Central and Eastern European homelessness

In 2006 Homeless Link undertook research to better understand the issues faced by homeless A8 (Polish, Lithuanian, Estonian, Latvian, Slovenian, Slovakian, Hungarian and the Czech) nationals and the agencies responding to their needs. 'A8 nationals in London homelessness services' was the result of a survey of London day centres, outreach teams and night shelters and follow-on interviews with providers who have developed specialised services for this client group.

You can view a full copy of the research and an executive summary.

Central and Eastern European Action Plan

Following on from this research, funding was granted to take forward a policy project around the issues highlighted in that report, to include A8 and also A2 (Romanian and Bulgarian) nationals. The project worked with government departments, the homelessness sector and a wide range of other partners to develop an action plan to reduce levels of rough sleeping among people from Central and Eastern Europe.

While the project focussed on rough sleeping in London, it was developed with the expectation that the solutions identified in the action plan could be relevant to other areas across the country.

Since the launch of the action plan in June 2008, Homeless Link worked with a range of partner organisations, government agencies and other stakeholders both in the UK and in CEE countries to deliver the actions outlined in the plan. At the end of the project in March 2009, we published a report Reducing Rough Sleeping Among Central and Eastern Europeans in London which provides a summary of the progress made against the action plan, looks at what has been achieved and makes some suggestions for where further work is needed.

Some of the highlights from the project included the development and funding of a new London Reconnection Service, a wide programme of support, training and information sharing with the homelessness sector, and an increased awareness of the policy challenges both in the UK and abroad.

Building on this body of work Homeless Link is undertaking a scoping project on the prevention of homelessness among Central and Eastern Europeans to look at what resources are needed in CEE countries to prevent migrants becoming homeless in the UK.

Project Materials and Research

• You can download a copy of the original Action Plan targeted at reducing rough sleeping among Central and Eastern Europeans in London, which was published in June 2008
• The Baseline Survey on Central and Eastern European rough sleepers in London was conducted in November 2007. This was the initial publication from Homeless Link's Central and Eastern Europeans Project. The survey, which involved outreach teams from across London, found that 18% of rough sleepers contacted during a week in November 2007 were from Central and Eastern Europe
• The survey was repeated in November 2008 to provide an updated picture of rough sleeping amongst this client group. The findings of the Repeat Survey suggest that the proportion of rough sleepers who are from Central and Eastern European countries is increasing, from 18% to 25%.

See our Central and Eastern Europeans pages for more information.