So in summary, how do we give practical effect to the effective participation of homeless people? For our team, it starts with how you view homeless people. If you view homeless people as passive recipients of services, then you will struggle with the practical application of the principles of Service User Involvement. However, I genuinely believe that most people who work in homelessness believe that homeless people have both the right and the capacity to be involved.

Where we can struggle is the practical effect bit - 'there's no time, we don't have the money, there's nobody to do it, nothing will change anyway and we can't get service users interested'. On occasion, providers, planners and workers cop out of involvement and regurgitate the hallowed excuses but it is important to note that capacity, time, money and expertise are genuine issues.

Accordingly, three priorities in terms of making involvement really work are:

• statements and policies to reflect the principled approach of service providers to Service User Involvement
• backed up by practical support (money in particular) to be given to homelessness projects at an operational level to engage service users and,
• genuine engagement at strategic planning level (the Scottish Executive, the Care Commission, Communities Scotland, Local Authorities and Health Boards) with homeless people at a local and national level. It is counter productive to develop the capacity of people affected by homelessness and the organisations and workers who support them, but invest no time, energy or money in ensuring that key decision making bodies are receptive and involved in the process.

Best of luck!

If you would like to contact Jo to find out more about her work, please email practicescotland@shelter.org.uk in the first instance.

This article is also available in PDF format

The views expressed in the article are those of the author and not necessarily those of Shelter.

Page 8 of 8 | Contents | Previous | Next