Summary of the impact

This case study draws on research on homeless and multiply excluded adults dating from 1997. The research has mainly been undertaken in collaboration with the Framework Housing Association in Nottingham, but has addressed an issue at the heart of government policy since 1990. The research has influenced the shaping of recent government responses to multiple disadvantage, guided commissioners and service providers in the field of supported housing and, through the use of participatory methodologies, enhanced the employability of some homeless people.

Underpinning research

The research has been the product of a long-standing collaborative relationship between Dr Graham Bowpitt, Senior Lecturer (Reader since 2010) in Social Policy at Nottingham Trent University, and Framework Housing Association, which has drawn in other researchers and homelessness organisations. It has taken several forms:

• Small-scale projects have been undertaken, some with the help of Framework Housing Association sponsorship of postgraduate research students at Nottingham Trent University over a substantial period (1996-2012), to evaluate Framework Housing Association services. Bowpitt was involved in supervising the students, and drawing out the significance of the findings. For instance, an evaluation of a hostel for people with long-term mental health problems demonstrated the value of enabling ex-residents to continue using hostel facilities (Research Reference 1). A comparison between `total abstinence' and `controlled drinking' approaches in hostels for people with alcohol problems challenged the received wisdom that the latter method cannot work with people with severe alcohol dependency (Walsh, 2006). An evaluation of support for tenants with continuing drug problems was undertaken in 2006 by Framework staff and subsequently written up for publication by Bowpitt (Research Reference 2). It showed that relationships with support workers had intrinsic value beyond the provision of risk management services.
• A more substantial project (Publication 3) was funded during 2009-11 by the ESRC under its `multiple exclusion homelessness' research programme (RES-188-25-0001). The purpose of the programme was to understand more fully how social exclusion factors conspire to entrench vulnerable adults in patterns of street homelessness, and to recommend improvements in policy and practice. Graham Bowpitt, Professor Peter Dwyer (Professor of Social Policy, who moved to the University of Salford in 2010, and to the University of York in 2013), Eva Sundin (Reader in Psychology) and Mark Weinstein (Senior Lecturer in Social Research Methods), all at the time from Nottingham Trent University, were one of four teams nationally to receive funding from this programme, in our case, for a project to look at the role of conflicting priorities between single homeless people and support agencies in sustaining multiple exclusion homelessness. The HOME Study (Research Reference 3) was undertaken in collaboration with Framework Housing Association and Thames Reach in London who facilitated access to research participants and peer researchers. Interviews with 108 multiply excluded homeless people and 44 key informants from support agencies in the voluntary and public sectors in Nottingham and London revealed that conflicting priorities between homeless people and support agencies impede attempts to tackle multiple exclusion where the conditions that attach to receipt of services cannot be met, where homeless people are deterred from using services, or where they are deemed ineligible due to statutory or regulatory restrictions. Subsequent analysis has shown that women are as likely to experience these barriers as men (Research Reference 4), but that service delivery that stresses holistic approaches, unconditional acceptance and the use of key workers to deliver bespoke packages of support, are more likely to be successful (Research References 5 and 6).

References to the research

References 3, 4, 5 and 6 are all products of research undertaken for ESRC grant RES-188-25-0001, one of the four projects funded under the Multiple Exclusion Homelessness Research Programme.

Details of the impact

The research has achieved impact at various levels:

• At national level, findings from the HOME Study (Publication 3) were presented alongside the other three studies that were funded under the ESRC's Multiple Exclusion Homelessness Research Programme at a launch event organised by Shelter in London in September 2011, which was attended by about 90 policy-makers and practitioners from the field of homelessness and supported housing. Our evidence was an integral part of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's research round-up document (McDonagh, 2011), which was given to all delegates and placed on the JRF web site. A high level representative from the Department for Communities and Local Government stated that this `powerful evidence' would be fed into the cross departmental Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness. Findings were also endorsed by Grant Shapps, Minister for Housing and Local Government, in an accompanying press release (Homeless Link, 2011), and a delegate from the Department for Work and Pensions commended their value in highlighting the support needed in securing labour market access for adults with complex needs (Department for Work and Pensions, Labour Market Inclusion Division e-mail). Since then, the Ministerial Working Group has acknowledged the influence of the Multiple Exclusion Homelessness Programme on its most recent proposals on homelessness (Department for Communities and Local Government, 2012, pp.8-10, 13) which share the importance that our research demonstrated of the role played by homeless people's encounters with support services in either preventing or causing homelessness. Likewise, our findings that multiple disadvantages compound one another in reinforcing homelessness and other problems has been recognised by the Government's Social Justice Cabinet Committee in urging a multi-agency approach to acute deprivation (Department for Work and Pensions, 2012, p.49).
• At local level, impact has been achieved through the long-standing relationship between Bowpitt and Framework Housing Association mainly through the sponsorship of postgraduate students noted above. Framework Housing Association has testified to the value of its research, including that undertaken in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University (Research reference one; Walsh, 2006). Exploratory research informs the way they work and evaluative research tests the quality of services and measures its benefit to service users, all as a basis for developing and sharing good practice.
• Wider local reach has been achieved through the HOME Study, during which two practitioner workshops in London and Nottingham in December/January, 2010/11 were attended by managers and practitioners from public and voluntary sector services used by homeless people, at which early findings from the ESRC funded study were presented and debated. Subsequent to these events, delegates have indicated ways in which findings have been used by their respective organisations in, for instance, informing service specification for commissioners (Notts Supporting People Team, Commissioning Officer e-mail) or supporting bids for funding (Big Life Group, Executive Director e-mail). In Nottingham, the Emmanuel House day centre commissioned a report based on an analysis of our findings concerning the value of day centres to people with multiply excluded forms of homelessness, and this report was used to help avert the threat of closure by securing new funding from private sources at a time when local authority funding was withdrawn (Emmanuel House, Operations Manager e-mail).
• Further reach has been achieved among the population of single homeless people who have been the subject of our research, and this too has generated some impact. A total of 10 peer researchers in Nottingham and London participated in the HOME study in designing research tools, undertaking semi-structured interviews, providing feedback on early analysis, and disseminating findings. A DVD has been produced in collaboration with our team of peer researchers to summarise the findings in a format accessible to homeless people and service practitioners. The HOME Study DVD is available for viewing on You Tube. This experience of involvement in the delivery of a research project has enhanced their employability and contributed to securing employment in several cases.

Sources to corroborate the impact

National reach:

1. Department for Communities and Local Government (2012), Making Every Contact Count: A joint approach to preventing homelessness, London: Crown Copyright, available at http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/2200459.pdf [Accessed 29/8/13] (corroborates impact of research in identifying the multiply excluded nature of homelessness);
2. Department for Work and Pensions (2012), Social Justice: Transforming lives, Cm 8314, London: Crown Copyright, available at
   https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/49515/social-justice-transforming-lives.pdf [Accessed 15/11/13] (corroborates impact of research in identifying the multiply excluded nature of homelessness);
3. Department for Work and Pensions, Labour Market Inclusion Division (personal e-mail) (corroborates the claim that the research into multiple exclusion homelessness has influenced the reports of the Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness, especially in relation to what works in helping homeless people facing complex barriers into work);
4. Homeless Link (2011), `New study uncovers deep roots of homelessness', Press Release available at http://homeless.org.uk/complex-lives [Accessed 30/8/13] (corroborates impact of research in identifying the multiply excluded nature of homelessness);
5. McDonagh, T. (2011), Tackling Homelessness and Exclusion: Understanding complex lives, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available at http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/tackling-homelessness-and-exclusion [Accessed 30/8/13] (corroborates impact of research in identifying the multiply excluded nature of homelessness).

Local reach:

6. Walsh, B. (2006), Michael Varnam House and Studio House, Nottingham: Framework Housing Association, available at
   http://www.frameworkha.org.uk/assets/0000/2280/Michael_Varnam_Studio_House_FULL.pdf [Accessed 30/8/13] (corroborates impact of research in identifying the multiply excluded nature of homelessness in relation to alcohol problems).

Wider local reach:

7. Big Life Group, Executive Director (personal e-mail) (corroborates the claim that the research into multiple exclusion homelessness will be used to support the Big Life Group in their bids for funding for social businesses working for people experiencing multiple exclusion);
8. Emmanuel House, Operations Manager (personal e-mail) (corroborates the impact of a report on day centres derived from research evidence in justifying the value of day centres as places of transformation for homeless people with multiple needs, and in supporting bids for funding at a time of substantial cuts);
9. Notts Supporting People Team, Commissioning Officer (personal e-mail) (corroborates the claim that research into multiple exclusion homelessness has informed service specifications in the allocation of Supporting People budgets at local level).

Further reach:

10. HOME Study DVD, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rskFKTBEz2E [Accessed 30/8/13] (corroborates impact of research in terms of identifying the multiply excluded nature of homelessness and including the homeless as key research stakeholders).