DEMOS

Include Me In offers one model for bridging the gap between delivering improved outcomes in the short-term and building sustainable foundations for social inclusion over much longer periods. It examines the particular support needs of excluded adults returning to work. And it questions the idea that training focussed predominantly on job-related vocational skills will be enough for people trying to get work.

For the last decade, homelessness has been an issue that has demanded unrelenting attention from policy makers. A reduction in rough sleeping on Britain's streets and a renewed commitment to re-housing homeless families have resulted in significant positive change for a majority of the people experiencing homelessness. But the focus on addressing the basic minimum has not always led to sustainable improvement in people’s quality of life. For many homeless people, shelter is not enough to ensure a permanent step away from disadvantage and exclusion.

Jobs are one way of the main ways people succeed in making a permanent escape from social exclusion, by offering a pathway towards financial and social independence. But getting a job - and keeping it - can prove extremely difficult for people with a history of homelessness.

Include Me In offers one model for bridging the gap between delivering improved outcomes in the short-term and building sustainable foundations for social inclusion over much longer periods.  It examines the particular support needs of excluded adults returning to work.  And it questions the idea that training focussed predominantly on job-related vocational skills will be enough for people trying to get work.  Include Me In draws attention to the vital importance of investing in people's wider, life skills development as one of the main ways to help more homeless people return to work and escape exclusion – for good.