Vicky Spratt

On the subject of housing policy: homelessness is generally distinguished between rough sleeping, street homelessness and what’s known as ‘hidden homelessness’, that is, people living in temporary accommodation. These ‘hidden’ homeless have no place to call home but can be hidden from official statistics and aren’t always receiving support. They may be sofa-surfing, sleeping rough, squatting or sleeping on public transport. They may also not be recorded in temporary accommodation statistics. I don’t like the term ‘hidden homeless’ because these people are anything but invisible and the type of homelessness they face is just as dangerous as rough sleeping, albeit distinctively different. If this term is used in this book, it is because an expert, charity or researcher has used it.