CRISISCRISIS fighting for hope for homeless people

KS 3 Lesson Plan 2 KS 3 Lesson Plan 2

Hidden HomelessnessHidden Homelessness

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

Learning Objectives

At the end of the lesson you will be able to:

• Understand hidden homelessness

• Define some of its issues

• Asses the cost of accommodation

Keywords

Homelessness, Statutory Homelessness, Hidden Homelessness,

Renting

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

Starter: www.youtube.com has some useful music links. Some examples:

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VmKMQI9mbZ8&feature=related

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mvdc9WhV3Ws

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ge9QTdWr84

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2tr_nqvCzqo

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oeGzw2Ds-Mg

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

Examples from a ‘Reverse graffiti’ campaign by CRISIS…

where walls are cleaned using a template!

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

Homelessness

Starter:Different Types of Homelessness*

Statutory Homelessness

Statutory homelessness refers to those homeless people or households

who are recognized by Local Authorities to be homeless and are

therefore recognized in government homeless statistics.

Hidden Homelessness

Refers to those homeless people who are not on the streets but with no

home of their own (living in hostels, B&Bs, night shelters, sleeping on the

floor of friends/relative etc.)

* does include those sleeping rough on the street

Starter:Two Main Types of Homelessness*

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

Activity 1: The Impact of Homelessness on the Individual 1. List all the factors / events you can think of which could lead to

someone becoming homeless.Physical illness, mental ill health, arriving in a new country, family break-up, financial problems or bankruptcy, arguments with family, depression, unemployment, job search in a new town, drug and alcohol misuse, domestic violence, institutionalisation, victimisation etc

1. How many of the causes you listed could also be effects of homelessness?As well as the answers underlined above answers may also include discrimination, isolation, difficulties getting / maintaining a work / education placement, eroded self-confidence, loneliness.

1. Imagine you suddenly had to leave your home. Where do you think you would be able to stay? List all the places you can think of. How long could you expect to stay there?B&Bs, squats, ‘sofa surfing’, friends, relatives, night shelters, the street

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

1. If you had left home, you would soon need some money to survive. Where would you be able to get this from? List the legal ways…and think about ways of getting money illegally. Then think of the dangers you would face from these.

Possible answers:

Legal Ways Illegal Ways Dangers of Illegal Activities

WorkingLoans

Selling ‘Big Issue’Licensed busking

Benefit fraudTheft

BeggingDrug dealingProstitution

Getting in to debtDisease

MalnutritionViolence

Involvement with drugsDepression

Even suicide

Activity 1: The Impact of Homelessness on the Individual

Activity 1: The Impact of Homelessness on the Individual

1. If you were homeless, what barriers might there be to earning

money in legal ways?

Difficulty of applying for / keeping jobs without a fixed address,

lack of money to buy clothes for work / toiletries, lack of access to

adequate washing facilities, any of the factors in Q.1 which led to /

have been caused by homelessness.

1. If you had left home would money solve all your problems?

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

Case Study - Tim’s Story: Tim is 18 years old and has been homeless for 2 years. Tim is currently sleeping on the floor of a friend’s bedroom in a supported accommodation scheme in London. Tim has stayed with his friend for 6 months, apart from the odd night he has spent with other friends, who he stayed with to give his friend a ‘break’ from him and some ‘space’.

“By rights I shouldn’t even be living there. He’s allowed to have overnight guests but not people living there so I stay as an overnight guest.” Tim is therefore very restricted in the amount of time he can spend in the flat during the day, resulting in him spending time visiting day centres and walking the streets. “A typical day is you get up, go to the day centre, get your clothes washed, get a shower, and then just kill time by walking the streets, basically.”

Tim is not paying his friend to stay. “If I‘ve got money, I’ll put money in for food and that, but he doesn’t want digs.”

Tim is grateful to his friend, but it is clear that he wants a place of his own. “I want my own things. I don’t want to have to sleep on somebody’s floor. I want to have my own key for my own door.”

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

• How might Tim have got into this position?

• What are the drawbacks of his situation?

• What could he do to change it?

Case Study: Tim’s Story

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

These statistics are from the Crisis document Key Statistics About Homelessness. The term ‘young

people’ refers to people in the 16–25 age group.

• There are around 380,000 single hidden homeless people in the UK. This includes those staying in hostels, B&Bs, squats, on friends’ floors, and in overcrowded accommodation.

• The average time between the ‘triggers’ that lead to homelessness, and when homelessness finally occurs, is 9 years.

• After only 4 weeks, rough sleepers become used to life on the street and it becomes more difficult for them to move back into mainstream society.

• It is likely that several thousand young people experience homelessness without having any contact with local authorities in England each year.

• Family conflict is the main immediate cause of homelessness amongst at least two thirds of homeless young people.

• 86% of young homeless people are forced to leave home rather than choosing to.• Two thirds of young homeless people leave school with no qualifications.• Young people who become homeless are more likely to have lived with step-parents,

foster parents or relatives by the age of 12 than those who do not become homeless.• 45% of young homeless people have experienced violence in the family home on more

than 1 occasion.• One third of young homeless people have attempted suicide.• Around 10 to 25% of single homeless people on the streets and in hostels are women.

The proportion of women among young single homeless people is however higher – 20 to 40%.

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

Activity 2: Statistics Exercise

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

The Cost of Renting

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947

The Cost of Renting

• Guess the approximate average monthly cost of privately renting a room in a shared – £215, £375 or £450 (the average rental price for a 1 bedroom room in England in April 2008 was £372 and in London £669*)

• How many months’ rent would need to be paid in advance as a deposit? (between 1 and 2 months, so £372 - £744 or between £669 - £1,338 in London)

• Can you give a rough average of what someone would need to pay in advance to move into a house?(1st month’s rent + deposit, so could be as much as £744 + £372)

• Can you think of any other costs faced by those renting? (council tax, transport, utility bills, TV licence, insurance, phone bills, food, clothing for work etc)

* Source: RRPI (Residential Rental Price Index)

A Teaching Resource for Secondary Schools provided by CRISIS

For more information and Teacher Resource Sheets from CRISIS please visit www.crisis.org.uk Charity number 1082947