The people who work in homelessness services are the sector's most important asset. The quality of the support that people experiencing homelessness receive depends, more than anything else, on the quality of the workers providing it — their skills, their values, their wellbeing, and the conditions in which they work.
This module looks at the homelessness workforce in England: who works here, what draws them to the work, what the evidence says about what sustains them, and what threatens their wellbeing and retention. It draws on Homeless Link's Workforce Survey 2022, which provides the most comprehensive picture of who works in the sector and what their experience is like.
Understanding the workforce matters at every level — for individual workers making sense of their own experience, for managers supporting their teams, and for organisations thinking about culture and sustainability.
This is a Developing-level module within Subject 1: Understanding Homelessness.