King's College London

In its section on 'Inclusion' the NIHR Annual Report, published on 17 July 2025, focuses on the Unit's "Too difficult box" study, which examined safeguarding, self-neglect and homelessness:

“Research into safeguarding and homelessness presented to government

Researchers who carried out a study into adult safeguarding and homelessness presented their findings to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in February 2025.

The study was funded by the NIHR School for Social Care Research and led by King’s College London. It found that adult safeguarding needs to be strengthened to address self-neglect in people who experience ‘multiple exclusion homelessness’ (MEH) as a result of complex overlapping factors, including mental and physical ill health and substance use.

Findings showed that negative experiences of services and stigma contribute to service mistrust by people who experience MEH and deter them from seeking or accepting help from the local council.

The research is now informing a new cross-government strategy to end homelessness, building an evidence base to better understand the people that become and remain homeless, tackle health and social care inequalities and improve early intervention approaches to help them.” — from  NIHR Annual Report 2024/25: Inclusion.

The final report from this study was published earlier this year, together with an animation (see below) which highlighted some of the core findings:

Harris, J., Martineau, S., Cornes, M., Manthorpe, J., Tinelli, M., Ornelas, B. & Burridge. S. (2025) Opening the “too difficult box”: Strengthening adult safeguarding responses to homelessness and self-neglect, York: NIHR School for Social Care Research.