Groundswell - the reality of homelessness, from the people who have been there.

This podcast has been inspired by a research project conducted on behalf of Fulfilling Lives Lambeth Southwark and Lewisham; a nationwide project funded by the National Lottery Community fund that aims to support people with multiple disadvantage. It tests new ways of ensuring individuals receive joined up and person-led services which work for them. Multiple disadvantage in this case refers to people who experience challenges with mental-ill health, substance use, homelessness or contact with the criminal justice system. In the podcast you will hear from the expert by experience group who have guided this research and who talk about their own experience of multiple disadvantage, you will also hear quotes from participants in the research and questions from the general public. This is the second of two podcasts – the first podcast is ‘The Missing Piece’. **Just as a warning there may be content in the podcast that some listeners may find upsetting.

This podcast has been inspired by a research project conducted on behalf of Fulfilling Lives Lambeth Southwark and Lewisham. Fulfilling Lives in a nationwide project funded by the national lottery community fund that aims to support people with multiple disadvantage. It tests new ways of ensuring individuals receive joined up and person-led services which work for them. Multiple disadvantage in this case refers to people who experience challenges with mental-ill health, substance use, homelessness or contact with the criminal justice system. In the podcast you will hear from the expert by experience group who have guided this research and who talk about their own experience of multiple disadvantage, you will also hear quotes from participants in the research which are read out by the experts by experience and questions from the general public. This is the first of two podcasts – the second podcast is out on the 7thJuly and called ‘Listen to Me’. **Just as a warning there may be content in the podcast that some listeners may find upsetting.

This podcast is based on research conducted by volunteers with experience of homelessness which explores the connection between benefits, health and homelessness. It illustrates how poor health can compound the challenges navigating the benefits system for people experiencing homelessness. This podcast features the voices of Groundswell staff and volunteers and is funded by Trust for London.

Over the last few months COVID-19 and the response to the pandemic has had a significant impact on people experiencing homelessness. The researchers and mobile reporters have made a podcast exploring peoples experiences so far. Groundswell have been working alongside people experiencing homelessness to ensure their views and experiences are represented and acted on. Our reference group of people with experience of homelessness have been critical in the delivery of this research project. One member of the reference group said: > “Overall, my experience being involved with the COVID reference group has been very good. It has been wonderful being from the grassroots level and being able to feed my thoughts from my own experiences of being homeless and other personal involvement in other ways. It has been facilitated well and everyone involved had something to say which has been taken seriously and in the majority of time, have been implemented to some degree. Overall, I would genuinely give this project a full house of five stars” We want to ensure the insights from this project are communicated widely and reach a range of people, including people experiencing homelessness, people from the homelessness sector and key decision makers. The reference group have made a podcast to share the insights from the research. The voices of our reference group and some of the Groundswell team feature in this podcast – the stories they share are based on real accounts of people who have participated in our research project so far. > “I really enjoyed taking part in the recording for the podcast. It was fun. It was a bit strange to hear myself in the podcast, but it was interesting. I sounded very different than I would have imagined” “Taking part in the reference group helped me to stay in contact with others and even meet new people. This made me feel less lonely during lock-down. It allowed me to be involved in something useful and meaningful. It gave me something useful to do. It was empowering being part of the process having my voice heard. I also liked being informed about what was happening. I felt that knowing what was happening helped me to deal with anxiety, as being unsure makes me anxious” The insights featured illustrate just some of the ways people experiencing homelessness have been impacted and we are working hard to continue to reach people and hear their story.

WORKING WITH OUR VOLUNTEERS – PEOPLE WHO HAVE SLEPT ROUGH AND THOSE RESIDING IN HOSTELS AND TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION - GROUNDSWELL HAS DEVELOPED RESOURCES TO SUPPORT PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS DURING THE CURRENT CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC. PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTED BY POOR HEALTH AND OFTEN FACE CHALLENGES ACCESSING THE HEALTHCARE AND SUPPORT THEY NEED. MEASURES BEING TAKEN TO COMBAT THE SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS ARE LIKELY TO IMPACT SIGNIFICANTLY ON THE LIVES OF PEOPLE WHO ARE HOMELESS. This podcast features adaptation on the Government's coronavirus guidance, so it is relevant to people who are rough sleeping and people who are living in shared temporary accommodation such as hostels. We have also produced short, printable guides with this guidance that can be found here:https://groundswell.org.uk/coronavirus/ [https://groundswell.org.uk/coronavirus/].