Monday 3 December 2012

Roofless vs Homeless

Whilst at work today, where I am a Family Support Worker, I was supporting a friend to help a relative of their's complete an application to the local Foyer.  This is a supported accommodation for young people aged 16-25yrs.  Whilst filling it out, it asked what his housing status was.  I was surprised to see the following terms and definitions:

□ Roofless (sleeping rough / on the streets) 
□ Homeless (e.g. living with friends / family but temporarily or on a sofa)
□ Difficulty with current accommodation (e.g. harassment/disrepair) 
□ Fleeing violence / Unsafe address 
□ Threatened with homelessness (e.g. told to leave home / notice to leave from landlord)

I guess for me it was the first one that puzzled me.  Most people think of homeless as being the 'sleeping rough/on the streets definition, I know I did.  When talking to people and they said that they were homeless it never occurred to me that the definitions had changed and there for when they sought housing from the local authority were they giving them the correct phrase to show their current housing situation??

How many of you, if you were in that situation, would know to describe your situation as Roofless rather than homeless?



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