People who are homeless represent an especially excluded group, which makes it difficult to determine their palliative care needs to base any strategy to provide care they need at the end of life. The nature of their lifestyle makes them unique, and with that, they are easily left out of mainstream healthcare services like palliative care. The other challenge is the transient nature of homelessness; therefore, it is difficult to calculate the actual number of homeless people in this country (St Mungo’s Broadway). Currently, the homeless are classified in different groups:
Rough sleepers: The numbers are arrived at by street counts or estimates by all local councils of how many people are sleeping rough at any one time in their area.
Statutory homeless: Defined under the UK 1996 Housing Act to represent those who apply to local council for homelessness assistance. There is a positive relationship/correlation between increasing joblessness, home repossessions and homelessness. Most single homeless people without children are not included in these figures.
Hostel and supported accommodation: Often single people without dependent children. Most of them receive ‘Supporting People’ (SP) funding, and most of them have not been accepted as statutory homeless and are therefore not included in local authority figures.
Hidden homelessness: The name suggests they do not appear on official figures and therefore accurate numbers are not available. These include those who become homeless but find temporary solutions staying with family/friends. These are often referred to as ‘sofa surfers’ or ‘concealed households’. For more details, see ONS: http://homeless.org.uk/census-2011#.UtL909JdXBU (accessed 9 December 2013).
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Care for the homeless person
