Publications

This policy paper highlights the significant barriers faced by people with disabilities in accessing support and exiting homelessness. It draws on government data and research reports to highlight the higher prevalence of physical disabilities and health conditions in households experiencing poverty and potential homelessness.

This paper explores the link between homelessness and mental health, and provides effective interventions such as integrated support models and trauma-focused interventions to tackle these pressing issues.

The fifth edition of this report which presents the findings from the evidence and gap map on effectiveness. This new edition contains 690 studies, 128 of which were published in the past two years.

This policy paper calls for specific interventions to relieve and prevent homelessness among people from ethnic minorities to address stark inequalities among people who are assessed as homelessness. The report, written by Professor Nissa Finney, Professor of Human Geography at the University of St Andrews, highlights how inequalities experienced by different ethnic groups across the UK contribute to higher rates of homelessness.

This resource aims to raise awareness of the guideline on integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness that we created in partnership with NICE. It summarises the evidence base and gives people advice on implementation using case studies and examples of good practice.

Results from a survey conducted by IPSOS for the Centre for Homelessness Impact on public perceptions and attitudes towards issues relating to homelessness.

Young people who spend some of their childhood in care are much more likely to experience homelessness in adulthood. This paper highlights the shortage of high quality, causal evidence on how to prevent or end homelessness for young people leaving care and number of interventions whose theories of change suggest a reduction in homelessness as an outcome.

There are many reasons why people who identify as LGBTQ+ may be at greater risk of homelessness than others. This policy paper looks at sexuality, gender identity and homelessness, and reveals where the research into interventions to help is lacking

Published in partnership with the Higher Education Policy Institute, this paper looks at the role universities could play in preventing homelessness in their local areas. The prevalence of homelessness tends to be higher in university towns and this paper asks if universities could do more to prevent homelessness and outlines many of the steps that universities can take.

In the final European Journal of Homelessness paper, Danny Dorling writes of the importance of using evidence to underpin action on ending homelessness

Too many young people leaving care are afflicted at some point by homelessness. But we know little about how to lift these young people out of homelessness, or prevent it from occurring in the first place. Find out more in this journal article.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a powerful mechanism for encouraging global progress towards shared social and environmental goals. Yet homelessness is not explicitly mentioned. Could ‘seeing’ and measuring homelessness through the lens of the SDGs help to coordinate efforts to end it? This article tackles this question.

Arts and creativity are an intrinsic part of being human. But how does this theory of creativity relate to modern day homelessness prevention? This article explores the contribution of art and sport to ending homelessness.

This article explores the challenges of incorporating first-hand experiences in a meaningful way in the homelessness sector, stating that individuals are often seen as informants, rather than people who can create change themselves. It explores the challenges and opportunities for meaningful involvement of those with experiences of homelessness and related issues.

Everyone deserves a safe, stable place to call home. But for many renters living in the Private Rented Sector across the UK, ‘home’ isn’t something they can be sure of. This paper highlights that more could be done within the Private Rented Sector (PRS) to prevent homelessness.

This European Journal of Homelessness article looks at role of international engagement and social innovation in preventing youth homelessness in Wales and Canada.

This paper introduces the concept of social entrepreneurship, exploring its potential contribution to a what works system, and describes the role of entrepreneurial philanthropy in funding such approaches. It then makes tentative proposals about the specific functions of social entrepreneurship in the homelessness field and explores criticisms of social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial philanthropy.

Homelessness in Finland has decreased continuously since 2013. Read about their strategy, and what has worked – and not – in this article for the European Journal of Homelessness

Modular housing is one of the innovations increasingly used in the homelessness sector to provide temporary accommodation, but there is very limited evidence about the effectiveness of these models, the barriers and facilitators to set them up and operate them, and the experiences of people housed there. This research provides an overview of current modular and container housing provision in the UK.

This paper looks at the latest research on how analysis of homeless registrations are utilised as instruments of governing homelessness in Nordic countries.

This article draws on published research and use case studies of linkages undertaken by one of the authors to reflect on the promises and pitfalls of administrative data linkage to understand and tackle homelessness.

This article sets out the policy context on homelessness and street homelessness in England and to provide an overview of how improvements to the available data and evidence have contributed to, and influenced, policy-making.

This paper reviews recent evidence on the relationship between housing affordability and homelessness in Australia.

The fourth edition of this report which presents the findings from the first of these maps, that is the evidence and gap map on effectiveness. This new edition contains 562 studies, a fifth (112 studies) of which were published in the past two years.

Housing is an important determinant of health. A healthy home is somewhere that provides for our needs, makes us feel safe and secure, and allows us to stay connected to our community. In contrast, poor housing – such as cold, damp homes, insecure tenancies, overcrowding, and lack of affordability – can have a detrimental effect on people’s mental and physical health. This article outlines the links between health and health inequalities with housing, drawing on evidence from the UK.

This paper on emergency pandemic measures looks at what nine global cities did to house and support people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

This report shares the findings from the second survey by Ipsos MORI for the Centre for Homelessness Impact 12 months after the first – conducted November/December 2020 – and designed to track changes in public perceptions of homelessness.

Homelessness has long been recognised as a health issue – how could it not be when people experiencing long-term forms of homelessness have mortality rates many times higher than those of the general population. This article provides examples of successes as well as missteps in public health responses to homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and United States and describe lessons for the future.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Centre for Homelessness Impact (CHI) have jointly published a guideline on ways to improve access to and engagement with health and social care services for people experiencing homelessness.

Given the substantial gaps in our knowledge and the very limited number of Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) in homelessness interventions in Europe, in this paper we explain the potential value of RCTS before reflecting on the experience of commissioning and running some of the first RCTs in homelessness in the UK.

Social investment from both the public and philanthropic sectors have been activated to test innovative new approaches to ending homelessness. This paper highlights three innovative investment approaches to accelerate solutions to end homelessness. Each approach highlights the mechanisms by which the approach leverages public, philanthropic, and private capital to address a particular challenge that may be slowing progress toward the goal of ending homelessness.

The success of the Finnish model has been attributed to an integrated strategy. But is it possible to distil those elements of the Finnish model that have worked well and those failures or missteps that should be avoided in the future? This article is a preliminary exercise for that kind of analysis.

As part of the Special Edition of the European Journal of Homelessness, this paper compares the results from the large multi-site trials that examined the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Pathways Housing First (HF) in Canada and France. Written by Tim Aubry, Maryann Roebuck, Sandrine Loubiere Aurelie Tinland, Geoff Nelson and Eric Latimer.

Written by Ligia Teixeira, this article is one of a series of articles commissioned by the Centre for Homelessness Impact or a special edition of the European Journal of Homelessness.

This paper provides an overview of the evidence for interventions designed for individuals being discharged from institutional settings such as prison, hospital and care. In addition to looking at research on the links between homelessness and discharge, we also look at how policy and further research can help improve outcomes in these areas.

This paper looks at the evidence around the relationship between homelessness and mental health, with a focus on street homelessness and single homelessness. In addition to looking at statistical and research evidence on the links between homelessness and mental health, this paper examines evidence on the effectiveness of various approaches to treatment and prevention of mental health problems amongst people experiencing homelessness.

This paper looks at the evidence around the relationship between homelessness and employment, with a focus on street homelessness and other forms of single homelessness.

This paper looks at the evidence around the relationship between homelessness and immigration status, with a focus on street homelessness and other forms of single homelessness, looking in particular at people with no recourse to public funds.

This paper describes some key trends about homelessness and the existing evidence about how this relates to changes in benefit entitlements. We discuss opportunities for data analyses to quantify these links as well as potential opportunities for reform. It should be read alongside the joint CHI-CIH paper on housing subsidies for people on low incomes.

Homelessness prevention has become an increasingly important part of addressing homelessness in the UK and a number of countries across the world, including the US, Finland, Canada, Australia and Germany. This paper provides an overview of the evidence on the success of interventions for preventing homelessness.

This paper provides an overview of the evidence on the relationship between homelessness and substance and alcohol use. It captures recent trends and identifies what we know about what works for whom. We conclude with some initial thoughts on implications for policy and practice.

A policy paper written in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Housing assesses whether better value for money be achieved by redirecting some of the £30.6bn which is currently spent on housing benefit and the housing element of universal credit.

A report in collaboration with Campbell UK & Ireland, Centre for Evidence and Social Innovation and Queens University Belfast which examines the evidence on interventions which improve access to health and social care.

A policy paper in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University's Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research exploring gender-based approaches to homelessness policy.

A survey conducted in partnership with Ipsos MORI

Report summary

Two randomised controlled trials undertaken in partnership with The National Residential Landlords Association and the Behavioural Insights Team.

The updated 2021 edition shows 275 studies on why interventions to improve the welfare of people experiencing homelessness or at risk work or not.

This report is the third edition of the report which presents the findings from the first of these maps, that is the evidence and gap map on effectiveness. This edition includes 134 additional studies, bringing the total number of studies included in the map to 394. It also includes a network analysis of study authors and their home institutions.

A concise executive summary of The Centre for Homelessness Impact’s inaugural impact report, detailing the impacts and achievements from our first two years of work.

The Centre for Homelessness Impact’s inaugural impact report, detailing the impacts and achievements from our first two years of work.

Accommodation-based programmes for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Results from a survey conducted by Ipsos MORI for the Centre for Homelessness Impact on public perceptions and attitudes towards issues relating to homelessness.

Discharge programmes for individuals experiencing, or at risk of experiencing homelessness: a systematic review

A policy paper looking at employment and homelessness in the context of the new economy following COVID-19.

The SHARE framework sets out clear principles to inform how preventing and ending homelessness should be framed and assessed. It aims to take into account all relevant data, while also setting the highest standards for transparency and accountability when working to prevent or relieve homelessness.

This new publication gathers the insights and experiences of leaders in government, academia and the third sector to present new evidence-based strategies to end homelessness.

An options appraisal for a national data and monitoring system for street homelessness in Scotland

Global Evidence and Gap Map of Effectiveness Studies. By Dr. Howard White and Dr. Ashrita Saran

A report which analyses the evidence standards and evidence used in 14 web based research portals. By Prof. David Gough and Dr Howard White

A launch pad for strategic evidence production and use. Global Evidence and Gap Map of Implementation Issues Pt 2

A smarter way to End Homelessness. By Dr. Lígia Teixeira, Dave Russell and Dr. Tim Hobbs

A launch pad for strategic evidence production and use. Global Evidence and Gap Map of Effectiveness Studies Pt 1

This feasibility study looks at the case for a new Centre for Homelessness Impact. The report is the culmination of a 6-month project and the Centre aims to improve the lives of people affected by homelessness by instigating a shift of resources to evidence-based solutions