Jamie Harding

Financial circumstances, financial difficulties and academic achievement among first-year undergraduates

Many governments have adopted a policy of seeking to increase the number of students entering higher education and to finance this expansion by transferring costs from the state to the individual. In the United Kingdom, this policy has been pursued with relatively little concern for the impact that the increasing financial burden may have on students. Research at one case-study university suggested that many students were coping with their day-to-day living costs more comfortably than they had expected to in the first year. However, those in a difficult financial position at the start of their period of study were likely to face greater problems in the course of their first year. Two difficulties in particular – having missed payments at the start of the academic programme, and having to wait for the first student loan payment – were shown to have a damaging effect on academic performance.

Barriers and Contradictions in the Resettlement of Single Homeless People

Research in one local authority area suggests that a number of social policy difficulties and contradictions need to be resolved if single homeless people are to be resettled effectively. In particular, there are competing pressures on social housing providers, who are expected to meet the needs of socially excluded individuals while also creating sustainable communities and operating in a cost efficient manner. The government needs to clarify that meeting housing need is a priority for social landlords, and provide adequate funding for long-term support, if single homeless people are to find appropriate permanent accommodation.

Choice and information in the public sector: a Higher Education case study

Successive governments have encouraged the view of users of public services as consumers, choosing between different providers on the basis of information about the quality of service. As part of this approach, prospective students are expected to make their decisions about which universities to apply to with reference to the consumer evaluations provided by the National Student Survey. However, a case study of a post-1992 university showed that not all students made genuine choices and those who did tended to be in stronger social and economic positions. Where choices were made, they were infrequently based on external evaluations of quality.

Can transnational exchange in EU projects really lead to change? A differentiated analysis from an action research perspective

Over the last decades, a phase of experimental social policy has emerged in the EU in the wake of various generations of funding programmes and projects that actively encouraged transnational exchange and mutual learning. Underlying these programmes are a number of assumptions: that transnational exchange will lead to individual learning, that individual learning will lead to organisational learning and that the result of organisational learning will be changes to policy and practice. These assumptions were tested using an EU-funded project named ‘Local Strategies for the Active Inclusion of Young People facing multiple disadvantages—Com.In’. This project was carried out by local authorities, NGOs and research organisations in four European cities from 2011 to 2013. The results demonstrate a number of barriers to moving from transnational exchange to changes to policy and practice. However, it also identified inter- and intra-agency relationships as a key area where positive change could come about and the conditions that made such change possible. The role of ‘institutional entrepreneurs’ is shown to be crucial to exploiting the exceptional setting created by the exchange and initiating a change process.

Maintaining tenancies: Gender differences among young people living independently

A change to the homelessness legislation means that more local authorities will need to secure accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds. Research conducted in Newcastle‐upon‐Tyne identified a number of factors that affected whether people in this age group conducted successful tenancies. Young women were particularly likely to fail if they were over‐confident, and the services that they benefited most from were advice about their tenancy conditions and rent obligations. In contrast, young men were more likely to fail if they felt inadequately advised about independent living, and so benefited from intensive visiting support. The evidence of gender differences, together with young peoples reluctance to be provided with advice about their tenancy, presents a major challenge to service providers.

Anti-Social Behaviour among Homeless People: Assumptions or Reality?

Historically, the visible engagement of homeless people in activities considered to be ‘anti-social’, such as drunkenness and begging, have made them the target of government action on public disorder, engendering antipathy, as much as sympathy, from policy makers, key regulators and the wider public (Takahashi, 1997, cited in DeVerteuil et al., 2009: 647). Governments have long been keen to blame increases in homelessness on individual failings, resulting from wilful idleness and dangerous criminal/anti-social tendencies (Humphreys, 1999: 167), with policy responses underpinned by the principles of enforcement and exclusion, rather than care and support. During the period 1997 to 2010, the New Labour governments demonstrated a more nuanced understanding of the causes of homelessness, giving increased recognition to the importance of factors beyond the control of the individual. At the heart of government policies towards homelessness was the idea of balancing rights with responsibilities. However, even under this more ostensibly sympathetic approach, concerns to tackle social exclusion among homeless people existed in tension with a perception that their antisocial behaviours needed to be addressed. Following a historical discussion of the key interventions designed to tackle wilful idleness and anti-social behaviour among homeless people, this chapter will focus on policy developments since 1997.

The housing and support needs of teenage mothers

The Government has expressed a wish to see more supported accommodation made available to teenage parents, and has identified a number of possible models that might be employed. However, focus group discussions with young parents indicated a strong preference for self-contained accommodation and a number of concerns associated with shared forms of housing. It was particularly important to the young people to be housed close to sources of informal support. Those forms of professional support that were most appreciated were the ones that closely replicated the help provided by family and friends.