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Post-War
Homelessness Policy
in the UK
Jamie Harding
Post-War Homelessness Policy in the UK
Jamie Harding
Post-War
Homelessness Policy
in the UK
Making and Implementation
Jamie Harding
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub-
lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu-
tional affiliations.
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to my parents, Sally and Jim, who have
always loved and supported me, especially on several occasions
when I wanted to give up studying.
Preface
“I didn’t come to study this; I came to find out about people living in
cardboard boxes.” I remember the words of one of my fellow undergradu-
ate students who was not impressed by being required to study Policy
Making and Implementation as part of his Social Policy degree. One of
several substantial debts that I owe to the lecturer that day, Professor
Michael Hill, is that he demonstrated to me the importance of the policy
process—policies that can improve the situation of the most disadvan-
taged people, particularly those who are homeless, are more likely to be
made and implemented by those who understand the process.
The voice of homeless people themselves is rarely heard directly in this
book, but I hope that they may benefit indirectly from a better under-
standing of the forces that have shaped policy in the post-war period.
Criticism (ideally polite and constructive) of the arguments set out here is
welcomed: debate is good and will help to shape the ideas to be included
in a second edition, should I be fortunate enough to have the opportunity
to write one. By then, I hope that fewer people will be experiencing home-
lessness and that the period for which they are homeless will be shorter
and less uncomfortable.
vii
Acknowledgements
Many thanks are due to the people who were interviewed for this book for
giving up their time—and in some cases, quite substantial amounts of
it—to provide invaluable insights. Also to Professor Nicholas Crowson,
Dr Mary Laing, Dr Leona Skelton, Dr Avram Taylor, Dr Rachael
Chapman, Dr Siobhan Daly, Dr Adele Irving, Jane Brough, Professor
Michael Rowe and Professor Keith Shaw for their advice and support. The
group of professionals who recently studied an Understanding Homeless
module with me have been very helpful in providing insights as to what
policies look like when working directly with homeless people. The
patience of Jemima Warren and Oliver Foster at Palgrave Macmillan is
greatly appreciated. Finally, huge thanks to my wife Allison for her con-
stant support and particularly for the key conversation when she advised
me not to be afraid to develop my own analytical framework for the book.
ix
Contents
xi
xii Contents
Index237
Abbreviations
xiii
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
This chapter provides the background information that is needed to read
and understand the remainder of the book, particularly for those who are
less familiar with the area of homelessness. It covers key definitions, an
outline of some methodological issues that arise in the historical study of
homelessness, a discussion of the key developments that shaped the situa-
tion at the end of World War II and an explanation of why some issues are
(perhaps surprisingly) referred to infrequently in discussions of
homelessness.
Definitions
There is no single definition of the word ‘homeless’. Clearly, someone liv-
ing alone in a property that they own would not be considered homeless,
while someone who was sleeping on the streets would. However, there are
a number of other housing situations—particularly when someone is stay-
ing in accommodation that is only meant to be temporary, sharing accom-
modation unwillingly with another household or at risk of violence—where
opinions would differ as to whether they should be defined as homeless.
Judgments as to what constitutes acceptable living arrangements are, of
course, relative: to take an extreme example, at the time of writing, fight-
ing had recently ended in the cities of Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Libya.
With so much of the housing in these cities having been destroyed or
This gave a fuller picture than previously because it included some non-
statutorily homeless people. However, the figures could not count those
who considered themselves homeless but did not make an application
because they believed they would receive no help.
Counting the number of single homeless people has always presented
particular difficulties. The first attempt to reach any figure beyond the
numbers using government run Reception Centres did not take place
until 1966, when National Assistance Board officers were asked to count
people using a number of other forms of shelter: lodging-houses run by
local authorities, voluntary organisations and the private sectors; crypts
and shelters run by voluntary organisations, church groups and others;
and non-statutory hostels for specific groups such as alcoholics and for-
mer prisoners. However, even then, there were forms of accommodation
that were surprisingly excluded, that is, some industrial hostels, YMCA
hostels and establishments providing fewer than six beds “because at that
point the establishment tends to become less of a lodging-house and
more a place catering for a few lodgers” (National Assistance Board,
1966, p. 7).
The difficulties of counting the ‘hidden homeless’ in particular contin-
ued into the 1970s, with voluntary organisations responding to the lack of
data by developing their own counting strategies (Hilton, McKay,
Crowson, & Mouhot, 2013). One method of seeking to produce more
comprehensive data—agencies adding together the number of people
who approach them as homeless—is criticised by Shaw, Bloor, Cormack,
and Williamson (1996, pp. 69–70) on the grounds that two opposite dif-
ficulties arise: some people will appear on the lists of more than one agency
and others will not appear on any list. Although more sophisticated meth-
ods, such as using dates of birth (rather than names, to protect confiden-
tiality), can now reduce the risk of double counting, there remains a
difficulty in seeking to quantify the size of a group who may not approach
any agency.
Rough sleepers are also very difficult to count. Census enumerators
have failed in the past to identify this group, with agencies pointing scorn-
fully to the nil figure for rough sleepers recorded in Birmingham and
Cardiff in 1991 (Hutson & Liddiard, 1994, p. 31). The Labour govern-
ments of 1997–2010 required local authorities which believed that they
had a rough sleeping problem to compile statistics and more sophisticated
methods of counting were developed, often involving visiting known sites
1 INTRODUCTION: DEFINITIONS, NEGLECTED ISSUES AND PRE-WAR… 7
for rough sleeping very early in the morning. The Combined Housing and
Information Network (CHAIN), a multi-agency database, was commis-
sioned and funded by the Mayor of London to record detailed informa-
tion about individuals who were sleeping rough in the capital. Although
this information was primarily used to ensure that appropriate services
were provided to rough sleepers, at a strategic level, it was also used to
identify broad trends in numbers (https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/
chain-reports).
Despite the progress made on recording, attempts to quantify home-
lessness were still assessed as flawed by the UK Statistics Authority (2015,
section 1.5). Their report argued that, subject to certain improvements,
the figures for statutory homelessness produced by the Department of
Communities and Local Government (now the Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government) were of sufficiently high standard
to be considered national statistics. However, the figures on rough sleep-
ing were not judged to meet the required standards of trustworthiness,
quality and value. Although the coalition government of 2010–2015 had
changed the rules so that all local authorities had to provide rough sleep-
ing figures, some were taking actual counts while others were using esti-
mates and there were a number of factors affecting the accuracy of
recording (UK Statistics Authority, 2015, section 1.1.2). Fitzpatrick et al.
(2018, p. 49) asked local authority staff about the rough sleepers counts
or estimates that they provided and found that less than half perceived
their figures to be ‘very reliable’. While praising the CHAIN database,
Jeremy Swain was clear in interview that it remained difficult to measure
the number of rough sleepers:
And I think the rough sleepers snapshot street count that we do every year
is limited in terms of trying to measure numbers and the data is not as
strong or as useful as the CHAIN data for London. The fact that only 17%
of the snapshot street counts are actual counts now and the rest are esti-
mates I think illustrates the fact that those counts as a means of trying to get
a grasp on the overall number of rough sleepers have to be treated with
great care. As a way of measuring progress in trying to reduce rough sleep-
ing, they have their place.
Methodological Issues
There were a number of methodological difficulties that were encoun-
tered in seeking to provide a comprehensive view of post-war homeless-
ness. Most obviously, there was a disparity in the types of sources that were
available for studying more recent and more distant periods of time.
The development of the Internet, and the commitment of the Labour
governments of 1997–2010 to making material available online, meant
that there was substantially more documentary material available from the
late 1990s onwards. Further information about more recent periods was
provided by conducting interviews with key players who had been involved
in homelessness policy and practice. Most of the interview respondents
were willing to be named, although some preferred to be referred to by
their roles. Those who were willing to be named were:
their influence is often limited to very specific issues (Van Aelst & Walgrave,
2011, p. 296). Davis (2007, pp. 188–189) found that influence was often
indirect: politicians in power considered how policies would be received
by the media and those in opposition would sometimes seek to influence
the media to add to the pressure to act on select committee findings, for
example. There has been recent debate as to whether alternative sources of
news have diminished the impact of the traditional media in agenda set-
ting (e.g. Shehata & Stromback, 2013), but this is not an issue that is
relevant to the majority of the time period discussed in this book.
In view of the complexity of the relationships, caution has been exer-
cised in suggesting that public opinion and the media have influenced
policy, except where this influence is explicit: for example, when the
Housing Minister requested to watch the TV drama-documentary Cathy
Come Home (Crisis, 2017, pp. 22–26).
are more likely than men to apply as homelessness due to domestic vio-
lence (Cramer, 2005, p. 743), mirroring the tendency for men to be per-
petrators of this crime and women to be victims. From 2009 to 2016,
violent relationship breakdown was the fourth most common reason for
losing previous accommodation among household owed the main home-
lessness duty, after the end of an assured shorthold tenancy, parents being
unable to accommodate and friends/relatives being unable to accommo-
date (DCLG, 2017).
So there is some evidence to suggest that the homelessness legislation
has played a role in tackling gender inequalities in housing—although, as
will be shown in later chapters, the offer of social rented housing has
sometimes meant moving into a tenure seen as a last resort. The discussion
of gender issues, although limited, represents a more developed argument
than those relating to class, ethnicity or sexuality.
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CHAPTER 2
Introduction
Homelessness is sometimes described as a ‘wicked’ problem, of which
there is no definite understanding and where the full consequences of
policy initiatives can never fully be known (McConnell, 2018, pp. 165–
167). The complexity of the problem, and of the range of policies that
have been devised to tackle it, is reflected in the absence of a single con-
ceptual framework which can provide a substantial understanding of
responses to homelessness. Instead, policy is best understood by consider-
ing the influence of five key factors.
The first of these factors is the explanation of homelessness that is
favoured. Academics and others have engaged in near constant debate
about the causes of homelessness, with this debate developing from a sim-
ple individual/structural distinction to incorporate a more complex set of
explanations. While policy makers have not necessarily followed all the
nuances of these debates, it is noticeable that governments since 1997
have acknowledged a wide range of causes of homelessness in their policy
documents.
The second factor is the manner in which homeless people are catego-
rised and the characteristics that are associated with different categories.
From the implementation of the 1948 National Assistance Act, there has
been a clear assumption in policy that households with dependent children
should receive the most significant protection from homelessness, with
‘single homeless people’ treated as a lesser priority. However, single
Answer
92.
When may a man reasonably complain of his coffee?
Answer
93.
Why does a duck put her head under water?
Answer
94.
Why does she take it out again?
Answer
95.
In what terms does Shakespeare allude to the muddiness of the
river on which Liverpool lies?
Answer
96.
97.
Why is a man who never bets, as bad as one who bets
habitually?
Answer
98.
When is a bonnet not a bonnet?
Answer
99.
Answer
100.
Answer
101.
Helen, after sitting an hour, dressed for a walk, at length set out
alone, leaving the following laconic note for the friend who, she had
expected, would accompany her:
2 8.
2
Answer
102.
Come and commiserate one who was blind,
Helpless and desolate, void of a mind;
Guileless, deceiving; though unbelieving,
Free from all sin.
By mortals adored, still I ignored
The world I was in.
King Ptolemy’s, Cæsar’s, and Tiglath Pilezer’s
Birth days are shown;
Wise men, astrologers, all are acknowledgers,
Mine is unknown.
I never had father or mother
Alive at my birth.
Lodged in a palace, taunted by malice,
I did not inherit by lineage or merit,
A spot on the earth.
Nursed among pagans, no one baptized me,
Sponsor I had, who ne’er catechised me;
She gave me the name to her heart that was dearest;
She gave me the place to her bosom was nearest;
But one look of kindness she cast on me never,
Nor word of my blindness I heard from her ever.
Encompassed by strangers, naught could alarm me;
I saved, I destroyed, I blessed, I alloyed;
Kept a crown for a prince, but had none of my own;
Filled the place of a king, but ne’er had a throne;
Rescued a warrior, baffled a plot;
Was what I seemed not, seemed what I was not;
Devoted to slaughter, a price on my head,
A king’s lovely daughter watched by my bed.
How gently she dressed me, fainting with fear!
She never caressed me, nor wiped off a tear;
Ne’er moistened my lips, though parched and dry,
What marvel a blight should pursue and defy?
’Twas royalty nursed me wretched and poor;
’Twas royalty cursed me in secret, I’m sure.
I lived not, I died not, but tell you I must,
That ages have passed since I first turned to dust.
This paradox whence? this squalor, this splendor?
Say, was I king, or silly pretender?
Fathom the mystery, deep in my history—
Was I a man?
An angel supernal, a demon infernal?
Solve it who can.
Answer
103.
A blind beggar had a brother. This blind beggar’s brother went to
sea and was drowned. But the man that was drowned had no
brother. What relation to him, then, was the blind beggar?
Answer
104.
Two brothers were walking together down the street, and one of
them, stopping at a certain house, knocked at the door, observing: “I
have a niece here, who is ill.” “Thank Heaven,” said the other, “I have
no niece!” and he walked away. Now, how could that be?
Answer
105.
“How is that man related to you?” asked one gentleman of
another.
Answer
106.
Describe a cat’s clothing botanically.
Answer
107.
What is that which boys and girls have once in a lifetime, men
and women never have, and Mt. Parnassus has twice in one place?
Answer
108.
Why is the highest mountain in Wales always white?
Answer
109.
To what two cities of Massachusetts should little boys go with
their boats?
Answer
110.
Answer
NOTABLE NAMES.
111.
Answer
112.
Answer
113.
Answer
114.
115.
A little more
Than a sandy shore.
Answer
116.
Answer
117.
A head-dress.
Answer
118.
Inclining to one of the four parts of the compass.
Answer
119.
A mineral and a chain of hills.
Answer
120.
A metal, and a worker in metals.
Answer
121.
A sound made by an insect; and a fastening.
Answer
122.
A sound made by an animal; and a fastening.
Answer
123.
A sound made by an animal, and a measure of length.
Answer
124.
A Latin noun and a measure of quantity.
Answer
125.
A bodily pain.
Answer
126.
The value of a word.
Answer
127.
A manufactured metal.
Answer
128.
To agitate a weapon.
Answer
129.
A domestic animal, and what she cannot do.
Answer
130.
Which is the greater poet, William Shakespeare or John Dryden?
Answer
131.
A barrier before an edible; a barrier built of an edible.
Answer
132.
One-fourth of the earth’s surface, and a preposition.
Answer
133.
One-fourth of the earth’s surface, and a conjunction.
Answer
134.
A song; to follow the chase.
Answer
135.
A solid fence, a native of Poland.
Answer
136.
An incessant pilgrim; fourteen pounds weight.
Answer
137.
A quick succession of small sounds.
Answer
138.
Obsolete past participle of a verb meaning to illuminate.
Answer
139.
A carriage, a liquid, a narrow passage.
Answer
140.
To prosecute, and one who is guarded.
Answer
141.
A letter withdraws from a name to make it more brilliant.
Answer
142.
A letter withdraws from a name and tells you to talk more.
Answer
143.
Why is a man who lets houses, likely to have a good many
cousins?
Answer
144.
What relation is the door-mat to the door-step?
Answer
145.
What is it that gives a cold, cures a cold, and pays the doctor’s
bill?
Answer
146.
What is brought upon the table, and cut but never eaten?
Answer
147.
What cord is that which is full of knots which no one can untie,
and in which no one can tie another?
Answer
148.
What requires more philosophy than taking things as they come?
Answer
149.
What goes most against a farmer’s grain?
Answer
150.
Which of Shakespeare’s characters killed most poultry?
Answer
151.
THE BISHOP OF OXFORD’S RIDDLE.
Answer
153.
Answer
154.
Answer
155.
1. A common fish, or an Eastern bay;
2. Part of a visage, or self to say;
3. The lowest part of window or door;
Whole. The end of a will that was made before.
Answer
156.
I have a little friend who possesses something very precious. It is
a piece of workmanship of exquisite skill, and was said by our
Blessed Saviour to be an object of His Father’s peculiar care; yet it
does not display the attribute of either benevolence or compassion. If
its possessor were to lose it, no human ingenuity could replace it;
and yet, speaking generally, it is very abundant. It was first given to
Adam in Paradise, along with his beautiful Eve, though he previously
had it in his possession.
It will last as long as the world lasts, and yet it is destroyed every
day. It lives in beauty after the grave has closed over mortality. It is to
be found in all parts of the earth, while three distinct portions of it
exist in the air. It is seen on the field of carnage, yet it is a bond of
affection, a token of amity, a pledge of pure love. It was the cause of
death to one famed for beauty and ambition. I have only to add that it
has been used as a napkin and a crown, and that it appears like
silver after long exposure to the air.
Answer
157.
When the king found that his money was nearly all gone, and that
he really must live more economically, he decided on sending away
most of his wise men. There were some hundreds of them—very fine
old men, and magnificently dressed in green velvet gowns with gold
buttons. If they had a fault, it was that they always contradicted each
other when he asked their advice—and they certainly ate and drank
enormously. So, on the whole, he was rather glad to get rid of them.
But there was an old lay which he did not dare to disobey, which said
there must always be:
158.
Why are not Lowell, Holmes, and Saxe the wittiest poets in
America?
Answer
159.
Why did they call William Cullen Bryant, Cullen?
Answer
160.
Why do we retain only three hundred and twenty-five days in our
year?
Answer
161.
What seven letters express actual presence in this place; and,
without transposition, actual absence from every place?
Answer
162.
Is Florence, (Italy,) on the Tiber? If not, on what river does it lie?
Answer both questions in one word.
Answer
163.
Is there a word in our language which answers this question, and
contains all the vowels?
Answer
164.
What is it that goes up the hill; and down the hill, and never
moves?
Answer
165.