The LSE Homelessness Initiative Activity Fund

There are a growing number of university students in London who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness. This is being driven by a combination of high housing costs, low incomes and increasingly limited financial support from the Government. Most student homelessness goes unreported, making it difficult for universities to understand and respond to the scale of the problem. 

This project targets this specific challenge and aims to help institutions offer more and better support to students. Led by researchers from LSE Housing and Communities, it will combine a review of existing research with new research into the different policies and approaches used by a selection of London universities. 

These findings will then be presented to a round table that brings together university staff with student representatives and charities with experience of supporting homeless students. This approach will create a valuable opportunity for these stakeholders to collaboratively identify best practice and policies that are effective and deliverable. 

The LSE archives contain a rich tapestry of materials related to homeless, from the Poor Laws of Victorian London to recent oral histories collected by St. Mungo’s, as well much that remains undiscovered or under-explored.

This project, led by the LSE Library in partnership with Arts & Homelessness International (AHI), will place four artists who are or have been homeless alongside research and archive professionals to explore these materials. Through a series of workshops, this team will research portrayals of homelessness over the last two hundred years and will shed light on how these have evolved and persisted over time.

Their work will culminate in a public event showcasing their findings, as well as how the artists have responsed to them. Throughout its duration, the project will be a space for creativity that can challenge stereotypes, foster empathy, and promote a deeper understanding of homelessness.

The number of 16 – 24 year olds that are experiencing or are at risk of experiencing homelessness stood at 119,000 in 2022/23, a rise of 14% from 2020/21. This growth is particularly alarming because people in this age group are also at a significant and vulnerable stage in their personal, educational and professional development.

As demand grows, the services provided by homeless shelters to this group will become even more important. This project will work in partnership with a local shelter to identify how the amount and quality of those services can be improved. 

The researchers will achieve this by studying the shelter itself, using methods that range from interviewing employees to a review of the shelter’s processes to using the latest social science techniques to map and analyse their organisation. 

The data this generates will be used to suggest and test interventions, with an additional goal of identifying a framework that can be used by other homeless shelters across the capital. 

There are a number of public bodies that provide support to people experiencing homelessness and one of the greatest obstacles they face is tracking and understanding the data they produce. Doing so successfully can mean answering important questions like who is using their services, what impact are those services having and how can resources be used more effectively. 

This project focuses on a platform developed by Dr Michela Tinelli and her team that collects and visualises data related to the care given to homeless people leaving hospital. Named CQE or “Care Quality Evaluation”, it has been a significant success and has been recognised by NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care as an example of best practice. 

A panel event will be organised to demonstrate its use, celebrate its effectiveness and highlight how it can be used by other organisations providing services to homeless people. As well as team members, it will involve LSE students who supported the project, individuals with lived experience of homelessness, representatives from local authorities and charities, and colleagues from LSE Innovation. 

Migrants in London are as much as 35% more likely to be at risk of homelessness than the rest of the population, according to research by Homeless Link and other organisations. This project aims to draw attention to this heightened risk, its causes and its consequences by organising a panel event open to LSE staff and students and the wider public.

The event itself will take place on 27 February from 6pm in the Shaw Library.

If you are interested in attending, please register through this link.  

It is being collaboratively organised by LSE staff, students from the Homelessness Action society and the Hackney Migrant Centre (HMC). Panel members will include experts, practitioners and individuals with lived experience of homelessness. There will also be an opportunity for attendees to donate directly to HMC during the event.