Standing, G. (2011) The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Tinson, A., Ayrton, C., Barker, K., Born, T. B., Aldridge, H. and Kenway, P. (2016) Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2016, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Google Scholar