Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T04:21:22.968Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Homeless Men in London: I. Demographic Findings in a Lodging House Sample

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

I. C. Lodge Patch*
Affiliation:
Springfield Hospital, London, S.W.17

Extract

Surveys of homeless men have emphasized a variety of correlations and causes. Criminality (Edwards et al., 1968; Sewell, 1969; Laidlaw, 1956; Commissioners of Police, 1859), alcoholism (Straus, 1946; Wattenburg et al., 1954; Bogue, 1963; Blumberg., et al., 1966) and poverty (Booth, 1890; National Assistance Board, 1966; London County Council, 1962; Shelter, 1969) are some to which attention has been drawn already (Lodge Patch, 1970). The relationship of these to a rootless way of life seems less impressive than psychiatric factors (Anderson, 1923; Whiteley, 1955; Laidlaw, 1956: Skinner, 1966–7). Edwards, for example, showed that 24 per cent of men in a reception centre had been in mental hospitals; 7 per cent having been discharged within six months of the Survey.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1971 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, N. (1923). The Hobo, Chicago.Google Scholar
Blumberg, L., Shipley, T. E., Shandler, I. W., and Niebuhr, H. (1966). ‘The development, major goals and strategies of a Skid Row program, Philadelphia.’ Quart. J. Studies Alcohol, 27, 242–58.Google Scholar
Bogue, D. J. (1963). Skid Row in American Cities. Community and Family Study Center, Chicago.Google Scholar
Booth, William (1890). In Darkest England and the Way Out. London.Google Scholar
British Medical Journal (1966). Leader. ‘Down and out’, ii, 1546.Google Scholar
Commissioner of Police (1859). Common Lodging Houses. Report of Assistant Commissioner of Police of Metropolis. Google Scholar
Dumont, M. P. (1967). ‘Tavern culture, the sustenance of homeless men.’ Am. J. Orthopsychiat., 37, 938945.Google Scholar
Edwards, G., Williamson, V., Hawker, A., Hensman, C. and Postoyan, S. (1968). ‘Census of a Reception Centre.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 114, 10311039.Google Scholar
Laidlaw, S. I. A. (1956). Glasgow Common Lodging Houses and the People Living in them. Glasgow Corporation.Google Scholar
Levinson, B. M. (1967). ‘Mental deficiency on Skid Row.’ Psychol Reports (Missoula). 20, 291–4.Google Scholar
Lodge Patch, I. C. (1970). ‘Homeless men: a London survey.’ Proc. Roy. Soc. Med. May, 1970. 437–46.Google Scholar
London County Council (1962). General Purposes Committee Report (No. 3). Homelessness—Committee of Inquiry.Google Scholar
National Assistance Board (1966). Homeless Single Persons. HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Noreik, K. (1965). ‘Hospitalized psychoses among wandering people in Norway.’ Acta psychiat. Scand., 41, 157–76.Google Scholar
Sewell, R. (1969). Personal Communication.Google Scholar
‘Shelter’ (1969). Face the Facts. A Shelter Report. National Campaign for the Homeless. London.Google Scholar
Skinner, F. W., (ed.) (1966–7). People without Roots. Tower Hamlets Council of Social Service.Google Scholar
Straus, R. (1946–7). ‘Alcohol and the homeless man.’ Quart. J. Studies Alcohol, 7, 360404.Google Scholar
Wade, C. C. (1963). ‘Survey of inmates of a common lodging house.’ Medical Officer, 109, 171–3.Google Scholar
Wattenburg, W. W., and Moir, J. B. (1954). ‘Factors linked to success in counselling homeless alcoholics.’ Quart. J. Studies Alcohol, 15, 587–94.Google Scholar
Whiteley, J. S. (1955). ‘Down and out in London: mental illness in the lower social groups.’ Lancet, ii, 608–10.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.