The Experiences of Men who have had Multiple Moves Within Projects for People who are Homeless

Abstract

Homelessness and rough sleeping has dramatically increased in the UK over the past six years. Links between welfare changes, inequality and social exclusion are pronounced. This study looked into the experiences of a particular group of people experiencing homelessness; those with complex needs who had had multiple moves round homeless projects. Qualitative research of the lived experiences of those experiencing homelessness is limited, particularly for this group of individuals in the UK. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was applied to interviews undertaken with six men with these experiences. The four main themes from this analysis were Moving forward vs no way forward, Being here has really helped but it’s only temporary, Being treated as different and Desperately longing for yet deeply fearing relationships. These themes were supported with extensive participant quotes and were contextualised in the current literature. The themes reflect and demonstrate: Challenges with hope and future plans and the role of substance use; Relationships to help in the context of conditionality and the temporary nature of projects; Issues regarding coherent identity development and stigmatisation; and Complexity around forming relationships. These findings develop our understanding of this population and support improvements in practice. A clear role for Clinical Psychologists in this area was identified and recommendations across domains of individual, service level and community practice were presented.