For the Labour Party in opposition, homelessness became a highly visible and poignant symbol of Tory ‘broken Britain’ circa 1997. With Labour in government, the homelessness sector, and the homeless people they work with, have experienced the best of times and the worst of times. The best include: placing homelessness at the centre of the ‘social exclusion’ agenda; significant legislative changes which broadened the scope of state responsibility to a wider cohort of homeless people to include 16–17 year olds, care leavers, those vulnerable to threats of violence and people deemed vulnerable because of an institutionalised background; the development of holistic preventative approaches centred around local homelessness strategies; and significant extra funding for services addressing rough sleeping. The worst include: the ease with which Labour's growing interest in a welfare system based upon reciprocity and ‘something for something’ quickly progressed from soft to hard responsibilisation – consensus to coercion; the ease with which sociological accounts of homelessness, which contextualised the imperfect choices made by homeless people against the broader structural allocation of resources and opportunities, metamorphosed into a harsh moral authoritarianism; and the ease with which homelessness agencies agreed to re-align their provision by making access to services contingent upon work plans, sobriety agreements and conduct contracts.

Homelessness in the UK: Problems and Solutions offers an account of the contemporary nature of homelessness in the UK and the recent policy responses to it. Part of the Chartered Institute of Housing/Housing Studies Association – Policy and Practice Series, this is an extremely well-produced volume, with a clear, systematic structure, containing much for specialist and non-specialist readers alike. The glossary of terms and list of acronyms are particularly helpful. Students on social work, social policy and housing studies programmes, will find much of interest. The book contains 11 chapters, presented within three sections: the changing nature and experience of homelessness; key developments in tackling homelessness; and, lastly, a concluding section looking forward to the future. The introductory chapter by the editors establishes the context for the book, and sets out in a wonderfully lucid and clear fashion, the changing context of homelessness, the legislative framework and key policy changes. Chapters 2 to 5 explore family homelessness, street homelessness, youth homelessness and, finally, homelessness amongst black and minority ethnic groups. Each of these chapters is well written and informative.

Chapter 3, by Jones and Johnsen examines in great detail, the new priority given to street homelessness since 1990. Beginning with the Thatcher Governments Rough Sleepers Initiative (driven by the simple objective of clearing and warehousing rough sleepers in Central London, who were seen as an impediment to tourism and business), before turning to consider the work of the Rough Sleeper Unit (RSU) and Homelessness Action Programme under the post 1997 Labour government. They make clear how Labour's approach to street homelessness was from the start underpinned by social justice concerns, but also social control and, ultimately, coercive state power. Targets to reduce the numbers sleeping rough by two thirds by 2002 were founded on the principle that outreach, assessment and advice services should be targeted towards helping people move off the streets, rather than maintain services which enabled the sustenance of ‘street lifestyles’ (soup runs, open-ended outreach work, etc.). What the authors do not point out is that much of this approach was modelled on the ‘assertive outreach’ programmes piloted in New York, which divided street homeless people into the ‘service compliant’ and ‘service resistant’ who were in need of ‘care’ or ‘control’. The ‘compliant’ were offered a quick route from the street and follow-on care; the ‘resistant’ had street-level services withdrawn and moved into the ambit of the police and criminal justice system. In the late 1990s, I attended a homelessness conference (funded by the RSU) at which the then New York Homelessness Tsar set out this dualistic and Manichaean vision to a horrified voluntary sector audience, which at that time still had critical distance from government. When Louise Casey (a key player in the development of Labours approach to homelessness) became the ‘Respect Tsar’, the homelessness and anti-social behaviour agendas were aligned to address the ‘negative aspects’ of street cultures – begging, street drinking, etc. As Jones and Johnsen argue, enforcement measures, such as arrests under the 1824 Vagrancy Act, the redesign or removal of street furniture and the designation of controlled drinking zones, have impacted negatively on rough sleepers.

Section two of the book, explores contemporary developments in homelessness policy, focussing on the drive towards ‘prevention focused’ homelessness practice (Pawson), followed by four fascinating chapters exploring homelessness in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the UK in an international context. These chapters provide a very useful summary of how devolution has brought about significant cleavages in homelessness policy and legislation across the constituent parts of the UK, most strikingly in Scotland, where the statutory safety net has been significantly strengthened, and the Scottish Parliament has set a target which aims to ensure that virtually all homeless people will be entitled to permanent housing by 2012. This rights-based approach provides a stark contrast to the system of gatekeeping and rationing that characterises the experience of homeless people south of the border. As with social care, England and Scotland seem to be developing two fundamentally different approaches to social welfare: a Scottish approach aspiring to universalism and the English model wedded to contingency-based welfare and the ‘responsibilisation’ of citizens.

Overall, this is a valuable text which offers an accessible and detailed overview of homelessness in the UK and will help frame more theoretically grounded critiques of the New Labour's disappointing and contradictory approach to homelessness.