Making sense of homelessness: What are the public perceptions, and how do policy actors understand the problem?

Abstract

This thesis sought to understand how homelessness is perceived and understood by both the general public and policy actors.This research was informed by Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological Systems Theory which describes the layers of influence on an individual’s life. To understand the problem of homelessness, the contextual factors around the individual must be considered.Including access to services, commissioning, policy pertaining to health and social care as well as the cultural factors that influence societal structures. In the field of homelessness, research has explored individual risk factors for homelessness as well as systemic barriers in health and social care. This research seeks to make sense of the macro-level systems around the people experiencing homelessness in society. The first chapter provides a systematic literature review of the evidence base to answer the question: What are the public perceptions of homelessness? This paper provides a narrative synthesis of 25 peer reviewed papers and dissertations. Each investigating how the public make sense of homelessness in their respective countries,as well as which demographic characteristics were associated with more compassion and systemic formulations of homelessness. The second chapter describes an empirical research project investigating how policy actors understand the perpetuating factors for homelessness in the UK. 14 semi- structured interviews with policy actors were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis(Braun & Clarke, 2022). Three themes are described in relation to relevant psychology and policy literature. Considerations for future research and implications are discussed.

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