How employment anchors people recovering from homelessness, by Emma Haddad

Homelessness is intrinsically linked to unemployment and to poor mental health, but traditional approaches to supporting people into work haven’t recognised this. To end homelessness, we need to find effective ways to help people rebuild their lives away from the street, and meaningful employment plays a key role. St Mungo’s pioneering Individualised Placement and Support (IPS) approach is showing how we can tackle this long-standing challenge in a new way.

A ‘traditional’ homelessness recovery journey often has paid employment as an end goal, after other issues, such as mental health needs, have been ‘fixed’. However, this approach denies how interconnected work and mental health can be for some people. Work gives us purpose, self-confidence, and a social circle, among many other benefits.

Most of our clients (69%) have a mental health need, and a similar figure (63%) tell us that they want to work. We have seen that work is possible with the right mental health support, and that it’s important to recognise the holistic benefits that finding work can bring. We know that employment can help when people are experiencing poor mental health, isolation and low self-confidence. If we can help someone find the right job with the right employer, we will see side effects that ripple through their wider recovery.

IPS is designed to support people with more complex needs into employment, with growing international evidence suggesting it supports people with mental health and substance-using needs into work.

The effectiveness of IPS is founded in several key principles: participation is voluntary, support is intensive and person-centred, and goals are shaped by client preferences. There is one key objective for the people taking part – gaining and sustaining paid work. Employment specialists work side-by-side with health and social care professionals, with a joint approach to helping people find the right job, and putting the necessary support in place for successful, sustained employment.

With IPS, we don’t think about people being ‘work-ready’ or not. Like all of us, some jobs suit people better than others. We believe that everyone can work if they have the right job and the right support.

This is a fundamental shift in approach. It means we talk about work with everyone who comes through our doors. We don’t make assumptions about who should or shouldn’t work. We take our clients’ aspirations seriously and ask ourselves what it would take to make those aspirations a reality.

We have seen remarkable results. People who have slept on the streets for over a decade are now working, others who saw no viable route off the streets have been able to find accommodation by increasing their earnings. As more have gained work, we’ve seen an attitudinal shift across our services – work has become something that more and more of our clients want.

There’s a lot more to do. Specialist employment support still isn’t universally accessible to people in homelessness accommodation and some of the welfare benefits available to people living in supported housing don’t incentivise work. We will continue to work with the government, employers and businesses to create pathways into meaningful jobs. We need to influence wider society to see the potential of our clients, rather than their homelessness. If you want to help spread this message, please let us know – and in the meantime, we will continue to embed IPS services throughout St Mungo’s to ensure that more people who want to work, can.

Emma Haddad is CEO of St Mungo’s, a charity supporting approximately 30,000 people a year away from homelessness in London and the South of England. Employment support is just one of over 150 specialist services – from outreach, to accommodation, to skills courses – that are offered to support people in their recovery.