Dr Amy Clair, University of Adelaide

Housing, health, and policy coherence

Housing is an important social determinant of health, and much research has been dedicated to understanding this relationship. However, much is focused on specific health outcomes and individual aspects of housing. In combination these approaches risk preventing a comprehensive and broad understanding of the relationship between housing and health, potentially resulting in underestimates of the importance of housing to health (and vice versa). To contribute towards filling this gap we present here an approach that builds on the Salutogenic approach developed by sociologist of health Aaron Antonovsky, the housing niches approach developed by social and environmental psychologist Susan Saegert, alongside theories from other disciplines such as social harm and slow violence, to develop a comprehensive framework of how housing policy, and social policies more generally, can be linked with health. Sign Up now

Professor Andrea Williamson, University of Glasgow

Applying a ‘missingness’ lens to healthcare for inclusion health populations

‘Missingness’ in health care is the ‘repeated tendency not to take up offers of care such that it has a negative impact on the person and their life chances’. Recent whole population Scottish epidemiological work has shown shocking associated mortality. In current NIHR funded research we have explored the causes of missingness by publishing a realist review and conducting interviews with 60 experts by experience of missingness, and professionals. Andrea Williamson Professor of General Practice and Inclusion Health at the University of Glasgow will present this work, outline progress in developing a set of interventions to address missingness and consider the importance of this work for Inclusion Health settings; like homelessness health. Sign Up now

With David Williamson

New Labour and Street Homelessness 1997- 2010

A successful social policy initiative: Lessons to be learned.

Between 1997 and 2010 New Labour enacted a series of policy interventions in street homeless that were highly successful in dramatically reducing the number of people sleeping rough and helping people permanently resettle away from the street. This success stems primarily from aspects of New Labour’s approach to governance – a commitment to address issues of social exclusion, joined-up government, modernisation, and the empowerment of the third sector. Most significant of all, rough sleeping was given a high priority with strong support from the very centre of government. Two new bodies performed crucial roles in reducing rough sleeping: The Social Exclusion Unit (SEU), and the Homeless Persons Unit (HPU). Both bodies were recipients of significant prime ministerial patronage which gave them the necessary leverage to ensure cross-departmental cooperation. The make-up of both bodies was also crucial. The HPU drove through significant changes in working practice that energised the voluntary sector and directly led to a dramatic reduction in rough sleeping. In its second and third terms, New Labour focused on long term support, individual empowerment and homelessness prevention. Key were the Homelessness Act 2002, which transformed local authorities’ approach to single homeless people, and the Supporting People programme that provided a proper funding base to the homelessness sector enabling the development of long-term, holistic support.

Labour’s modernisation programme left a legacy of a much more professionalised homeless sector, both organisationally and managerially, and whose staff’s skill-set was vastly improved with significant advances in trauma-informed care and the mainstreaming of user empowerment. Although much has been lost in subsequent cuts, New Labour developed a successful model for addressing street homelessness that could easily be resuscitated.

Dr Fran Calvo, Heriot Watt University Visiting scholar from the University of Girona  

Smoking amongst people experiencing homelessness

People experiencing homelessness exhibit high rates of drug use and diagnosed substance dependencies. There is extensive scientific evidence at the international level supporting this assertion, derived from self-reported data by people experiencing homelessness, specific scales that determine problems associated with drug use, and clinical records of mental health diagnoses conducted by clinical professionals. A curious fact is the position that smoking typically occupies in research on substance dependencies among the homeless population. This seminar aims to reflect on the role of smoking in the health care process for people experiencing homelessness and the consequences that neglecting this phenomenon can have on their overall health.  Sign Up now