Ageing and homelessness: Is there an ageing crisis for statutory homelessness services in the UK?

This research looked at all homelessness applications to local authorities in Scotland. As published figures on statutory homelessness in Scotland relate to all household types, and Culhane’s analysis mainly related to adult single homeless shelter users, a request was made to Scottish Government for aggregated age-breakdowns of applications made by single people, split by gender. Data for 2002/03 and 2018/19 are used in order to emphasise any possible changes in the age profile of homeless applicants, given that the age bands provided in the aggregate data were non-standard and large.By plotting the age breakdowns of homeless applicants during two time periods, we can explore whether the age profile of homeless individuals changes. This method of ‘cohort analysis’ has the benefit that it can be used with de-identified and aggregate data, as it does not require the same individuals to be linked over time. If, as was the case in the United States, there are particular birth cohorts who are disproportionately affected by homelessness, then there should be an ageing profile of homeless applicants.