Homelessness in the UK is reaching critical levels, with more than 380,000 people estimated to be without a home in England alone as of late 2025.
There is also a growing recognition that neurodivergent people are over-represented among homeless populations. But much of this comes from anecdotal reports from service providers or localised research projects looking at specific neurodivergences like autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
So, our new research explored why this may be so. Our findings demonstrate how neurodivergent people may face exclusion at various points throughout their social lives, education and employment. In turn, this can lead to increased financial hardship and a higher chance of homelessness.
As homelessness rises across the UK, public debate tends to focus on housing supply or personal responsibility. For example, housing and homelessness charity Shelter highlights the chronic shortage of social housing and an increasingly unaffordable private rented sector.
We spoke at length with six neurodivergent people, from one local authority area, who had experienced homelessness or insecure housing. To structure the interviews, we asked participants to create a life map .
This is a visual timeline of important events that were meaningful to them, such as education, employment, becoming homeless, seeking support and diagnosis. We analysed the life maps and the participant accounts, identifying three central themes across their stories.
First, ambiguity around diagnosis often confused things and delayed or blocked access to support. Second, participants often seemed to have fallen through the gaps at critical points across their lives, where support should have been available. And third, once in crisis, navigating services was often experienced as inaccessible, slow and demoralising.
A lifetime of missed support
There were a number of points in our participants' lives where support had been needed but was ultimately missed. This had knock-on effects on their ability to remain in education or employment. In turn, this created a lack of opportunities and affected financial security.
For some participants, these challenges began in school. Most described being bullied - an experience that is unfortunately common for many neurodivergent children. Faced with a lack of support for the bullying, participants took their own action, by changing schools, moving areas, or even leaving school altogether.
Those who went on to higher education experienced a lack of specialist neurodivergent support, alongside challenges with living away from home for the first time. Some turned to alcohol in order to manage social anxiety.
Neurodivergent adults are known to experience significant employment gaps . Our participants also outlined numerous challenges to securing and keeping a job. One described being unable to find a placement for some work experience required to complete a qualification. They believed that this was due to stigma associated with their diagnosis.
For others, jobs that may be considered entry-level, such as customer service or retail jobs, presented unanticipated difficulties, including sensory overwhelm and social anxiety. UK employers are required by law to make changes to remove or reduce potential disadvantage faced by disabled employees, which are known as "reasonable adjustments" . But most participants reported a lack of these in practice.
When our participants hit a crisis point and sought help for their housing needs, many experienced the services as confusing or unsupportive of their needs. Most described long waits for various supports and services, often in unsuitable, temporary accommodation.
Sensory and social challenges in these environments contributed to mental health deterioration. Long waiting lists to access therapy or diagnostic assessments also left participants feeling trapped and unable to move forward with their lives.
'Society doesn't care about you'
Respondents described patterns of persistent exclusion, starting in early life, that had paved the way to homelessness. Once in need of housing support, they found significant barriers to accessing services that had been designed by and for neurotypical people.
When offered temporary accommodation, in many cases this did not meet their neurodivergent needs. For example, most participants described being placed in busy, "chaotic" hostels that they were desperate to leave. In one case, a person with significant sensory sensitivities was living in shared temporary accommodation next-door to a nightclub which played loud music throughout the night, affecting their sleep.
We also noticed that participants appeared to have internalised these experiences. For example, they blamed themselves and felt like "society doesn't care about you", as one described. This affected both their self-esteem and their engagement with services.
Many people may face similar circumstances yet do not necessarily find themselves homeless. For our participants, however, hardship was heightened by reduced social networks to fall back on during hard times. They described difficulties in maintaining regular contact with friends. They were sometimes rejected by their family and others, due to a lack of understanding of their differences.
The stories we heard were powerful and hard-hitting. They show the serious effects of exclusion which may build up over a person's life.
There were also many points at which early support or prevention could have been put into place, for example, in education, workplaces and when accessing health and social care. There are now a growing number of toolkits and guidance for services working with neurodivergent people facing homelessness.
Taken together, our findings show how neurodivergent people may face unique pathways into homelessness. It demonstrates why earlier, more joined-up inclusion and support is vital for prevention.
Gemma L. Williams has previously received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, and Local Authority funding to undertake this piece of research. She is affiliated with the Westminster Commisison on Autism. With thanks to Lauren Blood, the other researcher on this project.
Sebastian C. K. Shaw is the Research Lead for Autistic Doctors International and a member of the Westminster Commission on Autism. He also works as an NHS GP with Extended Role (GPwER) in ADHD. Whilst this study was funded by a Local Authority, his own time on the study was not funded.
