Nicholas Pleace
Biographic Data
| ID | 309712 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nicholas Pleace |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nicholas |
| FAMILY NAME | Pleace |
| SIGNATURE | PLEACE N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of York |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2133-2667 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 97 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Comparative experiences of non-EU migrant homelessness
This paper summarises the results of a recent study led by the European Observatory on Homelessness which operates under the auspices of FEANTSA, the European Federation of Homelessness Organisations. The study compared the nature and extent of non-EU migrant homelessness across 16 EU Member States and drew some comparisons with the UK. The study used a standardised questionnaire which was completed by individuals and teams with the relevant spec…
The energy crisis, homelessness and fuel poverty
This article looks at the hitherto unexplored relationship between fuel poverty and homelessness. The case for understanding the ways in which homelessness may be triggered and also prolonged by spikes in fuel poverty is examined in detail, centring on the growing evidence of wide-ranging associations between homelessness, poverty and destitution, and the serious and sometimes existential risks to underfunded homelessness services and systems. Em…
The Needs of Women Using Homelessness Services: The Results of Collaborative Research in London
This paper explores the results of a study conducted in collaboration with the homelessness sector in central London and an academic team. Data were collected on 134 women who used homelessness services in an area of central London during a nine-day window. In addition, fully anonymised service history records, covering an average period of 85 months, were reviewed with the consent of another 59 women with lived experience of homelessness. Nine w…
Home Dissatisfaction, Body Image, and Sociocultural Attitudes: An Exploratory Study
This article explores home dissatisfaction using methods modelled on those used to understand negative body image and its causes. We found that a substantial proportion of UK participants (13–39%) expressed dissatisfaction with their homes. Although the strongest association was between home dissatisfaction and reported physical problems, there was evidence that dissatisfaction is also predicted by experiencing pressure from the media and your fa…
Routledge Handbook of Homelessness
Exploring the Interactions between Housing and Neighbourhood Environments for Enhanced Child Wellbeing: The Lived Experience of Parents Living in Areas of High Child Poverty in England, UK
Children's health can be affected by the interrelated characteristics of the physical and social environment where they live, including housing quality, neighbourhood characteristics and the local community. Following a systems-based approach, this exploratory project sought to understand how the needs and aspirations associated with the home environment can work in synergy with, or be exacerbated by, other aspects of the local area. The study re…
Making home or making do: A critical look at homemaking without a home
This paper critically examines the concept of alternative forms of ‘homemaking’ among people without a settled home. The introductory section establishes the framework for the paper, providing an overview of homelessness and the homemaking literature. Strengths in the homemaking approach are identified, which reconceptualises homelessness as a human-centered phenomenon that can be understood as ‘resistance’ to societies that block accesses to mai…
Housing First and Social Integration: A Realistic Aim
Housing First is now dominating discussions about how best to respond to homelessness among people with high and complex needs throughout the EU and in several countries within the OECD. Whilst recognised internationally as an effective model in addressing homelessness, little attention has been given as to whether Housing First also assists previously homeless people become more socially integrated into their communities. This paper reviews the …
The Statutory Homelessness System in England: A Fair and Effective Rights-Based Model
The statutory homelessness system, first established by the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977, is an important but frequently criticised element of the British welfare state. Drawing upon a survey of 2053 ‘statutorily homeless’ families in England, this paper applies a utility-maximising conceptual framework to demonstrate that (a) the statutory homelessness system is on the whole ‘fair’ with respect to the housing needs that it addresses, and …
A Difficult Mix: Issues in Achieving Socioeconomic Diversity in Deprived UK Neighbourhoods
This paper explores attempts to enhance social capital, reduce negative area effects and improve life chances in deprived neighbourhoods by promoting social diversity. The paper draws on the results of two recent studies. The first study examined resident perceptions of new, high-density, mixed-tenure housing that was designed to provide socially diverse and cohesive communities. The second study examined the housing allocations policies of UK so…
Workless People and Surveillant Mashups Social Policy and Data Sharing in the Uk
This paper examines the use of ICT driven surveillant assemblages in UK welfare policy by drawing on the results of empirical research conducted for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The focus is on one aspect of the growing role of surveillance in social policy: data aggregation on populations characterized by sustained worklessness. The implementation and implications of this form of surveillance are examined. The paper explores surve…
The shaping of electronic service delivery: Introducing online services in British social housing
This paper considers the current literature on electronic service delivery in the light of the findings of a qualitative research project examining the implementation of online services in British social housing. The paper adds to existing evidence that the nature of electronic service delivery is heavily influenced by the agencies that introduce it and by the context in which it occurs. The shape of electronic service delivery in social housing …
The Shelter Inclusion Project: Piloting a new approach to addressing anti‐social behaviour
Anti‐social behaviour remains high on local and national policy agendas, and is a major area of concern for policy makers, local authorities, housing providers and communities. The Shelter Inclusion Project was set up in Rochdale in 2002 to develop an innovative model of floating support for households that are having difficulty complying with their tenancy agreements because of reported anti‐social behaviour, or who are homeless as a result. The…
Safe Moves: Piloting prevention services for young people at risk of homelessness
Youth homelessness has been recognised as a significant social problem since the late 1980s, and local authority homelessness strategies now include preventative services as a key area of development. However, youth homelessness prevention services are a relatively recent innovation in the UK, and there is only a small literature on their effectiveness. Safe Moves, developed by the Foyer Federation and Connexions during 2002‐2004, represents the …
Led rather than leading? Research on homelessness in Britain
This article examines the history of British homelessness research and its politicization over the past 40 years. The relationship between homelessness research and policy has been developing since the 1960s, and by the 1990s the majority of research was undertaken within the policy arena. In part, this has arisen because of the way in which research has been funded in the UK, with funding being dominated by government or those seeking to critici…
Service users and electronic service delivery in social housing, housing‐related support and social care
This article reports on research into the introduction of electronic service delivery (ESD) by social landlords, social services and charities conducted during 2000‐2001 which collected data on the progress that had been made in developing ESD. It included interviews with service users, including older people, people with a mental health problem and vulnerable young people. Potential benefits are balanced by the concerns of service users that the…
Medicine on the line? Computer‐mediated social support and advice for people with diabetes
The advent of thousands of Usenet groups on the Internet, covering a vast range of medical and welfare issues and ostensibly devoted to the mutual social support of participating members, has raised the potential for the development of new forms of ‘virtual’ health care. This article critically analyses the use by people with diabetes of one such Usenet group. It seeks to establish, first, the extent to which such a site provides some demonstrabl…
Virtual Community Care? Social Policy and the Emergence of Computer Mediated Social Support
This article argues that the emergence and growth of internet use in Britain has important implications for the analysis of social policy. It attempts to outline a research agenda for social policy in relation to one particular aspect of internet use, that of on-line self-help and social support – what we term here virtual-community care . The article presents data on patterns of home based internet use in Britain and outlines some contemporary d…
Births, deaths, sex and marriage… but very few presents? A case study of social support in cyberspace
This paper examines the functioning of a Usenet newsgroup designed to provide social support for people suffering from depression. Using a commonly used taxonomy of different sorts of social support - social companionship, informational support, esteem support and instrumental support - the paper examines a random sample of ‘postings' made to the group. Detailed illustrative examples of different types of ‘posting’ are provided and an analytic co…
The New Consensus, the Old Consensus and the Provision of Services for People Sleeping Rough
The British policy response to rough sleeping, or street homelessness, has been characterised by increasing consensus between government, the voluntary sector and academics. The dominant paradigm suggests that people sleeping rough are often individuals who are predisposed to becoming homeless because their individual characteristics make them especially vulnerable to changes in housing supply, labour markets and other structural factors that pre…
On-Line with the Friends of Bill W: Social Support and the Net
The Internet is now being used as a mechanism for the delivery of social support on a global scale, chiefly through the formation of self-help groups. Most of the research that has been undertaken on these groups has focussed on Usenet and the use of newsgroups for social support. This paper examines the use of an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) 'room', by a self-help group composed of problem drinkers. The group had an international membership and adv…
Sheltered Housing and Community
This paper considers the role of sheltered housing following the introduction of new community care arrangements in 1993 and examines the continuing uncertainty about its exact role as community care continues to develop. It reports on a study conducted in Shropshire, using a postal survey and interviews with older people and service professionals. The study highlights the importance of sheltered housing for older people, particularly in relievin…
A Place in the Country? The Housing Circumstances of Young People in Rural England
The contemporary housing circumstances of the one-fifth of all young people in England between the ages of 16 and 24 who live in rural areas are examined. Although young people are often seen as a key group in wider debates, not least because they so clearly represent the maintenance of the continuity of local people, they are infrequently examined in the research literature. More typically the young are simply ‘tagged on’ to existing studies of …
The housing needs of disabled people
This paper presents the results from a study of the housing needs of disabled people in Shropshire. The study involved interviews with disabled people, representatives of a county-wide disabled people's organization, and staff from social services, housing and health agencies. A questionnaire was sent to a sample of disabled people in the county, and quantitative data were examined. The study highlighted: the high level of unmet housing need amon…
Single Homelessness as Social Exclusion: The Unique and the Extreme
Recent research into single homelessness and rough sleeping has begun to consider the issue using the concepts and the language of social exclusion. This paper considers the new literature and what it may mean in terms of changing our understanding of single homelessness and rough sleeping (called street homelessness in the United States). The paper begins by reviewing the concept of social exclusion and the recent literature on single homelessne…
Led rather than leading? Research on homelessness in Britain
This article examines the history of British homelessness research and its politicization over the past 40 years. The relationship between homelessness research and policy has been developing since the 1960s, and by the 1990s the majority of research was undertaken within the policy arena. In part, this has arisen because of the way in which research has been funded in the UK, with funding being dominated by government or those seeking to critici…
Single Homelessness as Social Exclusion: The Unique and the Extreme
Recent research into single homelessness and rough sleeping has begun to consider the issue using the concepts and the language of social exclusion. This paper considers the new literature and what it may mean in terms of changing our understanding of single homelessness and rough sleeping (called street homelessness in the United States). The paper begins by reviewing the concept of social exclusion and the recent literature on single homelessne…
Housing First and Social Integration: A Realistic Aim
Housing First is now dominating discussions about how best to respond to homelessness among people with high and complex needs throughout the EU and in several countries within the OECD. Whilst recognised internationally as an effective model in addressing homelessness, little attention has been given as to whether Housing First also assists previously homeless people become more socially integrated into their communities. This paper reviews the …
Medicine on the line? Computer‐mediated social support and advice for people with diabetes
The advent of thousands of Usenet groups on the Internet, covering a vast range of medical and welfare issues and ostensibly devoted to the mutual social support of participating members, has raised the potential for the development of new forms of ‘virtual’ health care. This article critically analyses the use by people with diabetes of one such Usenet group. It seeks to establish, first, the extent to which such a site provides some demonstrabl…
The New Consensus, the Old Consensus and the Provision of Services for People Sleeping Rough
The British policy response to rough sleeping, or street homelessness, has been characterised by increasing consensus between government, the voluntary sector and academics. The dominant paradigm suggests that people sleeping rough are often individuals who are predisposed to becoming homeless because their individual characteristics make them especially vulnerable to changes in housing supply, labour markets and other structural factors that pre…
A Difficult Mix: Issues in Achieving Socioeconomic Diversity in Deprived UK Neighbourhoods
This paper explores attempts to enhance social capital, reduce negative area effects and improve life chances in deprived neighbourhoods by promoting social diversity. The paper draws on the results of two recent studies. The first study examined resident perceptions of new, high-density, mixed-tenure housing that was designed to provide socially diverse and cohesive communities. The second study examined the housing allocations policies of UK so…
The Statutory Homelessness System in England: A Fair and Effective Rights-Based Model
The statutory homelessness system, first established by the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977, is an important but frequently criticised element of the British welfare state. Drawing upon a survey of 2053 ‘statutorily homeless’ families in England, this paper applies a utility-maximising conceptual framework to demonstrate that (a) the statutory homelessness system is on the whole ‘fair’ with respect to the housing needs that it addresses, and …
Making home or making do: A critical look at homemaking without a home
This paper critically examines the concept of alternative forms of ‘homemaking’ among people without a settled home. The introductory section establishes the framework for the paper, providing an overview of homelessness and the homemaking literature. Strengths in the homemaking approach are identified, which reconceptualises homelessness as a human-centered phenomenon that can be understood as ‘resistance’ to societies that block accesses to mai…
The housing needs of disabled people
This paper presents the results from a study of the housing needs of disabled people in Shropshire. The study involved interviews with disabled people, representatives of a county-wide disabled people's organization, and staff from social services, housing and health agencies. A questionnaire was sent to a sample of disabled people in the county, and quantitative data were examined. The study highlighted: the high level of unmet housing need amon…
On-Line with the Friends of Bill W: Social Support and the Net
The Internet is now being used as a mechanism for the delivery of social support on a global scale, chiefly through the formation of self-help groups. Most of the research that has been undertaken on these groups has focussed on Usenet and the use of newsgroups for social support. This paper examines the use of an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) 'room', by a self-help group composed of problem drinkers. The group had an international membership and adv…
The Needs of Women Using Homelessness Services: The Results of Collaborative Research in London
This paper explores the results of a study conducted in collaboration with the homelessness sector in central London and an academic team. Data were collected on 134 women who used homelessness services in an area of central London during a nine-day window. In addition, fully anonymised service history records, covering an average period of 85 months, were reviewed with the consent of another 59 women with lived experience of homelessness. Nine w…
The Shelter Inclusion Project: Piloting a new approach to addressing anti‐social behaviour
Anti‐social behaviour remains high on local and national policy agendas, and is a major area of concern for policy makers, local authorities, housing providers and communities. The Shelter Inclusion Project was set up in Rochdale in 2002 to develop an innovative model of floating support for households that are having difficulty complying with their tenancy agreements because of reported anti‐social behaviour, or who are homeless as a result. The…
Safe Moves: Piloting prevention services for young people at risk of homelessness
Youth homelessness has been recognised as a significant social problem since the late 1980s, and local authority homelessness strategies now include preventative services as a key area of development. However, youth homelessness prevention services are a relatively recent innovation in the UK, and there is only a small literature on their effectiveness. Safe Moves, developed by the Foyer Federation and Connexions during 2002‐2004, represents the …
A Place in the Country? The Housing Circumstances of Young People in Rural England
The contemporary housing circumstances of the one-fifth of all young people in England between the ages of 16 and 24 who live in rural areas are examined. Although young people are often seen as a key group in wider debates, not least because they so clearly represent the maintenance of the continuity of local people, they are infrequently examined in the research literature. More typically the young are simply ‘tagged on’ to existing studies of …
A Place in the Country? The Housing Circumstances of Young People in Rural England
The contemporary housing circumstances of the one-fifth of all young people in England between the ages of 16 and 24 who live in rural areas are examined. Although young people are often seen as a key group in wider debates, not least because they so clearly represent the maintenance of the continuity of local people, they are infrequently examined in the research literature. More typically the young are simply ‘tagged on’ to existing studies of …
The housing needs of disabled people
This paper presents the results from a study of the housing needs of disabled people in Shropshire. The study involved interviews with disabled people, representatives of a county-wide disabled people's organization, and staff from social services, housing and health agencies. A questionnaire was sent to a sample of disabled people in the county, and quantitative data were examined. The study highlighted: the high level of unmet housing need amon…
Single Homelessness as Social Exclusion: The Unique and the Extreme
Recent research into single homelessness and rough sleeping has begun to consider the issue using the concepts and the language of social exclusion. This paper considers the new literature and what it may mean in terms of changing our understanding of single homelessness and rough sleeping (called street homelessness in the United States). The paper begins by reviewing the concept of social exclusion and the recent literature on single homelessne…
Homelessness in America
Sheltered Housing and Community
This paper considers the role of sheltered housing following the introduction of new community care arrangements in 1993 and examines the continuing uncertainty about its exact role as community care continues to develop. It reports on a study conducted in Shropshire, using a postal survey and interviews with older people and service professionals. The study highlights the importance of sheltered housing for older people, particularly in relievin…
Virtual Community Care? Social Policy and the Emergence of Computer Mediated Social Support
This article argues that the emergence and growth of internet use in Britain has important implications for the analysis of social policy. It attempts to outline a research agenda for social policy in relation to one particular aspect of internet use, that of on-line self-help and social support – what we term here virtual-community care . The article presents data on patterns of home based internet use in Britain and outlines some contemporary d…
Births, deaths, sex and marriage… but very few presents? A case study of social support in cyberspace
This paper examines the functioning of a Usenet newsgroup designed to provide social support for people suffering from depression. Using a commonly used taxonomy of different sorts of social support - social companionship, informational support, esteem support and instrumental support - the paper examines a random sample of ‘postings' made to the group. Detailed illustrative examples of different types of ‘posting’ are provided and an analytic co…
The New Consensus, the Old Consensus and the Provision of Services for People Sleeping Rough
The British policy response to rough sleeping, or street homelessness, has been characterised by increasing consensus between government, the voluntary sector and academics. The dominant paradigm suggests that people sleeping rough are often individuals who are predisposed to becoming homeless because their individual characteristics make them especially vulnerable to changes in housing supply, labour markets and other structural factors that pre…
On-Line with the Friends of Bill W: Social Support and the Net
The Internet is now being used as a mechanism for the delivery of social support on a global scale, chiefly through the formation of self-help groups. Most of the research that has been undertaken on these groups has focussed on Usenet and the use of newsgroups for social support. This paper examines the use of an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) 'room', by a self-help group composed of problem drinkers. The group had an international membership and adv…
Service users and electronic service delivery in social housing, housing‐related support and social care
This article reports on research into the introduction of electronic service delivery (ESD) by social landlords, social services and charities conducted during 2000‐2001 which collected data on the progress that had been made in developing ESD. It included interviews with service users, including older people, people with a mental health problem and vulnerable young people. Potential benefits are balanced by the concerns of service users that the…
Medicine on the line? Computer‐mediated social support and advice for people with diabetes
The advent of thousands of Usenet groups on the Internet, covering a vast range of medical and welfare issues and ostensibly devoted to the mutual social support of participating members, has raised the potential for the development of new forms of ‘virtual’ health care. This article critically analyses the use by people with diabetes of one such Usenet group. It seeks to establish, first, the extent to which such a site provides some demonstrabl…
Led rather than leading? Research on homelessness in Britain
This article examines the history of British homelessness research and its politicization over the past 40 years. The relationship between homelessness research and policy has been developing since the 1960s, and by the 1990s the majority of research was undertaken within the policy arena. In part, this has arisen because of the way in which research has been funded in the UK, with funding being dominated by government or those seeking to critici…
The shaping of electronic service delivery: Introducing online services in British social housing
This paper considers the current literature on electronic service delivery in the light of the findings of a qualitative research project examining the implementation of online services in British social housing. The paper adds to existing evidence that the nature of electronic service delivery is heavily influenced by the agencies that introduce it and by the context in which it occurs. The shape of electronic service delivery in social housing …
The Shelter Inclusion Project: Piloting a new approach to addressing anti‐social behaviour
Anti‐social behaviour remains high on local and national policy agendas, and is a major area of concern for policy makers, local authorities, housing providers and communities. The Shelter Inclusion Project was set up in Rochdale in 2002 to develop an innovative model of floating support for households that are having difficulty complying with their tenancy agreements because of reported anti‐social behaviour, or who are homeless as a result. The…
Safe Moves: Piloting prevention services for young people at risk of homelessness
Youth homelessness has been recognised as a significant social problem since the late 1980s, and local authority homelessness strategies now include preventative services as a key area of development. However, youth homelessness prevention services are a relatively recent innovation in the UK, and there is only a small literature on their effectiveness. Safe Moves, developed by the Foyer Federation and Connexions during 2002‐2004, represents the …
Workless People and Surveillant Mashups Social Policy and Data Sharing in the Uk
This paper examines the use of ICT driven surveillant assemblages in UK welfare policy by drawing on the results of empirical research conducted for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The focus is on one aspect of the growing role of surveillance in social policy: data aggregation on populations characterized by sustained worklessness. The implementation and implications of this form of surveillance are examined. The paper explores surve…
A Difficult Mix: Issues in Achieving Socioeconomic Diversity in Deprived UK Neighbourhoods
This paper explores attempts to enhance social capital, reduce negative area effects and improve life chances in deprived neighbourhoods by promoting social diversity. The paper draws on the results of two recent studies. The first study examined resident perceptions of new, high-density, mixed-tenure housing that was designed to provide socially diverse and cohesive communities. The second study examined the housing allocations policies of UK so…
The Statutory Homelessness System in England: A Fair and Effective Rights-Based Model
The statutory homelessness system, first established by the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977, is an important but frequently criticised element of the British welfare state. Drawing upon a survey of 2053 ‘statutorily homeless’ families in England, this paper applies a utility-maximising conceptual framework to demonstrate that (a) the statutory homelessness system is on the whole ‘fair’ with respect to the housing needs that it addresses, and …
Housing First and Social Integration: A Realistic Aim
Housing First is now dominating discussions about how best to respond to homelessness among people with high and complex needs throughout the EU and in several countries within the OECD. Whilst recognised internationally as an effective model in addressing homelessness, little attention has been given as to whether Housing First also assists previously homeless people become more socially integrated into their communities. This paper reviews the …
Exploring the Interactions between Housing and Neighbourhood Environments for Enhanced Child Wellbeing: The Lived Experience of Parents Living in Areas of High Child Poverty in England, UK
Children's health can be affected by the interrelated characteristics of the physical and social environment where they live, including housing quality, neighbourhood characteristics and the local community. Following a systems-based approach, this exploratory project sought to understand how the needs and aspirations associated with the home environment can work in synergy with, or be exacerbated by, other aspects of the local area. The study re…
Making home or making do: A critical look at homemaking without a home
This paper critically examines the concept of alternative forms of ‘homemaking’ among people without a settled home. The introductory section establishes the framework for the paper, providing an overview of homelessness and the homemaking literature. Strengths in the homemaking approach are identified, which reconceptualises homelessness as a human-centered phenomenon that can be understood as ‘resistance’ to societies that block accesses to mai…
Home Dissatisfaction, Body Image, and Sociocultural Attitudes: An Exploratory Study
This article explores home dissatisfaction using methods modelled on those used to understand negative body image and its causes. We found that a substantial proportion of UK participants (13–39%) expressed dissatisfaction with their homes. Although the strongest association was between home dissatisfaction and reported physical problems, there was evidence that dissatisfaction is also predicted by experiencing pressure from the media and your fa…
Routledge Handbook of Homelessness
The Needs of Women Using Homelessness Services: The Results of Collaborative Research in London
This paper explores the results of a study conducted in collaboration with the homelessness sector in central London and an academic team. Data were collected on 134 women who used homelessness services in an area of central London during a nine-day window. In addition, fully anonymised service history records, covering an average period of 85 months, were reviewed with the consent of another 59 women with lived experience of homelessness. Nine w…
The energy crisis, homelessness and fuel poverty
This article looks at the hitherto unexplored relationship between fuel poverty and homelessness. The case for understanding the ways in which homelessness may be triggered and also prolonged by spikes in fuel poverty is examined in detail, centring on the growing evidence of wide-ranging associations between homelessness, poverty and destitution, and the serious and sometimes existential risks to underfunded homelessness services and systems. Em…
Political science (19 works) · Sociology (19 works) · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism (17 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (16 works) · Public relations (13 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Economic growth (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Medicine (7 works)