Exploring lived experience roles and stigma in the homelessness sector

It’s five to ten and I’m early for an appointment at a homelessness support centre. Ten o’clock turns out to be when the doors open so there’s a queue outside. 

This is the third city I’ve visited this week for research interviews. I’m tired. My beard is untrimmed and I’m carrying a big backpack. I think: I look homeless. 

I’m uncomfortable with this thought. I’m afraid that people will think I’m homeless. I also feel guilty; I really shouldn’t be ashamed if people do think I’m homeless. 

Do I put my fear to one side, join the queue, chat to some of the people I’m hoping to interview later? Or do I walk confidently to the front and buzz the intercom, letting everyone know that I’m not looking for housing advice or addiction support, I’m just a slightly scruffy-looking professional? 

I make up my mind – hide. I hurry round the corner, drink a flat white in a café and come back at ten past. 

Like many people at Groundswell and other homelessness charities, I’ve had my own experience of homelessness, and that makes situations like this all the more difficult to navigate. We hear that our lived experience is valuable, but it’s not always easy to embody lived experience and professionalism at the same time. 

I don’t talk about my past much. I don’t usually see it as particularly relevant to how well I do my job. Compared to many people I know, my bouts of homelessness weren’t especially long-lived or severe and, at least until I started working in the homelessness sector, they haven’t affected my identity very much. 

Sometimes though, I’m halfway through interviewing someone when they say something that resonates with my experiences. I might I tell them so. I’ve found that this can make an interviewee feel more comfortable, or take the conversation in an interesting and unexpected direction. It helps to address power imbalances, making people feel like they’re active participants, rather than passive research subjects. 

There have also been times when I’ve come into a meeting – maybe with a funder or someone from a partner organisation – and the only thing they’ve known about me is that once, one way or another, I was homeless. It’s changed the way they’ve heard me and engaged with what I’ve said. It’s been hard to feel confident about my professional skills when that’s happened. 

Nowadays, they usually don’t know about my past unless I want them to. I’m lucky enough to have Groundswell’s support in ensuring that I can do that, but I can still be incredibly sensitive to how I might be seen. 

 Something I learned through my work on our newly published It Comes Before Your Name research is that I’m not the only one with personal experience of homelessness who has at times felt conflicted, confused or angry about how they’re perceived. I’ve discovered that I’ve had it easy compared to some people, probably because I’ve learned how to speak and act like other professionals and because I didn’t have to work as hard as some to get there. 

We spoke to 20 people who work or volunteer in the homelessness sector and have experienced homelessness. We wanted to know whether they felt stigmatised at work because of their past and, if so, what we could do prevent it happening to others in the future.

The findings were fascinating, encouraging, maddening and complex. It was difficult to come up with solutions that would satisfy everyone, but our aim was to start a conversation, to open up honest dialogue about how we as a sector can better support people to work free from stigmatisation. 

Our recommendations cover a lot of ground, and you’ll have to read the report to understand how we reached them, but the core message is this: if you employ people with lived experience of homelessness, or if you fund organisations that do, think carefully about how to ensure that they’re given the same opportunities and respect as any other professional. Key to this is to ask yourself what you really value: the idea of lived experience or the individual you see before you.