Many people become homeless for many reasons, yet these vast numbers still don’t account for those who don’t have homes, instead staying consistently in non-permanent housing, such as at friends’ houses or hostels.
These are known as the ‘hidden homeless’, and while the New Hope UK charity has found that the 2019 average of 83 people sleeping rough in Watford has now gone down to 19, it’s suspected that there are many more people who count as ‘hidden homeless’. Due to not being accounted for, it’s often extremely hard to help these people.
Unfortunately due to the barriers to institutionalised services, such as drug addictions stopping people from being able to access helpful services while the NHS waiting list for addiction still being roughly six months, many homeless people aren’t able to get help. In fact, it’s estimated that after just five nights on the street there’s a 60% chance of falling into chronic homelessness.
Furthermore, the largest reasons why people remain homeless are mental health problems, followed by physical health problems. This also applies to the hidden homeless who don’t sleep rough, yet their lack of visibility makes it even more difficult for charities and institutions to provide help.
New Hope UK believes that in Watford there are many hidden homeless among the youth as well, however their YMCA facilities does in fact support accommodation for those who need it, with 36 private rooms.
Merchant Taylors’ School was visited by New Hope UK and other charities that tackle homelessness on April 28th, in order to attempt to research and plan potential solutions for these problems, creating presentations for their ideas and sharing them with volunteers from homelessness charities.
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