The associations between mental illness and homelessness among older people: an exploratory study

Rough sleeping has increased in Britain since the late 1980s, and there is a known high prevalence of mental illness in this population. There have been few studies of older homeless people however, and little is known about the association between mental illness and homelessness among this group. This paper explores the role of mental illness in contributing to the entry to homelessness, and its prevalence among a sample of older homeless people. Through an intensive field study which lasted for 15 months, multiple semi-structured interviews were conducted with 225 subjects over the age of 55 years in four British cities. There was a high prevalence of mental illness among the subjects and this was a factor in the entry to homelessness in many cases. There were indications that some subjects with mental health problems became homeless because their needs had been neglected or undetected. Mental health problems also had an impact on the circumstances of older homeless people and affected their ability to seek and accept help. More effective measures need to be taken to prevent homelessness amongst vulnerable older people.