Common Lessons Learnt

Overarching Finding

Employability services for homeless individuals should be part of a holistic approach.

Ten Key Themes

  1. Services need longer-term, flexible and more secure funding to deliver most effectively, and to mainstream good practice.

  2. Many of the individuals we work with are far from the labour market and have multiple barriers to tackle before being able to gain – or sustain – employment.  Resources need to be made available to ensure there is provision at the ‘pre-employment’ level, where individuals are engaged in flexible provision and can develop – or move towards employment – at an appropriate pace.

  3. Leisure and creative activities, such as sports and arts, are an effective way of engaging people who might not otherwise take part in services.

  4. Alternative solutions should be available for those individuals who are not ready for employment in the open labour market, including such options as social enterprises, supported employment, and volunteering.

  5. Gender equality is often obscured within the homelessness agenda and is an important issue to take into account

  6. Links with employers are easier for NGOs to make and sustain, when the NGOs are working with users who are closer to the labour market.

  7. To successfully address the needs of homeless individuals, high quality key/social worker support is required.  Employment related issues/options should be a core element of key/social worker development, delivered through formal training, staff exchanges, etc.

  8. Many homeless individuals gain short-term or temporary work.  Poor employment practices and the tenuous nature of the work can make homeless individuals even more vulnerable and prone to poverty.

  9. Homelessness and unemployment should not be treated in isolation.  Strategies across government departments, linking housing, employment, health, could improve outcomes.

  10. Many homeless people experience multiple disadvantage and multiple barriers to employment.  Effective policies and services need to look beyond the label of ‘unemployed’ or ‘homeless’ in order to address the multiplicity of barriers, including gender, age, disability, ethnicity, physical or mental health, substance abuse, legal status, etc.