Update

Making Every Adult Matter, 2 December 2008, London

This event will launch an important new coalition to focus attention on the most marginalised people in British society. Hosted by Homeless Link, Clinks, DrugScope and Mind, it will mark the beginning of a new initiative that will work to achieve positive change by influencing policy making and public debate.

Many government departments work to support people who have complex and multi-faceted needs and who engage with a variety of voluntary sector provision. Often these clients fall just under the threshold for services and do not fit easily into conventional treatment patterns. This event will launch an on-going programme of activities to better support these individuals.

Update

We have responded to the Consumer Focus Forward Work Programme , highlighting how the new organisation can help protect the consumer rights of people experiencing homelessness.

The Forward Work Programme suggests that consumers must be able to access essential services and that Consumer Focus will 'champion the interests of people who become vulnerable because of the way that companies, markets and public services operate.' In particular, we welcome the proposal to 'explore how well consumers are served in practice by public services'.

We suggest two key areas for their attention: the homelessness advice and assistance function of local authorities and the administration of housing benefit payments.

Department for Work and Pensions Action Plan on Social Inclusion 2008

The Department for Work and Pensions has released its UK National Action Plan on Social Inclusion 2008-2010

The action plan includes a section on housing and homelessness, which highlights plans for increased homelessness grants to local authorities and voluntary sector agencies to improve homelessness prevention and move-on opportunities from temporary accommodation. It also reaffirms the commitment to reduce rough sleeping, through further capital funding to improve hostels and day centres, and a rough sleeping strategy to determine how to 'reduce rough sleeping down to as close to zero as possible', due for release later this year.

We welcome the focus on housing and homelessness within the new national action plan on social inclusion. We have fed into the new rough sleeping strategy through our response to the Communities and Local Government consultation Rough sleeping 10 years on: From the streets to independent living and opportunity.

Hot Topic

Homeless Link believes that there are 10 key things that need to happen to end rough sleeping once and for all by the time the Olympics come to Britain in 2012.

All government departments can play a role in achieving this ambition. Join us and help Great Britain achieve zero by 2012.

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Update

Using soft outcomes to improve homelessness services and demonstrate impact, 21 October 2008, London

Hosted by Homeless Link & Triangle Consulting, this conference will focus on the importance of demonstrating impact. Outcomes measurement enables the voluntary sector to show the value of their services to commissioners and funders, but also to help service users recognise their progress and achievement.

Combining the Government perspective with the cutting edge of practice, this conference cuts through the complexity and provides simple solutions to help service managers and commissioners make evidencing success a reality within the homelessness sector.

Update

We have responded to the Glover Review into the Role of SMEs in Public Procurement highlighting procurement issues faced by homelessness agencies such as:

• A move to increased contract sizes and therefore a smaller number of providers being granted contracts.
• Increased complexity of procurement processes, meaning that smaller agencies lack the staff capacity to engage or the time to work with other agencies on a joint bid
• Specific commissioning procedures, often described as pre-qualifying questionnaires, which can act as a barrier to engagement for some agencies
• Suggestions that prices are being driven down, potentially at the cost of quality. In particular that some procurers are interested only in the ‘bottom line’ rather than an analysis of both cost and quality
• An increase in short-term contracts and decommissioning of services, meaning that agencies lack the incentive to invest in the capital of their projects for risk that they may not keep the contract at the next commissioning cycle
• Reports of a variety of knowledge, experience and expertise on the part of commissioners and procurers in public bodies

We are currently conducting a survey of our member agencies to collect evidence on the effect of commissioning changes. The results will be published in October 2008.

Rough Sleeping Street Count Figures 2008

Communities and Local Government street count figures suggest that in June 2008 there were 483 people sleeping rough in England on any single night. This figure is based on counts that were conducted by local authorities in partnership with local homeless agencies. Where counts did not take place, an estimate was submitted.

Although street counts only provide a snap shot of the number of people sleeping rough in a given geographical area on a single night, they enable progress to be measured over time and across regions.

Our recent response to the Communities and Local Government consultation Rough sleeping 10 years on: From the streets to independent living and opportunity includes the suggestion that an annual ‘deep dive’ count should be developed to complement street counts. This would be conducted by all local authorities on the same night following strict guidance on methodology.

Communities and Local Government homelessness statistics 2008

Communities and Local Government has released its Homelessness statistics for the second quarter (April to June) of 2008.

• 15,680 applicants were accepted as owed a main homelessness duty during the April to June quarter, 2 per cent lower than during the same period in 2007.
• On a seasonally-adjusted basis acceptances were 2 per cent higher than the previous quarter.
• There were 74,690 households in temporary accommodation, 12% less than the number for the same quarter last year.

Many people sleeping rough or living in hostels, sometimes referred to as 'non-statutory' or 'single homeless people' fall outside these figures.

Communities and Local Government on Supported Lodgings

Communities and Local Government has released a report on Supported Lodgings as a housing option for young people.

The report examines how supported lodgings schemes can be effective as early prevention schemes for young people at risk of homelessness, emergency provision during a period of crisis, or more settled supported or move on accommodation.

We are currently commencing a new research project to examine the alternative emergency accommodation options that are available in areas with no direct access hostel. Supported lodgings schemes can be an important source of emergency accommodation, particularly for young people.

Department for Work and Pensions on Social Housing and Worklessness

The Department for Work and Pensions commissioned research project on social housing and worklessness has released new qualitative findings.

The report suggests that those who had previous experience of insecure housing situations or turbulent lifestyles found that the security of tenure in social housing provided a position of stability and confidence from which they could think about finding work. For those whose labour market participation reduced on moving into social housing, there was almost always an accompanying change of personal circumstances, such as parenthood or illness.

We consider that social housing can be an important stable base for ex-homeless people who are looking to move into employment and will be contributing to the forthcoming Communities and Local Government Housing Reform Green Paper consultation later this year.

Department for Work and Pensions on the effects of benefit sanctions on lone parents’ employment decisions

The Department for Work and Pensions has released a research report on the effects of benefit sanctions on lone parents’ employment decisions.

All lone parents on Income Support (IS) must attend a Work Focused Interview (WFI). Failure to take part in a WFI without good cause can result in a sanction being applied to the customer’s benefit. The report states that there was no evidence to suggest that non-compliance was an active decision by the lone parents in the study; it was often a result of complex and challenging domestic environments. The report concludes that the sanctions regime appeared to have a negligible impact upon the labour market behaviour of the lone parent customers involved in the study.

We welcome research into the effectiveness of benefit sanctions on labour market behaviour and hope that future sanctions regimes, such as those suggested for problem drug users in the current Green Paper No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility , are fully tested and piloted before a decision is taken on implementation.

Government Office London on 'what works to tackle alcohol-related disorder?'

Government Office London has released a research report on the use of Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) tools and powers in London

A range of tools and powers are available for the management of alcohol-related ASB including ASBOs, injunctions, Fixed Penalty Notices, parenting-orders and Designated Public Places Orders (DPPOs, often known as alcohol-free zones). The report concludes that Designated Public Places Orders may displace street drinkers indoors, and consequently reduce their visibility and increase their social exclusion. Tenancy issues may emerge as drinkers invite others into their housing or fail to control access. The report recommends that anti-social behaviour teams conduct solid individual case working and tracking in partnership with other agencies.

Homelessness outreach teams have extensive knowledge of local support services available to street drinkers. We recommend that they are consulted by anti-social behaviour teams when dealing with resposes to street drinkers.

Update

We are working with Patient Opinion to collect information on homeless people’s experiences of the NHS.

Initially focussing on London, we are asking key workers and hostel managers to ask their clients to feed their experiences (positive and negative) into the Patient Opinion website and note somewhere in the response that they are experiencing homelessness. NHS Trusts look at Patient Opinion and some individuals’ comments receive a response from the hospital or service in question. Over time, Homeless Link will seek to collect and analyse these responses to examine common themes.

For more information, please contact sarah.gorton@homelesslink.org.uk

New report on equality of access to healthcare services in England

The Centre for Health Economics (CHE) has released a report on quality in and equality of access to healthcare services in England.

The report suggests that substantial inequities of access to healthcare services exist for vulnerable groups such as immigrants and asylum seekers, older people and people with mental health disorders. It also suggests that rough sleeping or living in an institution can seriously impede access to healthcare.

Our response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Human Rights Inquiry highlighted the difficulties that homeless people face in accessing healthcare; a particular issue for many Central and Eastern European rough sleepers. The provision of inadequate healthcare could be seen as a breach of article 3 of the Human Rights Act 'degrading treatment through failure to provide services'. In extreme circumstances, failing to provide access to healthcare, or providing inadequate healthcare, may also lead to a breach of article 2 'the right to life'.

Joint Strategic Needs Assessments

The Department of Health has released the core data set for Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs).

As of April 1st 2008, a duty has been placed on upper-tier/unitary local authorities and Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to carry out JSNAs. This involves identifying the health and well being needs and inequalities of the local population, including both current and future needs to influence strategic planning.

The Department of Health guidance on JSNAs states that there should be a particular focus on the views of vulnerable people and hard to reach groups, those with complex medical and social care needs and those experiencing exclusion. Homelessness organisations have valuable experience in identifying need within these groups and will be able to feed qualitative data and case studies of homeless people’s experiences of health and social care in to JSNAs. See our JSNA web page for more information.

Update

We have written to Stephen Timms MP on the internal review of housing benefit currently being undertaken by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Our response highlighted the concept of enabling as distinct to conditionality. Enabling suggests that the Housing Benefit system should do all that it can to incentivise people to work and provide recipients with opportunities to help them achieve their goals, but without introducing conditionality. Our key suggestions to enable people to work included:

• Piloting the Community Allowance
• Reforming the Extended Payment Scheme
• Reforming Housing Benefit tapers
• Reducing the sensitivity of Housing Benefit to changes in circumstances
• Giving advisors power to waive the 16-hour rule for all who would benefit

For further information, please contact oliver.hilbery@homelesslink.org.uk

Communities and Local Government on new mortgage rescue measures

Communities and Local Government has announced new mortgage rescue measures for vulnerable families who would be eligible for homelessness assistance. The scheme will operate by bringing together local authorities, Registered Social Landlords (RSL), lenders and debt advice agencies. There are three elements to the new scheme:

• Shared equity - A Registered Social Landlord provides an equity loan enabling the householders' mortgage repayments to be reduced.
• Shared ownership - A Registered Social Landlord buys a share (enabling purchaser to pay off some of their mortgage) and converts the property to shared ownership by issuing a shared ownership lease.
• Sale and rentback - A Registered Social Landlord clears the secured debt completely and the applicant pays rent to the RSL at a level they can afford.

We welcome the new measures to prevent certain vulnerable families losing their homes and hope that the eligibility criteria can be expanded in future to include more households at risk of repossession.

Communities and Local Government consultation on local authority gypsy and traveller sites

Communities and Local Government has released a consultation on implementing the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (MHA) on local authority gypsy and traveller sites.

If the MHA is implemented, residents on local authority gypsy and traveller sites will have the same rights and responsibilities as residents living in similar accommodation and will have improved security of tenure. In order to evict a resident under the MHA the site owner must apply to the court for the agreement to be terminated, and seek a possession order.

We understand that sudden evictions of local authority gypsy and traveller sites can lead to homelessness. We welcome the proposal to provide increased security of tenure for these sites.

Home Office consultation on policing

The Home Office has released a consultation entitled Get the Police Service you Want and Deserve

The document highlights the importance of local coordination between probation, housing, health and local authorities to resettle and rehabilitate offenders. It suggests expanding the statutory duties of 'Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships' to include reducing re-offending and strengthening the role of probation within them.

Findings on criminal justice from our Survey of Needs and Provision (SNAP) suggest that many people become homeless after leaving prisons. Research has shown that stable accommodation can reduce re-offending by 20% highlighting the need for greater coordination between the housing and criminal justice sector. In addition, many prison leavers in homelessness agencies are not covered by probation because they have served sentences of less than 12 months. More must be done to prevent re-offending among this group.

Update

We have published a briefing on the transitional arrangements for Central and Eastern European migrants.

The ‘transitional arrangements’ imposed on the freedom of movement for workers from the A8 countries (Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic) may be lifted from 1 May 2009. If this occurs, nationals from these countries will have the same rights as other EEA nationals coming to the UK seeking work.

This briefing has been produced as part of our current Central and Eastern Europeans project that aims to work with government departments, the homelessness sector and a wide range of other partners to develop and deliver an action plan to reduce levels of rough sleeping among people from Central and Eastern Europe.

Home Office Consultation on Immigration Appeals

The Home Office has issued a consultation on Immigration appeals: Fair decisions, faster justice

The document suggests that at present, an asylum appeal cannot be concluded in less than 140 days, and that less than half of that time is actually spent determining the appeal, while the rest of the time is spent considering whether or not the appeal should be reconsidered. A key proposal is to create new specialist tribunals that would take the pressure off the higher courts and speed up the decision process.

We feel that the proposals must ensure that fair and just decisions as well as speed. However increased efficiency within the decision process would mean that asylum seekers would spend less time living in uncertainty with limited entitlements. The system needs to ensure that asylum seekers do not lose their housing and become homeless in the period between a negative decision and an appeal. Many failed asylum seekers who do not sign up for 'voluntary return' (and so receive support under section 4 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004) can become homeless and destitute. The Refugee Council are currently running a campaign to allow asylum seekers to work while they wait for a decision.

Communities and Local Government on Local Area Agreement Annual Review 2008/09

Communities and Local Government have published a report on the Local Area Agreement (LAA) Annual Review 2008/09

The first Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) which will provide evidence and conclusions to inform LAA annual reviews, is currently being consulted upon and will not take place until next year. The report states that because the LAA review will take place in the context of limited delivery data, it will look more at local capacity and delivery arrangements to ensure future delivery, rather than local performance. It states that the 'refresh' element of the review may include some limited revisions where new evidence is available, but most changes will be in terms of ‘unfinished business’ from the negotiations such as delayed and revised indicators.

We will be publishing our response to the CAA consultation shortly. Our Local Area Agreements Page contains detailed information on homelessness and LAAs, including a link to all published LAAs across the country.

Previous edition of Policy Link:

Policy Link August 2008

Policy Link June 2008

Policy Link April 2008