Asking the Big Questions: Addiction and Homelessness
Our Asking the Big Questions series returns with a video that invites us to pause and look more closely at the relationship between addiction and homelessness. Two of the most urgent social issues in the UK, and yet, two of the most misunderstood.
Drawing on the real questions people are asking online, our latest episode explores the relationship between addiction and homelessness through lived experience and frontline expertise.
Through the voice of Timon Robins - now working for Betel UK, but once homeless and addicted to heroin for 20 years – our latest video answers some of the most challenging questions surrounding recovery, responsibility, and hope.
What is the connection between addiction and homelessness?
Across the UK, frontline organisations consistently report a strong overlap between addiction and housing instability. Research suggests that up to 70% of people experiencing homelessness have struggled with addiction, whether that be drugs, alcohol or both.
In the video, Timon captures this reality simply:
“Homelessness and addiction can compound each other.”
This reflects what many charities are seeing daily. Addiction can make it difficult to maintain stable housing, while homelessness can worsen trauma, poor mental health and intensify substance misuse. The relationship works both ways, creating a cycle that can be difficult to break unless both issues are addressed together.
What are the causes of addiction?
The video highlights the role of childhood trauma, instability and emotional pain in shaping a person’s vulnerability to addiction. Timon speaks openly about his own experiences growing up in poverty, struggling at school, and losing his father figure:
“The drugs were a way of blotting out, medicating the pain.”
This mirrors national findings which suggest that adverse childhood experiences, family breakdown, and long-term stress significantly increase the risk of substance misuse in later life.
While every person's experience is different, addiction rarely has a single cause. Trauma, poor mental health, poverty, unstable housing and social isolation can all contribute to addiction and make recovery more challenging.
Is addiction a choice and how does that shape recovery?
This is one of the most thought‑provoking questions raised in the video, and Timon’s answer is powerful, shaped by his own journey through addiction:
“I do believe it’s a choice… and to find a way out of addiction, you have to be willing to take responsibility for those choices.”
In wider debates, addiction is often framed either as a disease or a behavioural issue. And the truth is likely to lie somewhere between the two. Timon recognises how difficult it is to break the cycle of addiction but highlights that successful recovery requires agency and responsibility - the willingness to take steps towards change.
Betel UK’s approach reflects this balance: compassion paired with accountability; support paired with responsibility.
What does meaningful, long-term help look like for addiction and homelessness?
One of the strongest themes in the video is the idea of ‘redemptive help’, support that encourages positive steps rather than enabling harmful patterns.
Timon shares a pivotal moment when his mother, after years of trying to rescue him, finally set a boundary. He says:
“Any help you want to give an addicted person should be redemptive. It should incentivise recovery.”
This aligns with wider best practice across the homelessness and addiction sectors:
- Immediate crisis support
- Followed by structured, conditional pathways
- Leading to long term stability and independence
Alongside safe accommodation, organisations may also provide addiction treatment, mental health support, employment opportunities and community-based support to help people rebuild their lives.
Betel UK’s community-based model reflects this approach, offering not just accommodation but purpose, routine, and responsibility. The video gives us a real understanding of how charities, like Betel UK, are really getting to the root of homelessness and addiction.
Watch the full video
Our video with Betel UK explores the big questions people are asking across search engines, AI platforms, and online forums. It’s a rare and personal insight from a charity professional who has his own experience of addiction, homelessness, and recovery. He can speak to both sides of the coin.
For the full video on addiction and homelessness watch this episode of Asking the Big Questions on YouTube.
If you're interested in the wider causes of homelessness, read our article Asking the Big Questions: Homelessness in the UK, featuring Betel UK and YMCA London City and North, to explore the broader conversation around homelessness and the role charities play in creating lasting change.