Researching migrant homelessness

We’re gathering the life stories of migrants experiencing homelessness in the UK.

This research project was launched in 2020, led by Professor Simon Stewart, as a UK Research and Innovation /Economic (UKRI) and Social Research Council-funded (ESRC) project titled Homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic: homeless migrants in a global crisis.

We are examining the life stories of migrants in relation to their experiences of homelessness before, during and since the COVID-19 crisis. The project’s findings and recommendations have been captured in several journal articles and have been incorporated in reports published by the Health Foundation (2021), the Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping (led by Lord Bob Kerslake) (2021), Homeless Link (2022), and The No Accommodation Network (NACCOM) (2023).

The main report deriving from the project was recently published and was facilitated by the homelessness charity St Mungo’s. We’re collaborating with colleagues at the University of Sussex and nine homelessness organisations in the sector, including St Mungo’s.

Associate members

• Professor Sally R Munt - Emeritus Professor of Cultural Politics, University of Sussex
• Dr Roberta Piazza - Professor of English Language and Linguistics, University of Sussex
• Dr Hayley Peacock - Former Senior Research Officer at St Mungo’s, the homelessness charity
• Dr Charlotte Sanders - Lecturer in Anthropology, SOAS University of London