SNAP 2008

SNAP provides a picture of the extent and nature of services for single homeless people and couples without dependent children in England, and the clients that use them. The first survey was published in February 2008, this page provides more information and key findings.

Download Homeless Link's Survey of Needs and Provision (SNAP) Reports.

BACKGROUND

In 2008 Homeless Link jointly developed research with what was then Resource Information Services that mapped the provision of services to single people and couples who are homeless in England.

Many people find that it is difficult to get a picture of what services for homeless people are like in England. The lack of this information means that it is more difficult to argue for funding allocations for homelessness services, adequately support providers to develop their services and to showcase the excellent work that goes on in our sector.

Funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and CRASH: Constructing a Future for Homeless People, the 2008 research uncovered substantial amounts of data on services provided by day centres, bed spaces and “episodes” of use in hostels and other accommodation, the support needs of clients accessing homelessness services and how these services are funded.

KEY FINDINGS FROM SNAP 2008

In 2008 we produced two documents with the findings of the Survey of Needs and Provision:

• A summary of findings - which pulls together the key findings and recommendations of the research
• A full report - which gives greater detail on the different types of service provision in England, regional breakdowns of provision and the full results of the survey.

Whilst the figures do not give an overall number of homeless people, they show the level of demand placed on homelessness services in 2008 – 118,000 people coming through them every year.

• There are 187 day centres in England, provided by 171 providers, seeing on average 10,000 people a day. They deal with very vulnerable people, but are heavily dependent on charitable fundraising
• There are more than 50,000 bed spaces supporting homeless people in England
• There are 246 direct access hostels in England

The report shows that homelessness agencies are working with some of the most socially excluded individuals in our society. The majority of services estimate that most of the people they work with have multiple problems, for example drug and alcohol issues, mental health problems, benefits and debt problems.

There is a link between the lack of settled accommodation and criminal behaviour. One fifth of projects report the majority of the people using their services were prison leavers. This group is present in the majority of homelessness services yet only 3% of services reported receiving any funding from criminal justice sources.

Support for education, training and employment is less commonly available than other types of advice and support. Only 5% of projects reported any level of funding from employment and education agencies.

FURTHER INFORMATION

SNAP 2009

See Geographical Information Systems (GIS) maps showing the distribution of services for homeless people without dependents in England, broken down by administering authority.

If you have any questions about the research please contact Joe Whitaker at Homeless Link.