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| Homelessness Monitor | |
|---|---|
| Name | Homelessness Monitor |
| Type | Research programme |
| Established | 2010s |
| Focus | Homelessness, housing policy, social exclusion |
| Country | United Kingdom; comparative studies in United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Germany |
Homelessness Monitor The Homelessness Monitor is a longitudinal research programme that tracks trends in homelessness, housing exclusion, and welfare policy across multiple jurisdictions, producing annual reports and comparative analyses. It is associated with academic institutions, think tanks, and charities and engages with policymakers, journalists, funders, and advocates to inform debates on housing markets, social protection, and urban poverty. The project synthesizes administrative data, survey research, and legal review to map changes linked to crises, austerity measures, and legislative reforms.
The programme originated in collaborations among universities, charities, and research councils and has been led by teams at academic centres and non-governmental organizations in the United Kingdom, with comparative work involving partners in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Turkey, Israel, Japan, South Korea, China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Singapore and others. Outputs include annual reports, policy briefings, and datasets used by institutions such as municipal housing departments, national parliaments, international agencies, and charitable federations.
The research combines administrative datasets from local authorities and central ministries with survey instruments adapted from population surveys and homelessness counts used by organisations like Shelter (charity), Crisis (charity), National Alliance to End Homelessness, Homelessness NSW, Y-Foundation, FEANTSA, and academic studies from London School of Economics, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Glasgow, University of York, University College London, King's College London, Oxford Brookes University, University of Edinburgh, University of Manchester, University of Birmingham, University of Sheffield, University of Warwick, University of Liverpool, University of Bristol, University of Nottingham, University of Leeds, University of Southampton, University of Exeter, University of St Andrews, and international partners such as Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Toronto, University of Melbourne, Australian National University, University of Auckland, Trinity College Dublin, Humboldt University of Berlin, Sciences Po, and University of Barcelona. Methods include repeated cross-sectional analysis, cohort tracking, qualitative interviews with service users and providers, legal review referencing statutes and judgments, and econometric modelling drawing on labour market, welfare benefit, and housing price data sourced from national statistical offices and central banks such as the Bank of England, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of Canada, and Reserve Bank of Australia.
Reports document rising rough sleeping and statutory homelessness in many urban centres including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Melbourne, Dublin, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Milan, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Brussels, Vienna, Zurich, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Lisbon, Athens, Sofia, Bucharest, Istanbul, Moscow, Kyiv, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Mumbai, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Mexico City, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Lagos. Regional patterns correlate with housing affordability pressures in metropolitan markets, changes in benefit regimes, and variations in legal frameworks for homelessness and eviction, with notable contrasts between countries with strong social housing sectors such as Austria, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden and those with marketised housing systems like United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and parts of Spain.
Analyses emphasise interactions among housing market dynamics, welfare retrenchment, labour market precarity, and personal circumstances, referencing policy shifts and events such as the 2007–2009 financial crisis, austerity programmes enacted by legislatures and administrations, and public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. Risk factors identified include eviction following tenancy termination, repossession linked to mortgage indebtedness, cuts to income support and benefits, and household breakdown tied to domestic violence and substance dependence, with intersections across demographics including young people, older adults, veterans, migrants, refugees, ethnic minorities, and people with mental health conditions documented by agencies like UNHCR, UNICEF, World Health Organization, International Labour Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and national ombudsmen.
The programme reviews interventions such as Housing First models pioneered in cities like Helsinki, New York City, Oulu, Nashville, and Seattle; prevention measures including legal aid for tenants, rent control and eviction moratoriums enacted in jurisdictions such as Scotland, Wales, California, and New South Wales; and commissioning of supported accommodation by local authorities and charities including Crisis (charity), Shelter (charity), St Mungo's, Depaul International, The Salvation Army, Catholic Charities USA, Habitat for Humanity, YMCA, Red Cross societies, and municipal housing agencies. Evaluations draw on randomized trials, quasi-experimental studies, and programme monitoring used by funders and audit bodies such as national audit offices and philanthropic foundations including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, National Lottery Community Fund, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and others.
Impacts assessed include reductions in rough sleeping, improved housing stability, changes in service use including healthcare and criminal justice contacts, and fiscal implications for public spending and housing markets. Outcome measures reference rehousing rates, tenancy sustainment, wellbeing indices, mortality statistics, emergency department presentations, and cost–benefit analyses undertaken by research institutes, academic centres, municipal authorities, and intergovernmental bodies including European Commission units responsible for social inclusion.
Critiques of the programme address data gaps, definitional inconsistencies across jurisdictions, reliance on administrative counts that may under-represent hidden homelessness, challenges in attributing causality in complex policy environments, and limitations in capturing lived experience. Commentators from advocacy groups, academic critics, and oversight bodies including national statistical agencies and equality commissions have called for harmonised definitions, improved longitudinal cohorts, enhanced qualitative work with people experiencing homelessness, and more transparent publication of methods and datasets.
Category:Research projects Category:Housing studies Category:Social policy