Centre for Homelessness and Inclusion Health

CHIH aims and objectives

The CHIH aims to better understand, prevent, and redress health inequalities faced by inclusion health populations, especially those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. This aim is underpinned by specific objectives to:

1. Design, deliver and disseminate world-leading research on homelessness and inclusion health.
2. Grow the workforce of clinicians, practitioners and researchers with specialist knowledge and skills in homelessness and inclusion health.
3. Inform policy, shape service delivery, and support advocacy on homelessness and inclusion health across housing, health and social care sectors.
4. Operate as a conduit facilitating the mutual exchange of expertise and evidence between academics, practitioners, clinicians, and experts by experience.
5. Actively deliver and support other stakeholders to implement evidence-based interventions which prevent and/or resolve homelessness and extreme health inequalities. 

Why our work matters

People experiencing homelessness are disproportionately susceptible to extremely poor health, including high levels of multimorbidity, frailty, and premature death. The need to better understand and more effectively meet their housing, healthcare, and other needs is especially pressing in the current context as levels of homelessness are increasing and the scale of health inequalities widening at alarming rates in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK. 

The concept of ‘inclusion health’ is gaining prominence rapidly in and beyond the UK.  The term is typically used to refer to a clinical, policy, practice, and research agenda which focuses on populations that have disproportionately poor health, are poorly served by mainstream healthcare, and often experience stigma (e.g., people facing homelessness, individuals engaged in sex work, migrants in vulnerable circumstances, and those involved with the criminal justice system).

The inclusion health agenda brings together evidence, principles, and practices that serve marginalised populations and considers the commonalities of response that offer greatest potential to meet their needs. The CHIH contributes to this agenda via three core threads of activity, these being: research, education, and community engagement.

A core pillar of CHIH’s community engagement is the weekly clinical support provided to The Edinburgh Access Place and on assertive outreach in Edinburgh’s city centre, by Richard Lowrie who is an Independent Pharmacist Prescriber with an Honorary NHS Lothian contract. Known as ‘PHOENIx’, this engages and supports people who are sleeping rough and out of treatment. It is provided under the governance of NHS Lothian Pharmacy service and involves partnership working between NHS and Third sector services. This allows the wide-ranging needs of people experiencing homelessness to be addressed in a way that is not possible through uni-disciplinary intervention.