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Groundswell: Monitoring the impact of C-19

Groundswell: Monitoring the impact of C-19

Groundswell: Monitoring the impact of C-19

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Groundswell are undertaking research to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of people experiencing homelessness. The project aims to understand how COVID-19 and the response to it is affecting the lives of people who are homeless and include the voices of people experiencing homelessness in the national and local decision-making processes.

They are gathering insights about people’s experiences through a range of methods. These include staff and peer volunteers logging daily diaries about the issues people are facing, archiving secondary information which chronologically illustrates local, national and policy responses to COVID-19, informal telephone interviews with people experiencing homelessness and follow-up in-depth telephone interviews to gather further narratives. They have recently begun a new phase of the project which involves peer researchers carrying out ‘citizen journalism’ to report back what is happening in their area and feed into the insights we are gathering. This is delivered in partnership with On Our Radar and funding is being supported by funding from NHS England and NHS Improvement.

Groundswell share their findings rapidly through fortnightly briefings which outline the key issues they are hearing over the previous fortnight. Their insights are reviewed and inputted to by a reference group of people, all who have experience of homelessness. The main issues reported so far include:

  • Inconsistencies in the support available through emergency accommodation
  • Significant issues around food security with many people struggling to access adequate and nutritious food
  • Worsening of mental health issues, perpetuated by increased social isolation
  • Issues relating to treatment and care for non-COVID related health conditions

They are continuing to gather people’s experiences to ensure peoples voices are heard and fed into local and national decision-making in response to COVID-19.

If you want to find out more about this project or get involved contact our Research Manager, Jo Brown at jo.brown@groundswell.org.uk

If you want to keep updated on the work Groundswell are doing then you can register to receive their newsletter here or follow them on twitter @ItsGroundswell.

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