Background

Existing research indicates that homelessness intersects with a range of indicators of deep social exclusion - drug/alcohol addiction, mental ill health, involvement in street culture activities, such as begging, street sex work, and a history of institutional living - but we do not know to what extent or in what precise patterns. Moreover, and crucially, we have yet to attain a theoretically-informed understanding of the causes of such 'multiple exclusion homelessness' (MEH), and of the interrelationship between its different dimensions. Existing academic accounts of homelessness lack a clear conceptualisation of 'causation', and tend to attribute overwhelming importance to 'structural' factors, such as poverty and housing market deficiencies. The individual attributes, choices and actions of deeply excluded individuals experiencing homelessness have been neglected. This unwillingness to engage with the 'agency' of those directly affected by MEH may arise from researchers' concern to avoid 'stigmatising' homeless people, particularly given the 'transgressive' nature of some factors associated with MEH. But by 'writing agency out' of accounts of MEH, people who face this experience are treated as wholly passive, and accounts of causation are rendered incomplete and potentially misleading.

The overall aim of this research is to provide a rigorous, theoretically-informed account of the causation of MEH, drawing on 'contextualised rational action theory' and 'self-efficacy theory' (which both postulate that all social actors have goals which they pursue with some degree of logic, but that the nature of those goals cannot be assumed and are context-dependent). These theories provide, in combination, a robust framework for 'taking actors seriously' in the causation of MEH, without losing sight of the importance of social structures in shaping the choices open to these actors. A particular focus of the work is on exploring the nature, context and causal implications of any voluntary risk taking ('edgework') engaged in by those affected by MEH. The broader ontological underpinning for the study would be 'critical realism' which asserts that a key task of social scientists is to identify the 'real' or underlying causal powers of social structures and social objects which may, depending on contingent conditions, have 'actual' effects.

The research comprises intensive case studies in contrasting structural contexts. The main component of the study will be in-depth biographical interviews with people who have experienced MEH within the case study locations.

The research findings will be of significant practical benefit to policy makers and service providers in a wide range of areas including homelessness, housing advice, addictions, mental health, street sex work, ex-offenders, care leavers, etc. By providing a robust account of the causation of MEH, which is realistic and 'honest' about the role played by the motivations and actions of those directly affected, it will assist the policy and practice community to deliver interventions to address, and to prevent, MEH which are better attuned to its underlying generative mechanisms than is currently possible.