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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

This report presents findings from a module of questions in the 2006 Scottish Social Attitudes ( SSA) survey on public attitudes towards people experiencing homelessness. The Scottish Social Attitudes survey is an independent survey that aims to provide high quality survey data on a wide range of social and political issues in order to inform public policy and facilitate the academic study of public opinion. The 2006 survey involved 1,594 interviews with a random probability sample of the Scottish population.

The 2006 Homelessness module explored a wide range of issues relating to public perceptions of homelessness, including:

• general attitudes towards people experiencing homelessness
• the extent of belief in various 'myths' about homelessness (for example, that most homeless people sleep rough or abuse drink and drugs)
• whether the public makes distinctions between people who have become homeless for different reasons, or between different kinds of homeless people, when thinking about who should receive help finding a new home
• beliefs about whether people who might be thought to have made themselves homeless 'intentionally' should get help with finding new accommodation or not, and
• attitudes to dealing with homelessness in the local area (including whether or not homeless people should get priority over others on the housing waiting list, and how people would feel about homeless people being re-housed near them).

This report explores how views vary between different groups of people in Scotland, and assesses how far public attitudes to homelessness are in tune with the direction of Scottish Government policy.

Contact and Personal Experience of Homelessness

The majority (67%) of people have not had either any personal experience of homelessness, or known anyone else who has been homeless. Seven per cent have experienced homelessness themselves. A significant proportion of people come across someone they think is homeless on a regular basis - for example,16% come across someone 'most days', 19% at least 'once a week' and 14% at least once a month'. However a sizeable minority (18%) of people say they 'never' come across someone they believe to be homeless.

General Attitudes to Homeless People

The survey explored the extent to which people hold attitudes which could broadly be described as 'sympathetic' or which are more 'critical' or 'unsympathetic' towards people experiencing homelessness. Public attitudes to homelessness are complex and widely divided:

• 48% of people agree that 'most homeless people have just been unlucky in their lives', but 28% disagree and 22% neither agree nor disagree.
• At the same time, 45% agree with the more 'critical' statement that 'most homeless people could find somewhere to live if they really tried', while 33% disagree
• 35% agree that 'many people say they are homeless just to try and get a house from the council', while 29% disagree.

It appears possible to be 'sympathetic' in one respect (perhaps viewing someone becoming homeless as simply bad luck), while holding more 'judgemental' attitudes in others (for example, thinking they could get out of homelessness if they 'really tried').

Attitudes vary by sex, age, education level and the extent to which someone's underlying beliefs and values are more libertarian or authoritarian:

• Women are generally more 'sympathetic' towards homeless people than men - for example, 53% of women, compared with 42% of men agree that 'most homeless people have just been unlucky in their lives'.
• Attitudes also vary by age, with older people most likely (aged 65 and above) to agree that 'many people say they are homeless just to try to get a house from the council' (49%, compared with 27% of those aged 25-34). Both older (65+) and younger (18-24) people are more likely than the middle-aged to agree that 'most homeless people could find somewhere to live if they really tried'.
• Education is strongly associated with holding less 'judgemental' attitudes towards the motives and behaviour of homeless people. For example, just 33% of those qualified to higher education level or above agree that 'most homeless people could find somewhere to live if they really tried' compared with 58% of those with no qualifications. However, those with no qualifications are in fact more likely to agree that 'homeless people have just been unlucky in their lives' (61%, compared with 41% of those with degrees). One possible explanation of this apparent inconsistency is that some disagree with this statement because they believe homelessness has broader socio-economic causes and is therefore not simply a question of luck.
• People with more authoritarian beliefs and values are more likely to express attitudes that could be described as 'unsympathetic' or more 'judgemental'. For example, 51% of 'authoritarian' respondents agree that many 'say they are homeless just to try and get a house from the council', compared with just 18% of more libertarian respondents.

Attitudes towards homeless people do not vary by tenure after other factors like age, income and education are controlled for. Neither does 'Low level' awareness or contact with the 'visibly' homeless appear to have much impact on attitudes towards homeless people. Personal experience of homelessness appears to be associated with having more definite views in either a 'sympathetic' or 'unsympathetic' direction on whether people say they are homeless just to try and get a house from the council.

'Myths' About Homelessness

The most recent figures indicate that the numbers of homeless people who sleep rough is actually relatively small. However, a majority of people (61%) believe that most homeless people sleep rough at some point. Belief in this myth does not vary particularly between different socio-demographic groups. However, those who say they come across 'homeless people' most days are more likely than those who come across 'homeless people' less often to believe this.

Around 1 in 5 appear to believe that homeless is closely associated with drink or drug problems - 21% agree that 'most people end up being homeless simply because they drink too much' and 18% agree that 'most homeless people use hard drugs'. However, half disagree with each of these statements. The groups most likely to believe that most homeless people drink too much or take hard drugs - men, the youngest and oldest age groups, people with no qualifications, those on low incomes and the more authoritarian - reflect the groups most likely to hold more critical or 'unsympathetic' attitudes towards the behaviour and motives of homeless people in general.

'Deserving' Homeless People?

The Scottish Government has set a target date of 2012 for the complete abolition of the 'priority need' test. This will mean that the right to permanent accommodation will be extended to all people who find themselves unintentionally homeless ¹, not just those considered particularly vulnerable because of their individual characteristics or situation. The 2006 Scottish Social Attitudes survey explored the extent to which the Scottish Government's desire to remove distinctions between different groups of people experiencing homelessness when allocating help and housing is shared by the general public.

Many people in Scotland do see some homeless people as more deserving of help than others. Around 6 in 10 say both that some who become homeless for different reasons are more deserving than others, and that some kinds of homeless people should get more help than others. The groups of people seen as most deserving of help broadly reflect the Scottish Government's current categories of priority need - for example, victims of domestic abuse, people with mental health problems and young people leaving children's homes. Similarly, between 3 in 10 and 4 in 10 people think that single parent families, married couples with children and older people should get more help than others in finding a new home. The groups people are most likely to think ' least deserving' also broadly reflect the current legal position - those who have just moved to Scotland, those with drug and alcohol problems and those who have been evicted for being noisy neighbours. None of these groups are covered by current 'priority need' categories unless they are also considered particularly vulnerable. Prison leavers are the only group currently covered by priority need guidance who are commonly considered among the least deserving of help.

The view that some should get more help than others appears widespread across different social groups. Even among respondents who are generally more libertarian in their outlook, the proportion who think some are more deserving than others outweighs the proportion who say all homeless people are equally deserving.

Attitudes towards 'intentionally homeless' people

The 2003 Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act introduces new rights to a Short Scottish Secure Tenancy and to support for households assessed by local authorities to be 'intentionally' homeless - that is, households who have done, or failed to do, something that results in their losing the right to occupy a property available to them to live in. Respondents to the 2006 SSA were presented with a range of scenarios where a person could be considered to have become homeless 'intentionally' and were asked to say whether or not they should get help from their council with finding a new home.

We found that for many scenarios where a person might be considered 'intentionally homeless', a majority of people think the council should definitely or probably provide such help. The key exception is where someone has become homeless because they caused problems for their neighbours (anti social behaviour) - over 8 in 10 think this group should definitely or probably not get help finding a new home. The Scottish Government website highlights the need to challenge the belief that 'People made homeless as a result of antisocial behaviour should not have any rights to social housing' ². These findings, in combination with the finding that a third of people think those evicted for being noisy neighbours are among those 'least deserving' of help, may suggest that further work is needed to challenge this belief.

Attitudes towards helping homeless people find a new home appear to vary somewhat depending on both the sex and age of the person in question - while there is no significant difference in the proportions who think a teenage boy and a teenage girl should get help, in relation to a 30 year-old who has experienced a marriage breakdown people are more inclined to think a woman than a man should get help. Views also vary significantly by socio-demographic factors like sex, age, education and area deprivation, as well as the extent to which people hold underlying beliefs that are libertarian or authoritarian. It appears that specific groups may need more convincing than others of the need to help particular 'intentionally homeless' people find new accommodation.

Homelessness in the local area

The 2006 SSA explored various issues related to addressing homelessness in the local area, including:

• views about the relative priority that should be given to homeless people vs. other locals when allocating local housing,
• beliefs about whether homeless people cause trouble in people's local areas, and
• attitudes to homeless people being re-housed nearby.

A majority of people (58%) think homeless people should 'sometimes' get homes before other local people on the housing waiting list. Only a minority (7% in each case) think homeless people should either 'never' or 'always' get homes first. Older people and those on low household incomes are more likely to think homeless people should 'never' or 'hardly ever' get homes before others, as are those who express more 'critical' attitudes towards homeless people in general.

Only 1 in 10 (11%) believes that homeless people cause problems in their local area, while over half (52%) disagree that this is the case. However, those who live in the most deprived areas of Scotland are more likely than those in the most affluent areas to think that homeless people cause problems locally (18% compared with 7%).

When asked to consider how comfortable or uncomfortable they would feel with homeless people being re-housed near them, people are relatively evenly divided - around a third say they would be comfortable, a third uncomfortable and a third neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. Older people, those living in the least deprived areas of Scotland and those on high incomes are most likely to say they would feel uncomfortable. While those who express generally more 'sympathetic' attitudes to homeless people are more likely to say they would feel comfortable, the association is not perfect. This suggests that attitudes to homelessness are complex and may vary when people are asked to consider homelessness being addressed in their own local area.

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