Have you ever thought about the fact that homelessness has a history? When did it start and where did it come from? Who were the homeless people of the past and what was life like for them? Across these four episodes, we’re going to journey through 600 years of British history and build up a picture of past and present homelessness: from the wandering vagrants of the 16th century to the London squatters of the 1970s, right up to today’s housing and homelessness crises. And all the while, we’ ...
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#4 Women & Homelessness in Britain: A History
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41:37
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Let’s talk about women and homelessness. While homeless women are the majority in some contexts, they are largely missing from our official statistics and personal perceptions of homelessness – and history can help us to understand why. In this final episode of the series, we’ll meet an 18th century vagrant woman, delve into the work of 19th centur…
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#3 Housing in Crisis: A History of Housing & Homelessness in Britain
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What does it mean to be in a housing crisis and why are we in one? How can it be solved? And what does it all have to do with homelessness? Well, it turns out that history is a great tool for answering those questions! In this episode, we head back in time to hear about the history of housing in Britain over the last 150 years. We trace the rise an…
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#2 Deserving or Undeserving? A History of Welfare, Charity & Homelessness in Britain
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Britain’s approaches to poverty and homelessness have always been complex, and debates over how best to help the poor stretch back centuries. How to fund this support? Who is most deserving of it? In this episode, we delve into the history of these support systems – from the Poor Law and workhouses to the rise of philanthropy and the birth of the m…
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#1 Vagrants & Vagabonds: Introducing a History of Homelessness in Britain
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Have you ever thought about the fact that homelessness has a history? When did it start and where did it come from? Who were the homeless people of the past and what was life like for them? Journeying across 600 years of British history, we’re going to uncover answers to these questions. This episode introduces us to the history of ‘vagrancy’ as we…
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