Young People and Rough Sleeping in London: A Qualitative Study

This study explores the issue of rough sleeping among young people in London, examining the causes, impact, and potential solutions. The findings reveal the increasing number of rough sleepers in the city, the causes of rough sleeping, ways of dealing with rough sleepers, the negative impact on individuals' lives, and the need for support to help them rebuild their lives. The study discusses these themes in relation to social science theory and relevant policies. Overall, the study highlights the urgent need for action to address the issue of rough sleeping among young people in London.

Methods

Table of Contents
Young People and Rough Sleeping in London: A Qualitative Study..............................................1
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
Findings ...........................................................................................................................................1
Themes emerging from participant's responses .........................................................................1
Interpret respondent's answer .....................................................................................................3
Quotations from transcripts where appropriate ..........................................................................3
Discussion .......................................................................................................................................3
Discuss themes in relation to social science theory and relevant policy ....................................3
Conclusions based on data analysis ................................................................................................3
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................4

Young People and Rough Sleeping in London: A Qualitative Study
INTRODUCTION
Rough sleeping is am extreme and viable form of homelessness. In this kind of problem,
people risk their lives by sleeping at public places which are not suitable and appropriate for
human habitation. People who become homeless are not able to sleep rough (Authority, 2015).
There are various reasons for rough sleeping and in most of the cases, individuals are struggling
with many difficulties and challenges in life that they have to overcome for moving forward in
their lives. Some of the causes of rough sleeping are alcohol misuse, mental illness, chaotic
relationship breakdowns and offending histories. In the present report, two interviews are
considered of people who are suffering from this problem due to their family issues. The data
collected by interview is analysed and conclusions are made.
Findings
Themes emerging from participant's responses
Theme 1 - Rough sleeping cases in London
Rough sleepers in London are increasing at high rate. According to the research
commissioned by Greater London Authority, it is seen that there are around 8,855 people who
slept rough in London. This is a national disgrace for the city as number of rough sleepers has
been rising every year. One of the reason for people to become rough sleeper is abundance of
their facilities. When children are removed form their families because parents get separated or
they cannot afford renting houses, then there is no option left for these children to sleep on
streets. Other reasons include people start taking drugs and they do not have enough money to
pay rent for their house (Bernstock, 2016). Thus government of UK have started various
initiatives for helping these people.
Theme 2 - Causes of rough sleeping
The causes of rough sleeping are divided into two types i.e. structural factors and
individual factors. Structural factors include societal and economical issues which affects social
environment for people. Other is individual factors that consists of personal circumstances of
people like mental illness, traumatic events, relationship problems and drug addictions. The
structural factors develop conditions in which homelessness occurs and individuals with personal
problems that increases homelessness. This contributes to increase in rough sleepers. Some
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structural factors due to which this situation occurs are lack of affordable housing, decline in
social sector housing, higher rates of house rents, minimised welfare provision, etc. Other
reasons are not getting support and care from families. Poverty is also a reason that increases
number of homeless people and rough sleepers.
Theme 3 - Ways of dealing with rough sleepers
There are different ways by which rough sleepers are provided help (Clarke, 2016).
These includes establishing a community of practise for rough sleepers, coordinating with
voluntary sector provision, delivering a clear communication campaign and providing an
alternative for charitable giving. The community of practise will help in bringing together
different agencies that delivers rough sleeping for coordinating provision within local authorities.
Various applications can be used for reaching people facing these problems. It is essential for
different charitable organisations to understand that only money cannot help people, they need
support and emotional help as well.
Theme 4 - Contribution of homelessness to rough sleeping
Homelessness is a great problem that causes different problems to people. The most
visible and severe form of homelessness is rough sleeping. Individuals who sleep rough are
known as street homeless. When there is no option left with people to stay in their homes, they
have to stay on streets (Fuller, 2016). This contributes in increase of rough sleepers in city. If
people have place to sleep and living with their families happily then they do not face any mental
stress or illness.
Theme 5 - Negative impact on individual's life due to rough sleeping
Rough sleeping affects both health and wealth of an individual. This is measure of
collective success which reduces inequalities. Rough sleeping is consequence of combination
and culmination of individual and structural factors. Health of an individual who is a rough
sleeper is not well and they exhibit serious health problems. Generally, rough sleepers have
problem of taking drugs. The person becomes emotionally very weak and he is not able to trust
any person.
Theme 6 - Support people to build their lives
Minimising the problem of rough sleeping cannot be achieved by just putting a roof on
someone's head. For having a good solution for this problem, there is need of access to support at
right time. This enables people to make their life normal and becoming positive towards life.
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Government can improve access to mental health services by a specialist team for helping
coordinating and carrying out assessments of mental health with individuals whoa re sleeping
rough (Mackie, Johnsen, and Wood, 2017). Health partners must be supported for
implementing health care and people who are homeless.
Interpret respondent's answer
The two cases analysed in this report reflects that they both were rough sleeping as they
were abandoned by family members. In case of Luke, his life was not stable at any time. He
faced various problems. At initial stage, his mother left him and started new life with her partner.
When he was living with his grandfather, his life slowly became stable. But after few years, he
passed away, he was taken help by council. There, he was not given good treatment. At this
place, he met with some bad guys who were involved in smoking weed. Luke told that he did not
have any choice at that time (Ritchie, 2015). He wasted his life by indulging into such activities.
He always wanted to become a good mechanic. If everything went well, he could have became a
good mechanic and have started a good life. But all these were only dreams for him. He do not
have any money and his life became worse at time when he has to live on streets. He was not
satisfied by treatment he was given by society. It was very difficult to live in such habitat.
The other case of Gemma also signifies that she needed help and support from people but
she failed. She is currently sleeping rough in London. Her dad was not a good person and he was
engaged in drug activities, domestic violence, booze, etc. She was taken by a foster family. She
lived happily there till the age of 11 with this family. She was scared as there were some children
who were engaged in prostitution. It was very difficult for her to trust people and make friends.
She was scared that one day someone will come and take her away (Midgley, 2016). She had to
run from that house and then reached squat. There she got arrested. Another problem is that she
got pregnant by her boyfriend. She was again abandoned by his boyfriend as he said he is not
ready to take care of this child and stay on streets. So she gave her child to her mother. She was
happy as Tasha, her daughter with her mother who had a nice house, play ground and they will
provide her good upbringing. After that she decided to go to London where she had a flat of her
friend. Her dreams of doing a fresh start with life failed as she reached London. Flat of friend
was a squat in a disgusting building. At this place, Gemma indulged in taking drugs and risking
her life to death. One incident happened there when a boy was stabbed in that “so called” flat of
her friend. She ran away from there and started living in a church. After that they were allowed
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to live in a hostel run by charity. There were all men and it was difficult to live there also. One
men hassled her friend. So she has to run from there and started living on streets. Gemma end up
with chest infection. She was so upset and main problem she was having was of her child. She
prayed that Tasha will never end up the way she did.
It was really hard to stay on streets and at that phase they both started hating life and
stopped trusting people (Petty, 2016). They both do not wanted to be rough sleeping but
circumstances of their lives do not favoured them. They must have given proper and appropriate
help and support so that they lived there life with respect and dignity.
Quotations from transcripts where appropriate
“The more one feeds his mind with positive views, the more he can attract good things in life”
“ A negative mind will never give a positive life”
“Optimism is faith which leads to attainment of success in life”
“ Hard work pays”
“ Life is all about resilience and ability to go through life”
These are some quotes for people who are rough sleeping on streets of London. No one
wants to live life like that. There are circumstantial reasons of an individual to face such
problem. People can change their lives by having a positive attitude towards life and achieving
happiness and stability in life. All cases of rough sleeping people told that they needed help and
support from government and other authorities to cope up with bad phase of life and live their
lives worth fully.
Discussion
Discuss themes in relation to social science theory and relevant policy
Social science theories are relevant to promotion of health and preventing diseases in
population. There are different ways by which people can know how to behave and react with
individuals suffering form diseases or any other problem. In case of rough sleeping, there are
mostly all victims who say that they were not given good treatment by the society. There are
almost all cases which reflects that this behaviour of society created bad image of people.
Several norms and regulations must be made so that people of society get to know that they
should treat rough sleepers nicely. As in the given case, Gemma shared that when she went for
laundry, people made fun of her (Ungpakorn, and Rae, 2019). Also when she was walking on
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street, she was abused and some men passes comments on her. Some people sees her as a beggar.
There were very few people who treated nicely. There was not a single person who talks to these
people.
There is national political pressure to tackle and manage rough sleeping. Government
strategies are helpful for meeting this goal. Proper funds must be collected and used for
improving health conditions of such people.
Conclusions based on data analysis
It is concluded form the above discussed data that, rough sleeping is a major problem that
leads to decline in health of so many people. Several initiatives are taken by government for
helping London's homeless people. Some charity are designed for providing accommodations to
homeless people. There are some problems like Schizophrenia that makes an individual
homeless. Rough sleeping is a great issue that has to be solved in order to provide betterment to
society. There must be no one who is sleeping on streets. Government of London has to ensure
that there must be home for every single person. This will help in creating healthy environment
for them to live. In thus way, health conditions will be improved. It is easy for people to meet
immediate as well as long term goals by setting a proper plan.
Thematic analysis on two interviews
Feminism or masculinism - There are many forms of femininity and many forms of
masculinity. What gets defined as feminine or masculine differs by region, religion, class,
national culture, and other social factors. How femininities and masculinities are valued differs
culturally. In the given cases, it is seen that rough sleeping has major impact on all individuals.
But it can cause more harm to female person. As living on streets is not at all safe for females
and this may lead to various destructive situations.
Social condition – According to this theory, there are some government authorities and
policies made for protecting rights of individuals. There is national political pressure to tackle
and manage rough sleeping. Government strategies are helpful for meeting this goal. Proper
funds must be collected and used for improving health conditions of such people.
Sigmund Freud's Theory – According to this theory, it is concluded that there are some
set of defences that occur so that it is easy for holding a preferred view of individuals.
According to Freud, in a particular situation when an event occurs which violates an individual's
preferred view of themselves, there is need of self defence. It is given that in the above
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mentioned cases, self defence is an important factor which is required by individuals for
managing different situations of life.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Authority, U. S., 2015. Assessment of compliance with the code of practice for official statistics:
Statistics on homelessness and rough sleeping in England. London: Author.
Bernstock, P., 2016. Olympic housing: A critical review of London 2012's legacy. Routledge.
Clarke, A., 2016. The prevalence of rough sleeping and sofa surfing amongst young people in
the UK. Social Inclusion, 4(4), pp.60-72.
Fuller, J.S., 2016. The impact of the Health and Social Care Act, 2012 on the health and
wellbeing of rough sleepers. Journal of Integrated Care, 24(5/6), pp.249-259.
Mackie, P., Johnsen, S. and Wood, J., 2017. Ending rough sleeping: what works. An
international evidence review. London: Crisis.
Midgley, J., 2016. Perspectives on responsibility in practice as revealed through food
provisioning offers for rough sleepers. Critical Social Policy, 36(4), pp.610-629.
Petty, J., 2016. The London spikes controversy: Homelessness, urban securitisation and the
question of ‘hostile architecture’. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social
Democracy, 5(1), pp.67-81.
Ritchie, C., 2015. Prevent rough sleeping; create a psychologically informed
environment. Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic
Communities, 36(1), pp.36-42.
Ungpakorn, R. and Rae, B., 2019. Health‐related street outreach: Exploring the perceptions of
homeless people with experience of sleeping rough. Journal of advanced nursing.
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