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Nicky Cleghorn, Lisa Given & Rachel Ormston, Scottish Centre for Social Research
ISBN 978 0 7559 6840 4 (Web only publication)
This document is also available in pdf format (636k)

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Policy background
Why study public attitudes to homelessness?
Report structure
Defining homelessness and talking about 'homeless people'
The data

CHAPTER TWO: CONTACT AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF HOMELESSNESS
Personal experience of homelessness
How often do people come across 'homeless people'?
Key points

CHAPTER THREE: GENERAL ATTITUDES TO HOMELESS PEOPLE
Introduction and background
General levels of sympathy towards people experiencing homelessness
Analysis techniques
Demographic factors
Contact with homeless people and experience of homelessness
Underlying social and political attitudes
Key points

CHAPTER FOUR: 'MYTHS' ABOUT HOMELESSNESS
Introduction and background
Belief in 'myths'
Who is most likely to believe most homeless people sleep rough at some point?
Who is most likely to associate homelessness with drink and drug problems?
Key points

CHAPTER FIVE: 'DESERVING' HOMELESS PEOPLE?
Introduction and background
Exploring attitudes to priority need
Do people think some homeless people should get more help than others?
Who thinks some people should get more help than others?
Who is seen as most and least deserving of help?
Who thinks particular groups are less deserving?
Key points

CHAPTER SIX: ATTITUDES TOWARDS 'INTENTIONALLY HOMELESS' PEOPLE
Introduction and background
Challenges in designing survey questions on 'intentionality'
Attitudes towards different groups who are 'intentionally homeless'
Do people have different attitudes to 'intentionally homeless' men and women?
How do attitudes vary between different groups?
Are public attitudes in tune with the direction of Scottish Executive policy on intentionality?
Key points

CHAPTER SEVEN: HOMELESSNESS IN THE LOCAL AREA
Introduction and background
Should homeless people get priority above other local people on the waiting list?
Beliefs about homeless people causing problems in the local area
How comfortable are people with homeless people being re-housed near to them?
Key points

CHAPTER EIGHT: CONCLUSIONS
How do people feel about homeless people and how do views vary between groups?
How far are public attitudes to homelessness in tune with the direction of Scottish Executive policy?
Future research

REFERENCES

ANNEX A: HOMELESSNESS TASK FORCE DEFINITION OF HOMELESSNESS

ANNEX B: LIBERTARIAN-AUTHORITARIAN AND LEFT-RIGHT SCALES

ANNEX C: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF THE SURVEY
The Scottish Social Attitudes series
The 2006 survey
Analysis variables
Analysis techniques
Regression models

List of Tables

Table 2.1 Personal experience of homelessness BY deprivation, income, urban/rural and housing tenure
Table 2.2 How often come across 'homeless people' BY deprivation, urban/rural and housing tenure
Table 3.1 Belief that most homeless people could find somewhere to live if they really tried BY Belief that most homeless people have just been unlucky in their lives
Table 3.2 Attitudes to homeless people BY sex
Table 3.3 Attitudes to homeless people BY age
Table 3.4 Attitudes to homeless people BY highest educational qualification
Table 3.5 Attitudes to homelessness BY underlying libertarian/authoritarian beliefs
Table 3.6 Attitudes to homelessness BY underlying political left/right beliefs
Table 4.1 'Most homeless people sleep rough outside at some point' BY key demographic and other factors
Table 4.2 'Most people end up being homeless simply because they drink too much' BY key demographic and other factors
Table 4.3 'Most homeless people use hard drugs' BY key demographic and other factors
Table 5.1 Equally deserving or some more deserving than others BY significant demographic and other factors
Table 5.2 Who is seen as most and least deserving of help?
Table 5.3 Which kinds of people should get most help finding a new home?
Table 5.4 Proportion who think each group 'least deserving' of help (%) BY tenure and underlying libertarian/authoritarian beliefs
Table 6.1 Beliefs about whether or not different groups should get help from their council with finding a new home (%)
Table 6.2 Beliefs about whether or not 17 year-old boy/girl and 30 year-old man/woman should get help from their council with finding a new home (%)
Table 6.3 Attitudes to whether various groups who might be classed as 'intentionally homeless' should get help finding a new home BY sex
Table 6.4 Attitudes to whether various groups who might be classed as 'intentionally homeless' should get help finding a new home BY age
Table 6.5 Attitudes to whether various groups who might be classed as 'intentionally homeless' should get help finding a new home BY highest educational qualification
Table 6.6 Attitudes to whether various groups who might be classed as 'intentionally homeless' should get help finding a new home BY underlying libertarian/authoritarian beliefs
Table 6.7 Attitudes to whether various groups who might be classed as 'intentionally homeless' should get help finding a new home BY area deprivation ( SIMD quintiles)
Table 7.1 How often, if ever, should homeless people get homes before other local people on the waiting list BY age, household income and general attitudes to homeless people
Table 7.2 'Homeless people often cause problems in this area' BY deprivation
Table 7.3 How comfortable/uncomfortable with homeless people being housed nearby BY age, deprivation and household income
Table 7.4 How comfortable with homeless people being housed nearby BY general attitudes to homeless people
Model 1 Most homeless people have just been unlucky in their lives
Model 2 Most homeless people could find somewhere to live if they really tried
Model 3 Many people say they are homeless just to get a house from the council
Model 4 Some who become homeless for different reasons more deserving of help than others
Model 5 Some kinds of people should get more help finding a new home than others

List of Figures

Figure 2.1 Personal experience of homelessness
Figure 2.2 Personal experience of homelessness BY age
Figure 2.3 How often do you come across someone you think is homeless?
Figure 2.4 How often come across 'homeless people' BY age
Figure 3.1 General attitudes to homelessness
Figure 3.2 'Many people say they are homeless just to try to get a house from the council' BY experience of homelessness
Figure 4.1 'Most homeless people sleep rough outside at some point'
Figure 4.2 Beliefs about homeless people and drink and drugs
Figure 5.1 People who become homeless for different reasons all equally deserving of help, or some more deserving than others?
Figure 5.2 Some kinds of people should get more help finding a new home than others, or should all get same amount?
Figure 5.3 Some kinds of people should get more help finding a new home or all get same amount BY sex
Figure 7.1 How often, if ever, should homeless people get homes before other local people on the waiting list?
Figure 7.2 'Homeless people often cause problems in this area'
Figure 7.3 How comfortable/uncomfortable with people who have been homeless being housed very near to you?

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, the authors of the report would like to thank all the respondents who gave up their time to take part in the survey - we hope that one day some of them might come across this report and read about their views with interest.

The Scottish Social Attitudes survey is very much a collaborative venture. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our colleagues in NatCen's operations and computing departments, to Ann Mair at the Social Statistics Laboratory at Strathclyde University, and to our team of interviewers and supervisors for conducting the interviews with such dedication and professionalism.

We would also like to thank Kate Bilton and Paul Tyrer of Scottish Government Social Research for their advice at the questionnaire design stage and Lisa Taylor for her support during report writing. We are very grateful to Pippa Goldschmidt and other members of the Awareness Raising and Best Practice subgroup of the Homelessness Monitoring Group for their advice and ideas throughout this project.

Responsibility for the opinions expressed in this report, and for all interpretation of the data, lies solely with the authors.

The views expressed in this report are those of the researcher and
do not necessarily represent those of the Department or Scottish Ministers.

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