Homelessness and trauma are inextricably linked. VONNE Gold Membership+ members, Oasis Community Housing have launched a campaign, based on research from Northumbria University on the effects of trauma and why it needs to be addressed when responding to homelessness.
In this blog, David Smith, CEO of Oasis Community Housing tells us more about their Tackling Trauma, Ending Homelessness campaign and their call to Government.
This week, Oasis Community Housing have launched new England-wide research showing just how high that prevalence is: 94% of people facing homelessness have experienced trauma. Trauma such as childhood neglect, domestic abuse, bereavement and violence to name a few.
This trauma isn’t one-off, with 82% of people suffering multiple traumas in their lifetime and now reporting feeling trapped in their homelessness because of it.
The research, conducted by Northumbria University on our behalf, shows trauma is often a direct trigger for homelessness. With homelessness itself a further trauma, while also increasing the likelihood of exposure to further traumas and the negative impacts of those; poor mental health, the ability to build trusting relationships, or to think and concentrate affecting things like bill-payments and tenancy management.
Yet, despite the high prevalence of trauma, less than half of those surveyed had accessed counselling or mental health support for their trauma.
Our researchers concluded that it is futile to try to solve the issue of homelessness without addressing trauma. We are not staying that tackling trauma will provide a silver bullet, but without acknowledging and addressing trauma then other efforts to end homelessness will fail.
This is the message we took to a roomful of almost 50 Parliamentarians, sector partners and other homelessness and trauma experts this week - including Shadow Minster for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, Paula Barker.
I would like to share with you a digital version of our Tackling Trauma, Ending Homelessness report in the hope it’s of interest. You can read it here.
More about the accompanying Tackling Trauma, Ending Homelessness campaign is available on our website.