Surviving at the margins: Older homeless people accessing housing, care and support

Older people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, have been the ‘forgotten homeless’ in policy debates and service provision. They tend to be less visible and less vocal than other groups, and low priority has been given to the impact of homelessness on their health and well-being. Through the Older Homelessness Partnership Programme two national charities, The Housing Associations Charitable Trust and Help the Aged, funded seventeen innovative projects throughout the UK to provide services for this user group. The homeless charity Crisis contributed to an evaluation of the Programme. This paper explores the complex and multiple needs of older homeless people, which challenge the popular myth of the older homeless person as an archetypal "tramp" figure. © 2003, MCB UP Limite