Who Uses Services for Homeless People? An Investigation Amongst People Sleeping Rough in London Written by Jane Fountain Wednesday, 08 May 2002 00:00 - Last Updated Tuesday, 08 February 2011 14:10 Who Uses Services for Homeless People? An Investigation Amongst People Sleeping Rough in London JANE FOUNTAIN, SAMANTHA HOWES, JOHN MARSDEN and JOHN STRANG ABSTRACT From a sample of 389 homeless people in London, the characteristics of those who used services for homeless people are presented and the implications for service planning and delivery explored. Staff providing services for this client group need knowledge about drug use and the confidence to work effectively with homeless drug users. Copyright (C., 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key words: homelessness; service uptake; barriers; rough sleeping; substance use; service exclusion   INTRODUCTION The rough sleepers unit (RSU) estimates that, in June 2000,1180 people slept rough (i.e. on the streets) in England on any one night-535 of them in London (RSU, 2000). However, this population is not stable: the numbers sleeping rough annually are probably five times higher than on any one night (Social Exclusion Unit, 1998) and some individuals move through cycles of rough sleeping to various forms of temporary and emergency accommodation. The RSU has a target of reducing these numbers to as near zero as possible, and by at least two-thirds, by 2002' (DETR, 1999, p. 7). As part of a study designed to inform service-provision for the rough sleeping population, the uptake of seven services was investigated: cold weather shelters, rolling shelters, night shelters, day centres, services offered by an outreach team, hostel accommodation and food runs I. This paper provides data on the gender, race and age of the current users of each of these services; respondents' uptake and knowledge of homelessness services; the substance use of the current clients of each service; perceived barriers to accessing homelessness services and suggestions for overcoming them; and respondents' experiences of exclusion from these services. METHODS 1 / 7