Table 1.

Participants’ demographic information

Pseudonym	Biographical data	Education history	Childhood living arrangements	Summary of participant’s family and social history	Emotional and physical health	Onset of and trigger for homelessness
Ruddle	Age: 60 Gender: M Address: Flat for homeless people	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: local school Performance: very poor Behaviour: shared accommodation	Grew up with both parents	Dad died and house sold when participant was 15 Disruptive family life	‘If I need see a doctor I just walk into A&E’	Both parents had died by the time he was 15
Ian	Age: 74 Gender: M Address: Street	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: local school Performance: very poor Behaviour: in trouble with school authorities	Grew up with both parents	Normal working class family	No health problems	Breakdown of relationship
Patrick	Age: 64 Gender: M Address: Flat	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: local school Performance: very poor Behaviour: disruptive behaviour	Raised by both parents	Left home at age 15 In prison twice for theft Both parents never worked, both parents alcoholics	Bad heart, kidney and liver	Became homeless after release from prison
Lee	Age: 35 Gender: M Address: Street	Age of leaving school: 15 Type of school: mainstream school, ‘a rough school’ Performance: ‘I was in lowest set’ Behaviour: truancy and challenging authorities	Raised in children’s care	Parents split up when he was 13 years old Chaotic family life ‘I was 15 when I left school’ Arrested at 18, followed by several episodes of time in prison	‘[I’ve been to] A&E that many times because of accident[s]’	‘You are out, she couldn’t cope but I was only 17’ ‘She kicked me out again when I was 18’
David	Age: 31 Gender: M Address: Street	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: kicked out of high school, went to special school Performance: very poor Behaviour: disruptive behaviour	Foster care	Neglected by his mum	‘Hepatitis C in my liver’ Depression	Became homeless soon after leaving foster care at 8. Maladaptive behaviour, excessive alcohol use
Marco	Age: 46 Gender: M Address: Street	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: ‘moved several schools’, ‘finished in school for the naughty boys’ Performance: very unpleasant school experience Behaviour: engaged in several fights, bullied	Boarding school for boys with challenging behaviour	Very abusive family – physical and emotional Multiple failed relationships	Memory problem ‘I am on medication that doesn’t permit me to use any machinery’ Bad back, ruptured disc and nerve damage	Breakdown of relationship with partner
Alvin	Age: 39 Gender: M Address: Hostel for homeless people	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: local school Performance: very poor Behaviour: in trouble with school authorities		Dad died when he was 13 Trained as bricklayer, after recession worked in factory Started using drugs and alcohol	Depression Anxiety disorder	Marriage breakdown due to financial stress and alcohol addiction
Barry	Age: 43 Gender: Male Address: Hostel for homeless people	Age of leaving school: Law degree at University of Oxford Type of school: local school Performance: very poor Behaviour: in trouble with school authorities	Family home; middle class family	Joined the army at 18 Went to university after discharge from the army	No medical problems	Kicked out by parents when found out he was gay. Relationship breakdown Evicted while at the hospital
Clarke	Age: 18 Gender: M Address: Hostel for homeless people	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: local school Performance: very poor Behaviour: in trouble with school authorities	Family home, raised by mum and stepdad	Bullied at school Physically abused by stepdad Grand-dad, who he was very close to, died when was 16 Left home at 16. Unable to get council accommodation because he under 21. Lived in the street for two years	‘Feel low all the time’	Breakdown of child-parent relationship Physical abuse by stepdad Excessive alcohol use
Danny	Age: 44 Gender: M Address: Hostel for homeless people	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: local school Performance: very poor Behaviour: in trouble with school authorities	Raised by both parents	‘I left school at sixteen, straight away I got married and had children. I was married for seventeen years. I was a roofer for ten years. When marriage broke up I turned into alcoholic. I moved back with my parents. It got really out of control. I was getting in trouble with police’	Depression Anxiety disorder	Marriage breakdown Alcohol and drugs ‘I was getting in trouble with police’
Emily	Age: 23 Gender: F Address: Hostel for homeless people	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: local school Performance: very poor Behaviour: challenging behaviour	Single parent	Labelled as naughty child at school, ran away from home at 16. Lived with friends on night-by-night basis Had a job in Morrisons [supermarket] when 18, dismissed due to bad behaviour Kicked out of several hostels	ADHD	Breakdown of relation with mother Use of drugs and alcohol
Finn	Age: 24 Gender: M Address: Hostel for homeless people	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: ‘moved around many schools around the country’ Performance: very poor Behaviour: numerous fights at school	Single parent; transient	Single mum with several partners Moved in with brother at 16 Secured a job in convinience store	Depression	Kicked out by brother due to socially unacceptable lifestyle
Goeff	Age: 32 Gender: M Address: Hostel for homeless people	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: local school Performance: very poor Behaviour: in trouble with school authorities	Family home; raised by both parents	‘Parents died at young age. Lived with sister for a bit, fell out with her and ended up in the street. Been in the street for about 14 years’ ‘It started by going to jail at 16, I was in and out of jail for the past 16 years’
Gary (John)	Age: 35 Gender: M Address: Hostel for homeless people	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: mainstream school Performance: very poor Behaviour: in trouble with school authorities	Raised by mum and stepdad until age 11	‘I worked as a joiner. I lost both my parents at a very young age. I lost my dad when I was four and lost my mum when I was eleven. Raised by my nan until the age of sixteen’ ‘I went to jail when I was 16 years in Liverpool, spent two years there’ ‘I have been assaulted that many times, that is where anxiety comes from’	‘I was depressed. I suffer from anxiety and depression’ Alcoholism Epilepsy	Alcoholism Relationship broke down Ended up on the street
Guy	Age: 26 Gender: M Address: Hostel for homeless people Northwich	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: mainstream school Performance: ‘I left with no GCSEs’ Behaviour: challenging behaviour	Dad was in the military	‘I used to smoke a lot of weed. I worked for Network Rail’ Jailed for drug possession. Since leaving school he has completed six jail sentences for motorbike theft	No health issues	‘I used to smoke a lot of weed and spice’ ‘My parent kicked me out of the house while I was jail’
Henry	Age: 29 Gender: M Address: Street Northwich	Age of leaving school: 15 Type of school: boarding school for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties Performance: very poor Behaviour: aggressive and disrruptive	Raised by stepdad and mum	‘I’ve NVQ 2 in electric, NVQ 2 in cooking, NVQ 1 plumbing’ ‘My mum was phyically abused by my stepdad, he used to beat her up. When they split up, my mum was taken to the care home where they used to look after her’ ‘I was in jail when I was sixteen’	Asthma Anxiety Digestive disorder Suicidal Paranoia through smoking cannabis	Physically abused by mum and stepdad ‘First time they kicked me out I was about 15, but my mum kept getting me back in’
Ian Cath	Age: 42 Gender: M Address: Street	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: mainstream school Performance: very poor Behaviour: good behaviour	Raised in a normal family	‘Normal childhood, went to school, passed all my exams. Joined the army, spent six years in the army. After that I was pensioned out because I had head injury in Bosnia which led to me having epilepsy. I went to France to train as a chef, I worked in the US, Hong Kong, France’	Epilepsy	Marriage breakdown ‘Evicted from flat, ended up in the street. Been homeless for a year’
Tom	Age: 36 Gender: M Address: Street	Age of leaving school: 13 Type of school: assessment centre Performance: ‘didn’t do well at school because of being abandoned child’ Behaviour: ‘expelled from school for disruptive behaviour and taking drugs and getting into crime. I was off the rails to be honest.’	Children’s home	‘I was abandoned by my mother when I was 12. I was then put into care. I was placed with my dad when I was 13, who physically abused me, then sent back to care’ ‘Life at home was chaotic, my mum and dad split up when I was eight. My dad was a very bad alcoholic and mum was very promiscuous’	Self-harm Personality disorder Severe anxiety disorder Paranoia disorder Depression	‘Slept rough on and off since I was 13’ This time we were evicted due to bedroom tax
Marie	Age: 35 Gender: F Address: Street	Age of leaving school: 13 Type of school: Mainstream Performance: poor Behaviour: challenging behaviour	Children’s care home	‘Had a bad childhood because I was sexually abused by my father when I was 13… social services knew about it because my mum’s friend rang police on him’	Migraine ‘Blackouts, hypertension and now infection in my breast due lack of hygiene’	‘Slept rough for the past three months; evicted due to bedroom tax
Leo	Age: 42 Gender: M Address: Street	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: Mainstream school Performance: very poor Behaviour: in trouble with school authorities	Raised by single mum	‘I left school at 16. I went to do B Tech, passed that, I went to another college, I did B Tech in National OAD, got a job at Morrison’s supermarket’ ‘I got diabetes when I was 29’ ‘I lost my dad to cancer when I was ten, my mum moved to a smaller house which was like a retirement village’	Diabetes	Evicted for missing payment due to own chaotic life’
Norma	Age: 31 Gender: F Address: Hostel for the homeless	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: Mainstream Performance: ‘left the school before the exams’ Behaviour: ‘disrruptive	Foster care; several children’s homes until age 6, then foster care	‘I got sexually abused by my father when I was six. So we were put into care. He abused me when I was five and raped me when I was six. Lived in foster care as well as several children’s homes from age of 6 until 16. I moved in with my sister and we have a big argument …she kicked me out and rang police on me and had [a] year[‘s] restraining order, and then I was basically in the street all the time’ ‘I have been picked up by police many times. People come up to me kick me, beat me, because I am homeless on the street’	Sleep apnoea Epilepsy Depression Self-harm Suicide attempts	‘When my two boys were taken off me and put into care, that was when my drinking spiralled out of control.’ ‘I have been in the street solidly for three years now’
Crewe	Age: 58 Gender: M Address: Flat	Age of leaving school: 15 Type of school: boarding school for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties Performance: very poor Behaviour: challenging behaviour	Foster care	‘My childhood was not all that good because my parents were strict. Me and my sister were separated, we were fostered out. I was fostered out with my brother to a couple in Stockport, my sisters were put into couple in Macclesfield’ ‘From 1968 to 1973 I was in boarding school. I left boarding school, started work car washing in Brookly Street and I did nine years as tyre fitter’ ‘I was put into prison at the age of 16 for arson, that was a cry for help to get away from the family. I came out after nine months. I have been in prison four times in my life, it’s not very nice, when I came out I made a promise to myself that I’m never going to go back to prison again’	Depression Self-harm Suicide attempts Angina IHD	Homeless every time he comes out of prison
Paddy	Age: 35 Gender: M Address: Hostel for homeless people Northwich	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: mainstream school Performance: very poor Behaviour: in trouble with school authorities	Raised by mum and stepdad until age 11	Disruptive home life, parents separated at young age. Ran away from home at the age of sixteen, and became homeless for a while until social services got involved	Depression Anxiety disorder Alcoholism Is on Librium Epilepsy	Heavy alcoholism and relationship breakdown
Matt	Age: 33 Gender: M Address: Street	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: local school Performance: very poor Behaviour: challeging behaviour, smoking cannibis at school	Foster care	Disruptive family life, broken family Moved in with partner at 17. Had two children, children taken into care by social services Drugs and alcohol, relationship breakdown	Alcoholism	Drugs and alcohol, relationship breakdown,
Milly	Age: 31 Gender: F address: Street	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: Mainstream Performance: ‘left the school before the exams’ Behaviour: ‘used to get bullied because of my abuse experience’	Put into foster care; several children’s homes until age 6, then foster care	I was in care until I was 15 and moved back with my mum and my mum die within two months of me moving in. ‘I was still in care order until I was 21’ ‘When my mum died I was out in the street drinking all the time and never stopped’	Depression Anxiety disorder Self-harm Suicide attempts
Kieran	Age: 38 Gender: M Address: Street	Age of leaving school: 16 Type of school: Mainstream school Performance: very poor Behaviour: in trouble with school authorities	Went to children’s home at fourteen	Started using alcohol and drugs at the age of 13 Went to prison at the age of 17	Hearing voices Depression	Lost accommodation due to drug addiction

Legend: 1 illustrates participant’s education history, childhood living arrangements, brief participants’ family and social history, emotional and physical health, the onset of and trigger for homelessness