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In 2012 the UK government introduced the harshest regime of conditionality and sanctions in the history of the benefits system. The government insists sanctions are not punitive, but critics call this into question. In particular, the regime has been charged with disproportionately affecting vulnerable people. Based on a survey and qualitative interviews with homeless people, this paper shows that homeless people are disproportionately sanctioned, and argues that it is difficult to see the regime as anything but punishment — punishment not for refusing to participate in the labour market, but for being unable to do so through homelessness, poverty and ill-health.

In recent years, a number of welfare reforms have been introduced in the UK by Conservative-led governments. The most high profile of these is Universal Credit (UC), which is currently being rolled out across the country. A key feature of UC is a change in the way the income-related housing allowance for social housing tenants (Housing Benefit) is administered, as under UC, it is paid directly to tenants (direct payment), who are responsible for paying their rent. This represents a step change for them as for more than 30 years landlord payment has been the norm in the UK. There has been little research into direct payment. This paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge by presenting the key findings of an initiative designed to trial direct payment. It finds that many tenants experienced difficulties on direct payment. Reflecting this, landlords' arrears rose markedly.

50 years since the first screening of the powerful TV drama 'Cathy Come Home', and 30 years after the first homelessness legislation in the UK, this paper reflects on the continued invisibility of women's homelessness in scholarly and policy debate, It argues that homelessness is inherently gendered, yet rarely recognised as such, and that new conceptualisations of homelessness that take account of gender differentials is urgently needed.

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