How councils can house the homeless - John Glenton

A year on from its introduction I still passionately believe the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) has the potential to transform how we support homeless people in England.
John Glenton explores what councils can do to help the homeless.John Glenton explores what councils can do to help the homeless.
John Glenton explores what councils can do to help the homeless.

Now for the first time, all 21 local authorities in Yorkshire and The Humber need to assess people and create a Personal Housing Plan for every resident who has become or is on the verge of becoming homeless. The aim of the Personal Housing Plan is to try and make sure a person has somewhere suitable to live for at least the next six months.

However, the plans are limited to 56 days while a person is threatened with homelessness and a further 56 days for a homeless person which ends if the person does not follow through with the plan. The HRA is certainly not perfect, but it is a bold step in the right direction.

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However, the number of people reporting to local authorities as homeless is causing cash-strapped councils real challenges, with numbers becoming homeless each year equating to the population of communities such as Headingley or Morley. In 2016/17 there were 59,000, annual homelessness acceptances across England, a rise of 48 per cent since 2009/10.

This increase is causing a spike in the number of people who are homeless and who local authorities need to house in bed and breakfast accommodation, 
with statistics last year revealing that councils have spent more than £300m in the past three years placing people in hotels and B&Bs.

At the same time there has been massive cuts to local authority housing- related support budgets which has led to the closure of supported housing services. Not only is this very costly, a B&B does not create the right environment to help solve the complex physical and mental health challenges that homeless people face. As the third-largest provider of homelessness services in the country, at Riverside our experiences have taught us that local authorities can put in place measures to help save money, prevent Personal Housing Plans becoming a box-ticking exercise, and most importantly create better outcomes for those affected by homelessness.

What can councils do?

Infrastructure: The increasing number of homeless people is causing a real stretch on homelessness accommodation available to local authorities and costing councils more money by having to turn to expensive B&Bs. Leeds was one of just 10 councils across England which has adequate facilities to house people and have not placed a single person in B&B accommodation for five years. However, in contrast over the past three years Bradford has spent almost £1m (£955,559) peaking at £327,000 in 2016/17.

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Local authorities need to look creatively at their property portfolio and see if they could convert property into accommodation for homeless people where they can access on-site care and support teams. In Wakefield, we have adapted our supported housing facility, so that it provides emergency beds for the homeless, a service which was used more than 180 times over the past year saving the council more than £10,000 in B&B fees.

Holistic homelessness forums: New commissioning models to tackle homelessness are resulting in more homelessness service providers tackling smaller packages of work. In order to create the best results for local authorities, a forum should be established to bring all these service providers together on a regular basis to talk openly and honestly in order to identify issues earlier before they have the potential to turn into significant problems which are more costly for local authorities to solve.

Floating service: To help provide a more intensive service for homeless people with more complex needs, it can pay to invest in floating services of agile care workers who will provide the more intensive support needed to give them an extra pair of hands to help when they are at their most vulnerable so they can effectively complete their personal housing plans.

While many of these solutions involve spending more money upfront, investing in additional support can help homeless people to find new homes and volunteering and employment opportunities. It also creates a more stable platform for homeless people to build from rather than see them failing to fulfil their personal home plan, which is more costly for everyone in the long-run.

John Glenton is Executive Director of Care and Support at The Riverside Group

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