Submission from ‘Homes for Cathy Group’ to HCLG Select Committee inquiry

How effective has the support provided by MHCLG and other Government departments in addressing the impact of COVID-19 on those in the private rented sector, rough sleepers, and the homeless?

The Homes for Cathy group is made up of over 100 housing associations and housing charities/organisations who are committed to providing housing and support to homeless people and households and have developed nine Homes for Cathy commitments with the homeless charity, Crisis, which underpin our work.

This submission only relates to rough sleepers and homeless people.

The ‘Everyone In’ initiative has been a huge success in getting rough sleepers off the streets and in to temporary housing and the Government and the MHCLG must be congratulated.

Of course, it has required a massive effort from our members, from local government and from many other housing and support organisations to find accommodation and immediate support for the approximately 5,400 rough sleepers that were housed.

We now need to plan for how those 5,400 people will be permanently housed and supported and the key to this is capital funding to provide affordable housing and revenue funding to provide support.

What problems remain a current and immediate concern for these groups?

Clearly, the primary concern is for the long term future for those rough sleepers recently housed in temporary accommodation. We do not know when they will be asked to leave their current accommodation. There is no fixed ‘end date’ for lockdown. But individual hotels where many of the rough sleepers are housed will eventually want the rooms back.

Another concern, however, is the breakdown of many of the placements that were made. The Guardian has reported that 20% of those rehoused in Manchester are homeless once again, and our members are reporting similar figures in other parts of the country. South Yorkshire Housing Association in Sheffield found that many people rehoused have been targeted and “cuckooed” – typically by drug dealers and criminal groups. Providing the accommodation on its own is not sufficient. Many people need very intensive housing support, such as that provided by Housing First and similar schemes, and the consistent support of other public services such as mental health and drug and alcohol services.

Of course, the need to try to maintain ‘social distancing’ while providing support for the people in the temporary accommodation is a major challenge. Some clients are unwilling to fully cooperate putting staff and other clients at risk.

What might be the immediate post-lockdown impacts for these groups, and what action is needed to help with these?

Immediate action is needed to provide Government funding for the long term housing and support for the 5,400 rough sleepers people housed in temporary accommodation. Otherwise we will be back to square one and the Government’s targets on rough sleeping will not be met.

There is unlikely to be time to build new social/affordable homes from scratch so housing associations need capital funds from Government to:

• Convert unsold shared ownership homes owned by housing associations to social/affordable rent

• Convert shared ownership homes under construction and about to be handed over to housing associations to social/affordable rent
• Convert unsold market sale properties owned by housing associations to social/affordable rent
• Purchase properties on the open market including new, unsold homes from national and local housebuilders

The primary need will be for one bedroom self-contained flats. Ideally the funding will be sufficient for housing associations to charge social rents which will then reduce the housing benefit bill. The Homes for Cathy group is currently working to provide estimated costings for such a programme.

Homes for Cathy members already provide homelessness support services including Housing First.

It is essential that the housing provided to rough sleepers leaving the temporary accommodation comes with appropriate support services. Many of the rough sleepers have high support needs

Crisis estimate the cost of support for the estimated 5400 rough sleepers will be around £63,000,000 for 12 months and the Homes for Cathy group concurs with this estimate. Crisis estimate that 50% of the rough sleepers will require Housing First support, 30% will require Critical Time Intervention support and 20% will require floating support.

An early commitment from the Government to fund the supply of new social homes to house the 5,400 rough sleepers in temporary accommodation will allow housing associations to immediately gear up to convert tenures or purchase homes and be ready when the lock down ends.