Homelessness is an incredibly difficult situation for anyone to be in and is linked with a plethora of issues regarding health, social services interaction, educational attainment, poverty and justice. Due to the inherently chaotic nature of many homeless people’s lives, they are more likely than most to be victims (and perpetrators) of crime. The link between violence and educational attainment, family stability, income and health have been well established and similar links exist with homelessness. Poverty and instability are common themes when it comes to those involved in violence and the same often applies to those who find themselves homeless. Despite Scotland leading the way with regards to homelessness legislation in the UK by abolishing the ‘priority need’ test for those who become homeless unintentionally, there is still much to be done by way of both research and action, especially when it comes to the link between homelessness and violence.

Violence is so commonly linked with homelessness that housing legislation even mentions it. ‘Section 24 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, as amended, defines homelessness for the purposes of the Act as follows. A person is homeless if he/ she has no accommodation in the UK or elsewhere. A person is also homeless if he/she has accommodation but cannot reasonably occupy it, for example because of a threat of violence.'

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the link between violence and homelessness. This includes both the level of homelessness which is a result of violence (either victim or perpetrator), as well as the extent of the violence homeless people then face when they do not have any stable accommodation.