This event is for housing lawyers, homelessness advisers, researchers and others working in homelessness advice. We will bring together academics, researchers and advisers to explore how we can work together to use the law and research to achieve positive change. There will be presentations from King’s College London academics and researchers on their recent work on homelessness.

Programme

9.45–10am – Registration and coffee/tea

Chair – Matthew Ahluwalia, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers

Matthew is a barrister at Garden Court Chambers. He has a broad social welfare and legal aid practice. He is the co-author of the seventh edition of Housing Allocations and Homelessness.

10am – Opening keynote (and member of Panel 1 discussion) - Rachel Blake MP

Rachel Blake is the MP for Cities of London and Westminster and has been an MP since July 2024. She is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation and Patron of the Labour Housing Group. Prior to her election as an MP, she was a policy analyst at HM Treasury and Deputy Mayor for an inner London Borough and led a programme of delivering 2000 council homes.

10.10–11.10am – PANEL 1

Sophie Earnshaw

Strategic litigation solicitor, Shelter

Sophie is a strategic litigation solicitor at the housing and homelessness charity, Shelter. She leads on Shelter’s anti-discrimination/anti-racism work, refugee and migrant housing rights and social security law. She will explore how research has been used in strategic litigation on key cases that have helped to shape current housing law and practice.

Hannah Piggott

Research Fellow, Policy Institute, King’s College London

Hannah is a Research Fellow in the Policy Institute at King’s College London. Her research has a particular focus on homelessness, social justice, qualitative methods, and conducting ethical research with vulnerable participants. She currently leads a number of projects in the team, including two projects for the Centre for Homelessness Impact. One is looking at how local authorities work with people who apply for homeless support but do not have a local connection, and the other is trialing the provision of unconditional cash transfers to those with experiences of homelessness. She also leads a UKRI grant funded evaluation looking at a harm reduction approach in homelessness services in Glasgow.

Jo Underwood

Supervising Solicitor and Lecturer in Law, King’s Legal Clinic, King’s College London

Jo is an experienced housing/homelessness lawyer and prior to coming to King’s she led the strategic litigation team at the housing charity Shelter. Jo will be presenting insights from her recent research investigating local authority refusals to see homeless applicants face to face, instead insisting on online applications. The research maps differing approaches across London and investigates the impact on people experiencing homelessness, who turn to the healthcare sector for support.

Read the report:

Underwood, J., Wright, J. & Piggott, H. (2025) Closed doors: The challenges of finding face-to-face help with homelessness applications, and the impact on hospitals in London,

11.10–11.30am Discussion/questions

11.30–11.40am Short break

11.40–12.40pm – PANEL 2

Dr Andy Guise

Senior Lecturer, Department of Population Health Sciences, King’s College London

What can we do to tackle the stigmatisation of homelessness?

The Social Responses to Stigma study in south London aims to understand how stigma is experienced by people impacted by homelessness, and then what drives and maintains stigma within care and support systems. The study findings are being used to develop responses to stigma. We want to find out how we can target policies, institutions and systems for change. Andy will give an update and overview of the ongoing project.

Professor Katherine Brickell,

Professor of Urban Studies, Department of Geography, King’s College London

Katherine will discuss two research studies on family homelessness in England. The first study worked closely with families to reveal how debt is not only a major factor in why families become homeless, but it also worsens during stays in Temporary Accommodation and can continue to amass even when homelessness ends. Through policy analysis and FOI submissions the research uncovered how housing-related debt disqualifications in the majority of local authority allocation policies led – in one month alone – to thousands of households with children in Temporary Accommodation being unable to bid on social housing. It successfully evidenced the need for regulation to exempt domestic abuse survivors from these punitive rules and commitment to action this recommendation was included in the government's new Homelessness Strategy. Her second current study focuses on the experiences of neurodivergent children living in Temporary Accommodation, described by families as 'torture'.

Jess Harris & Stephen Martineau

Homelessness Research Programme within the Health & Social Care Workforce Research Unit (HSCWRU) at King’s College London

Among a cohort of people who are homeless, factors such as mental illness, substance use, trauma, brain injury and self-neglect, prompt concerns about mental capacity. Any of these factors might indicate that under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 we should explore if there is an inability to make decisions, particularly if someone is in a risky situation and not accepting support. This presentation will share findings from a national study with a primary focus on the health and social care needs of this population, which has explored practitioner approaches and the views of people experiencing homelessness and multiple disadvantage.

12.40–1pm Discussion/questions

1pm – Lunch and networking