Groundswell works with people with experience of homelessness, offering opportunities to contribute to society and create solutions to homelessness.
Homelessness
We believe everyone has the right to a safe home and to contribute to society, however:
- an estimated 320,000 people are experiencing homelessness in the UK
- homelessness increases the strain on the NHS and our wider society
Health inequalities
Everyone has a right to good health and a right to access healthcare, however:
- the experience of homelessness results in deaths 35 years earlier than those in stable accommodation, the average age of death for someone who is homeless is just 44 years
- in 2018 two people experiencing homelessness died every single day in England and Wales, many of preventable health problems
Lack of participation
People who have experienced and escaped homelessness should inform the solution, because they know the problems, however:
- There is a lack of participation when it comes to designing services and policy that impact people’s lives
- Solutions to homelessness rarely use insight from the experience of homelessness, their voice is not heard
A society that doesn’t work for everyone
The system has been designed in a way that restricts opportunity, it needs to change to work for everyone because:
- poverty restricts people’s options, pressure from issues such as high housing costs, inadequate housing, poor mental health and insecure work are leading people to breaking point
- homelessness can cause instability in people’s lives, this combined with complicated systems and processes makes it difficult for people to navigate and access services