By Vicki McDonald, Communications & Member Engagement Lead, Homes for Cathy

With multiple priorities affecting the housing sector – and a general election just days away – it was encouraging to see homelessness feature prominently in discussions at last week’s Housing 2024 in Manchester. 

In a Masterclass session entitled ‘A place to call home: the long-term plan to end homelessness’ chaired by Baljit Basra of Devonshire’s Solicitors, Homes for Cathy chair David Bogle spoke alongside fellow panellists Seyi Obakin, CEO of Centrepoint, Alice Lamb, Deputy Chief Executive of LandAid and John Greaves, Chief Impact Officer at Places for People.   

L to R: John Greaves, David Bogle, Alice Lamb, Seyi Obakin, Baljit Basra

With 1.3 million people in England in the queue for social housing – and one young person asking their council for homelessness assistance every four minutes – the panel agreed that drastic action is needed now if future generations are to avoid a lifetime of precarious housing. 

There was consensus among the panel that there is no solution to homelessness that does not involve building more homes – and no answer that does not involve government investment or the contribution of housing associations.  Other insights and recommendations from the panel included: 

• Reduce the upstream to ‘stop the flow’ – early intervention through youth and family services – such as Australia’s Geelong Project and a pilot in Welsh schools – have been proven to lead to a significant reduction in adolescent homelessness. 

• Homes of the right size are vital – homeless young people need single bed ‘stepping stone’ homes. 

• Link the affordability model to income – if social homes aren’t affordable to the lowest paid in society, where else can people on low incomes turn?  However, rents can only be driven down with government subsidy. 

• A multi-agency approach and partnership working is crucial – a good example is The Royal Foundation’s Homewards initiative, involving public and private sector collaboration to solve homelessness in cities such as Sheffield. 

• Housing associations have the resources to build – but they need targets, time and a planning system that allows them to buy sites for development.  A more immediate solution, advocated by LandAid, could be to acquire and convert empty homes and commercial spaces into social housing. 

Homes for Cathy was also represented at the popular Fringe Festival stage – set out this year as a cosy living room – where I chaired a thought-provoking discussion on ‘Removing barriers to accessing homes and services for people at greater risk of homelessness’.   

L to R: Vicki McDonald, Olivia Campbell-Cavendish, Steven McIntyre, Maame Esi Yankah

The session examined why certain groups – such as ethnically diverse and LGBTQ+ communities – are more likely to be affected by homelessness and what we can do to address this within our sector, a topic which is reflected in the updated Homes for Cathy commitments. 

Homelessness statistics back up the importance of such discussions.  According to figures from Shelter, 23% of people who seek help as they are homeless or at immediate risk of becoming homeless in England are Black (10%), Asian (6%), from a Mixed ethnic background (3%) or from an Other ethnic group (4%) – despite making up just 14% of households in the 2021 census.  Research from Stonewall shows that almost one in five LGB people have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives, while rates are even higher amongst trans people, with 25% having experienced homelessness at some point. 

I was joined by an expert panel including Steven McIntyre, Chief Executive of Stonewall Housing, Maame Esi Yankah, lived experience speaker and Crisis Venture Studio entrepreneur and Olivia Campbell-Cavendish, House of Stonewall ambassador and a human rights and civil liberties lawyer.   

The conversation was both insightful and moving – here’s what I took away: 

• Know who your residents are – if you know their protected characteristics, you can design services to meet their needs.  It’s only by understanding who our residents are that we can put the resources in place to engage them at a strategic level and ensure they feel safe to be themselves and make their voices heard. 

• Cultural competence is key – we need to understand and recognise our own prejudices and judgements and stop making assumptions.  Staff training can be valuable in tackling unconscious bias. 

• Create safe spaces in homelessness services – for example, LGBTQ+ people can fear harassment from other service users, particularly when sharing bedrooms, bathrooms and communal spaces, so self-contained spaces can make a real difference to their feelings of safety.  A psychologically-informed environment (PIE) in services has a positive impact for people who are marginalised. 

• Treat every person as an individual – it’s vital to take a person-centred approach that recognises the past trauma and discrimination people from minority groups may have experienced in their homelessness journey.