A person sleeping in a doorway

Researching migrant homelessness

Mapping the layers of crisis

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.

Publication highlights

Support services

Responding to a recommendation from our research report, the Access to Justice service in immigration law opened at the University as a collaboration between the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Business and Law and Friends Without Borders.

Led by Dr Charles Leddy-Owen, the Access to Justice project is situated in Portland Building alongside the existing Legal Advice Clinic.

It provides free legal advice and casework on complex immigration applications, with a particular focus on human rights matters, for some of the least well-off residents of the city. 

Access to Justice immigration advice service

Get free legal support from the University's Access to Justice immigration advice service

Law Photoshoot;19th November 2018
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Clinics and services

See how we're serving our city and community not just through education, but providing front line services and supporting people directly.

Female University of Portsmouth employee in meeting room
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Our blogs

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Aerial Photography; July 2019

Cultivated invisibility and migrants' experiences of homelessness

Simon Stewart

Cultivated invisibility and migrants' experiences of homelessness
A person sleeping in a doorway

Everyone In: A temporary solution to a permanent crisis

Everyone In: A temporary solution to a permanent crisis
Whistlejacket 2017

Everyone In: A moment of hope for migrants experiencing homelessness

Everyone In: A moment of hope for migrants experiencing homelessness
Flats in london

Housing in Crisis: Making Links Between COVID-19 and The UK Housing Crisis

Housing in Crisis: Making Links Between COVID-19 and The UK Housing Crisis
Image of homeless sign for help

How has the 'Hostile Environment' shaped Migrant Homelessness in the UK?

How has the 'Hostile Environment' shaped Migrant Homelessness in the UK?

Our news

Homeless

Speeding up and simplifying immigration claims urgently needed to help with dire situation for migrants experiencing homelessness

13 February 2023

Speeding up and simplifying immigration claims urgently needed to help with dire situation for migrants experiencing homelessness
Homeless person sitting on sidewalk with head down

Funding win for research into experience of homeless migrants during crises

7 September 2020

Funding win for research into experience of homeless migrants during crises

Our members

Simon Alexander Stewart Portrait

Professor Simon Stewart

Professor of Sociology

Simon.Stewart@port.ac.uk

School of Area Studies, Sociology, History, Politics, and Literature

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

PhD Supervisor

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Dr Charles Leddy-Owen

Senior Lecturer

charles.leddy-owen@port.ac.uk

School of Area Studies, Sociology, History, Politics, and Literature

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

PhD Supervisor

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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

Contact us

For further information about this project, please contact Professor Simon Stewart.