Picture 1
This person is experiencing homelessness. Three months ago, they were living in their family home and were asked to leave after a dispute with their mother. They presented as homeless to their local council and were placed in temporary accommodation. Luckily, the accommodation that they are living in is close to their place of work which means that they can continue to attend their employment. They have a case worker who they work closely with, and they are attempting to find them permanent and stable accommodation in the local area. The average amount of time for someone to stay in temporary accommodation in Scotland is seven months.
Picture 2
This person is experiencing homelessness. Their parents separated when they were younger; they do not have a relationship with their father and their mother died due to an illness related to her alcohol use. When they were six years old they were placed in the care system and stayed in over twenty foster homes for the next ten years. When they were sixteen, they moved into their own supported accommodation but they were asked to leave due to consistently breaking the rules – returning later than the curfew and inviting friends to their room. At twenty years old, they are sofa surfing between the houses of friends as they do not want to present as homeless due to being disenfranchised with the system and not receiving tailored support in the past.
Picture 3
This person is experiencing homelessness. They were in a co-dependent, physically and verbally abusive relationship with a person eight years their senior for over ten years, after giving birth they have decided that they do not want their child to experience this. Due to the coercive nature of their relationship this person, with their child, fled their home in the middle of the night and was unable to bring any belongings without arousing suspicion. When presenting as homeless they were placed in gender specific supported accommodation with their child and offered tailored support to meet and fulfill their needs.
The constant negative media narrative stigmatises homelessness meaning that we believe someone has to be rough sleeping to be classified as homeless. We know this is not true.
Every four months, Simon Community Scotland hosts a Rough Sleepers and Begging Count on the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh with staff members, partnership organisations and volunteers. You can find out more about our Rough Sleeping Counts here.