Resiliency: Homelessness

eISBN: 9781780466040
Print ISBN: 9781780460710

In a globalised world, the wealthy elite and the rough sleeper negotiate the same streets, jostling for space in the doorways of shops selling luxury goods, thus the winners and losers of global capitalism meet in the same urban spaces. While the visibility of rough sleepers has become a shorthand to frame poverty and inequality, homelessness is not confined to the doorways of cities. It is experienced in a multitude of different ways: as single homeless people living in hostels, shelters and temporary supported accommodation, as those 'sofa-surfing' and living in overcrowded accommodation and as those who are termed 'statutory homeless', waiting for a house from a social housing provider. Homelessness is recognised as a multi-dimensional phenomenon. The issue of homelessness and social exclusion has received increasing attention in the wider arena of health and social care policy and practice, the issue of homelessness and health has been the focus of recent Public Health attention in Scotland. Positioned within a health inequalities framework, homelessness is understood to be 'both a consequence and a cause of poverty, social and health inequality'. Homeless people experience poorer physical and mental health than the general population and present a higher prevalence of physical, mental and substance misuse issues. The main aim of this book is to support readers wishing to understand issues of homelessness, social exclusion and health at a local level but to do so by framing these issues in a global context. It expands notions of health by drawing on disciplines outside the fields of housing and health to better comprehend the ways that stigma, identity and urban geographies shape, frame and present homelessness, especially for those who are rough sleeping.

eISBN: 9781119104766
Print ISBN: 9781405181259

Foreword by Nan Roman, President and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness This book explains how to end the U.S. homelessness crisis by bringing together the best scholarship on the subject and sharing solutions that both local communities and national policy-makers can apply now. In the Midst of Plenty shifts understanding of homelessness away from individual disability to larger contexts of poverty, income inequality, housing affordability, and social exclusion. Homelessness experts Shinn and Khadduri provide guidance on how to end homelessness for people who experience it and how to prevent so many people from reaching the point where they have no alternative to sleeping on the street or in emergency shelters. The authors show that we know how to end homelessness--if we devote the necessary resources to doing so. In the Midst of Plenty: Homelessness and What to Do About It is an excellent resource for policy-makers, professionals in the homeless services system, and anyone else who wants to end homelessness. It also can serve as a text in undergraduate or masters courses in public policy, sociology, psychology, social work, urban studies, or housing policy. "The knowledgeable and thoughtful authors of this book--two brilliant women who know as much as anyone in the country about the nature of homelessness and its solutions--have done a great service by taking us on a journey through the history of homelessness, how our responses have changed, and how we can end it." --Nan Roman, President and CEO National Alliance to End Homelessness. "Shinn and Khadduri's new book is a thorough yet concise examination of what we know about the nature and causes of homelessness, and the crucial lessons learned. This critically important work provides a roadmap to restoring basic housing and income security as viable policy options, in the face of our daunting inequality divide that otherwise threatens millions with destitution and homelessness." --Dennis Culhane, Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy, University of Pennsylvania "Marybeth Shinn and Jill Khadduri have combined their significant expertise to create an essential guide about the history of modern homelessness and to offer a clear path forward to end this American tragedy. Their policy recommendations on ending homelessness are culled from the best about what we know works." --Barbara Poppe, Executive Director US Interagency Council on Homeless, 2009-2014

eISBN: 9780228009542
Print ISBN: 9780228008354

Late-Life Homelessness is the first Canadian book to address this often neglected issue. Drawing from a four-year ethnographic study of late-life homelessness in Montreal, Canada, Amanda Grenier uses a critical gerontological perspective to explore life at the intersection of older age and homelessness.

eISBN: 9781351013895
Print ISBN: 9781138499881

Chapter 31 - Homeless Healthcare

Addressing health inequalities is a key focus for health and social care organizations. This book explores how best frontline health workers in areas of deprivation can address these problems. Aimed at doctors and their wider multidisciplinary teams, this book provides key knowledge and practical advice on how to address the causes and consequences of health inequalities to achieve better outcomes for patients. Considering the psychological, financial and social aspects of well-being as well as health concerns, this book offers a concise but comprehensive overview of the key issues in health inequalities and, most importantly, how practically to address them. Key Features Comprehensively covers the breadth of subjects identified by RCGP's work to formulate a curriculum for health inequalities The first book to address the urgent area of causes and consequences of health inequalities in clinical practice. Chapters are authored by expert practitioners with proven experience in each aspect of health care. Applied, practical focus, demonstrating approaches that will work and can be applied in 'every' situation of inequality. Provides evidence of how community based primary care can make a change.