Tag Archives: Housing Associations

A lifeline for prison leavers

People leaving prison are at high risk of homelessness – often they are released with nowhere to go or with accommodation options that are unsustainable. On release, they may struggle to find accommodation with a private landlord or to access welfare payments. Supported housing for ex-offenders, such as Longhurst’s Group‘s specialist accommodation and floating support service in Grimsby, can offer a lifeline. Rob Sumner, Service Manager – NE Lincs Housing Related Support, shares how the service is helping ex-offenders build independence and move forward with their lives.

Since the loss of industry in Grimsby, the area has become one of the most deprived in England. It has high unemployment, with more people claiming welfare benefits – including in-work benefits – than the national average.

The crime rate for the area currently sits at 134 per 1000 people, with 11,811 crimes committed in the area in 2021 – the majority of which are violence, sexual offences, criminal damage, and anti-social behaviour.

Longhurst Group’s Accommodation and Floating Support service in Grimsby operates 17 shared properties, mainly in the East Marsh region which is one of the most deprived areas in the town.

There are a total of 48 bed spaces, with customers occupying rooms on licence agreements. Four in five customers have some type of criminal history and the aim of the service is to provide customers with a second chance.

Often, we find that offenders are released back into the community with very little support. Customers are often told to attend probation at a certain time and are often left with no accommodation.

This has a huge impact on them re-offending and often when speaking to customers they’ll state they’ve previously re-offended to access prison as this is a better option than homelessness.

Rob Sumner, Longhurst Group’s Service Manager, NE Lincs Housing Related Support

We risk assess all customers and try and find the most suitable placement for them. Our colleagues operate a positive risk approach and work closely with the local authority and Probation service and generally house customers who’ve been released from prison with no accommodation.

Colleagues operate a holistic supportive service. Our philosophy is that if it hasn’t worked before, that doesn’t mean that it won’t work now. Each stay, we hope to achieve some outcomes, whether they’re big or small, and build upon this on each time.

This proactivity works to reduce stigma around common issues, as many of the customers accessing the service feel that they’ve been let down and are judged based on their criminal history, drug use and/or mental health diagnosis.

The nature of the service means that a significant number of customers are recalled back to prison, usually for breaching bail conditions. To prevent homelessness and to meet the obligation in the Homelessness Reduction Act, our colleagues will work with probation officers, Housing Benefit teams and other statutory bodies to try to keep accommodation available for customers if the prison stay is short, but any stay in prison isn’t a barrier to accessing the service.

Each property has an allocated support worker who visits every day during the week. We don’t operate the service over a weekend.

This enables customers to build independence and to live with as much normality as possible, with the aim of supporting customers to move on to independent accommodation.

One of our customers stated that she’d used substances since she was 21. She’s now in her 40s. She’d committed several shop thefts to fund her drug use.

As a service, we find that criminality is often used to support drug use. Her last conviction was for criminal damage and assault, with the sentence being three years in prison. This was committed whilst under the influence of Valium.

She had lived in social housing for eight years but due to her criminality and sentencing, this property and tenancy was withdrawn. Upon release, she had no accommodation and ended up sleeping rough and fell back into drug use. The local authority made a referral to several homeless accommodation providers, and we accepted the referral and placed the customer into one of our shared accommodation units.

Since being in the service, our customer has managed to access support for substance misuse and accessed health appointments that she wouldn’t have been able to access previously.

She’s also received support with her mental health and is now on medication. She’s due to move into a new property with her partner and has stated that without the support of the service, this wouldn’t have ever been possible.

Rob Sumner is Service Manager – NE Lincs Housing Related Support at Homes for Cathy member Longhurst Group, one of the leading housing groups in the Midlands and East of England, providing more than 23,500 homes and a wide range of care and support services.

The value of cross-sector collaboration to improve health outcomes for homeless people

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The link between homelessness and poor health is well documented, with data indicating that the number of A&E visits and hospital admissions per homeless person is four times higher than for the general public. But what part can housing associations play in breaking that link?

Homes for Cathy recently caught up with Rebecca Whittle, Neighbourhoods Strategic Lead at ForHousing, to find out more about its new housing-led ‘Homeless Discharge Support’ pilot, a collaborative project with Salford Primary Care Together (SPCT), Salford City Council, Greater Manchester Housing and Social Care Partnership and Greater Manchester Mental Health Service that aims to improve health outcomes for rough sleepers leaving hospital.

There’s clear evidence that good quality housing is not only critical for good health but also reduces demand for NHS services, so it’s great to see an example of joined up working between housing and health providers. How did the partnership with SPCT come about?

The initial idea came from discussions with the GP Clinical Lead for the SPCT Inclusion Service, Dr Wan-Ley Yeung, who provides a GP inclusion service for homeless patients within Salford. We were both concerned that individuals were being discharged from hospital and weren’t engaging with ongoing medical treatment, because they were either returning to the streets or being placed into temporary accommodation which wasn’t wholly suitable given their on-going medical needs.

We’re quite fortunate in Salford in terms of homelessness provision; Reducing homelessness is a priority for Salford City Council and they are very successful in attracting government funding to end homelessness, with lots of different initiatives in place to prevent people from having no option other than to sleep on the streets. What’s important is that we make sure that the provision is suitable for all individuals. In the past, people with no fixed abode and ongoing medical needs would have either been unable to be discharged from hospital, or picked up by the local authority and put in a provision that wasn’t entirely suitable for their ongoing medical treatment and rehabilitation.

In partnership with SPCT and Salford City Council’s associated departments including adult social care, housing options and supported tenancies, we successfully applied for funding through Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership to the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) shared outcomes fund. We were awarded approximately £450,000, which covers accommodation costs as well as a support element.

The whole concept is to take a test and learn approach to inform future commissioning and future service delivery, to ensure safe discharge from Salford Royal Hospital for those people that are either;

medically optimised for discharge but would be returning to the streets or
going to accommodation that wouldn’t be able to meet their needs adequately or
For those who are medically fit for discharge but have ongoing health needs requiring further clinical support

How is the scheme working in practice?

ForHousing is the landlord and we are providing eight self-contained properties that are all accessible for individuals with mobility difficulties. The aim is not only that individuals can be safe within that accommodation but that we can work closely with them for a greater chance of securing settled accommodation. Health, social care and housing services work closely in partnership to provide wrap around intensive support for each person to improve their health outcomes and also their life skills and tenancy skills, so they have more likelihood of being able to move on to more secure, permanent accommodation in the long term.

In terms of the support, there’s a dedicated housing support officer for the eight properties and they work alongside Salford City Council’s Supported Housing Service who provide two dedicated support workers to support the individuals both in this accommodation and in their future move on home. The reason why we’ve taken that combined approach is we know it’s really important to have the engagement of housing options for move-on to suitable long-term housing. They have access to a full range of accommodation, particularly if that individual has aspirations to move to a locality where ForHousing doesn’t have properties.

With regards to move-on, there’s a guiding principle of three months but all the partners are extremely committed to the fundamental principle that the service priority is about supporting individuals, so we won’t necessarily be working to timescales – ultimately we need to go at the individual’s own pace. We’ve also been very clear from the outset that if a tenant moves into a property, develops a really good support network within the local community and is thriving where they are, we won’t uproot them to another area for long-term housing. We’ll convert the accommodation into a general needs tenancy and identify another property to bring into the scheme.

Are there any particular barriers that you have had to overcome in setting up the scheme?

It’s still very early days but one difficulty has been around the availability of social care support in the community. There have been situations where people were medically ready to be discharged, and we had a home available for them, but the care support wasn’t in place, so the person was effectively classified as a delayed discharge. It’s for this reason that the pilot is being evaluated by King’s College London, in order to inform further research into the delays in hospital discharge that are occurring nationally.

The launch of integrated care systems (ICSs) in 2018 was intended to deepen the relationship between NHS, local councils and other strategic partners. How easy has it been for you to get housing’s voice heard in local health commissioning?

For a number of years it’s been quite difficult for us to get engagement with health partners; it’s taken a lot of tenacity, banging on doors and literally turning up to every event possible saying ‘Hi, we’re here’. Ultimately, this project has come about through our shared passion for supporting people. SPCT recognises that, as an organisation, ForHousing is really committed to ending homelessness; consequently, they see us as an equal partner. We’re open to exploring opportunities and taking risks, and because SPCT can see our passion, they’ve been happy to bring us along on the journey.

What advice would you give to other Homes for Cathy members seeking to forge stronger partnerships with their local health agencies?

As an organisation, ForHousing is quite bold in the way we articulate our ambition around wellbeing; social housing is not just about bricks and mortar, it’s about improving people’s lives. We’re not a housing association that gives people a set of keys and only contacts them when they need to pay their rent. Because we articulate our vision and are prepared to take risks, other agencies such as health are willing to partner with us. We’re also open to the fact that sometimes things won’t always work; the key is to learn and adapt from that.

Find out more about how the Discharge to Assess scheme has helped Tom here.

ForHousing is a progressive landlord that owns and manages more than 24,000 homes and delivers housing management services for other landlords across the North West.

A year on, Hightown’s Housing First experience

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It’s nearly been a year since Hightown began its Housing First project so we’ve caught up with Gemma Richardson, Head of Care and Supported Housing in Hertfordshire at Hightown, to find out how the project has been going and what the future holds.

What is Housing First?

Housing First is a housing and support approach which gives people who have experienced homelessness or repeat history of homelessness or rough sleeping and who have multiple and complex needs, a stable home from which to rebuild their lives. It provides intensive, person-centred, holistic support that is open-ended (defined by Homeless Link).

Hightown launched its pilot in October 2019 following the recruitment of new staff. The project has been going well, with eight people housed by the service with another two people being actively helped. Two individuals are engaging with the Housing First team after years of rough sleeping and want to move into housing and receive the team’s support.

How has the pilot been going?

There have some positive stories from the people that have been helped so far, including Malcolm and Liana, featured in the video below. Have a listen to hear why Housing First is needed in addition to the other homelessness services that Hightown help to run.

However, there have also been many points to learn from over the last year. For example, there have been a couple of individuals that have really struggled, since they have very complex needs. Finding the right Housing First offer for them in terms of both housing and support, is being reassessed. This is one of the key differences of this programme compared to other homelessness support as the housing and support given is very personalised so it may not be right straight away and changes may need to be made. The team are doing some very intensive work with a couple of individuals and working with all partners involved in the project including Homeless Link, the project management staff from Housing First England and Hightown’s local partners. Together we are trying to help them move forward and make sure they don’t return to the street

The programme takes a partnership approach, can you tell us more about this?

The project is funded from Rough Sleeper Initiative (RSI) funding, which was awarded following a joint bid by Dacorum Borough Council and St Albans City Council. The partnership working with Dacorum Borough Council and St Albans City Council has been integral to developing the Housing First project.

There is a monthly Housing First panel which is made up of local homelessness charities, the local councils and Hightown. We exchange information, talk about who is engaging with the service, identify who needs to be helped and discuss which housing options are available. The panel act as our project managers and help us keep on track and check our performance.

What’s next for Housing First?

The current RSI funding for Housing First runs until March 2021. We hope that further funding will be made available so we can continue this important work. We are building our case to secure longer term funding, since we think Housing First should be an option for people across the county and the existing homelessness support isn’t going to fit everybody’s needs. There will always be some people who need more support than the day / night centres can offer. For some people night shelters and supported living cannot meet all their needs.

World Homeless Day 2020

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World Homeless Day is a chance for our community and members to highlight the needs of homeless people.

We’ve partnered with South Yorkshire HA, Shared Health, One Housing, BCHA and Hightown HA across here and our social media channels today to help educate and celebrate the work being done by some of our members and partners.

South Yorkshire Housing Association

Mazrab came from Afghanistan in 2011 with his family as refugees. SYHA and his support worker Kay have helped the family settle in South Yorkshire.

Vic Stirling, Head of services for homeless services, answers some questions about the misconceptions around homelessness and where she would like extra funding to be spent.

Shared Health

Shared Health Foundation is an initiative of the Oglesby Charitable Trust,
which is seeking to tackle health inequalities across Greater Manchester. They shared the following from their call to action report.

The poorer the area, the greater the need and the lack quality healthcare available. Our families sometimes get placed in emergency accommodation that is out of borough and miles away from their families, communities, schools and GPs. They then can’t access the same resources as everyone else easily.
The children in these families also don’t get the same rights as Looked After Children so don’t get any official extra help or support from schools. The help they do get is professionals going above and beyond.
Their situation from fleeing domestic violence affects their health and can set them back years as the ‘temporary accommodation’ can last up to 2 years.
Read more :
A Call to Action:
To safeguard homeless families during the Covid-19 pandemic
and in its aftermath

One Housing

Ahmed a customer at One Housing, tells us where he would like more government funding spent.

BCHA

BCHA want to say a big THANK YOU to all their staff and volunteers that have gone above and beyond this year to help those that are homeless, particularly when lockdown happened. Below is some of the help they offered to take on.

A senior practitioner from BCHA Bournemouth and Christchurch domestic abuse service has also shared how their residents battle isolation everyday but this year has been particularly testing.

Homes for Cathy commitments help us deliver social purpose

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First published on Inside Housing, 6th March 2019

Broadland Housing Group joined Homes for Cathy back in 2016 when it was about marking the 50th anniversary of the first screening of Cathy Come Home and reminding people that homelessness is still a cancer in our society.

It was relatively safe to become members, beat the drum and perhaps feel warmly complacent about how much we were actually doing to address homelessness in our communities.

A year later, the anniversaries were over – Homes for Cathy members had held events, debates and plays nationally and locally to encourage politicians, professionals and communities to focus on homelessness.

“These actions are all about partnership working”

Collectively we had lamented the wrongs of the ‘system’ and called for meaningful changes to public policy. Was that it? Had we done what was needed or was the real work still to come? We concluded the latter.

In 2017, we opened up the Home for Cathy membership to any housing association frustrated about the increasing homelessness and willing to do something about it.

Working with Crisis, we developed nine challenging actions for housing associations to commit to that we believe will make a significant difference.

These actions are all about partnership working – not just with local authorities and policymakers, but most importantly with people at risk of homelessness and those who are already homeless.

We went to our board and asked them to commit to all nine actions, including the potentially more challenging ones, which for us were:

Not making any tenant seeking to prevent their homelessness, homeless
Helping to meet the needs of vulnerable tenant groups
Working in partnership to provide a range of affordable housing options which meet the needs of all homeless people in our local communities
Contributing to ending migrant homelessness in our area

Preventing making tenants’ homeless means avoiding evictions for arrears that are hugely damaging, particularly children, and also expensive for us.

Where tenants positively engage, we will freeze arrears – subject to regular reviews and rent being paid in the future. When circumstances improve, a sustainable repayment plan is agreed. We hope that this will enable people to stay in their homes.

Regarding vulnerable groups, we decided to focus on single people – primarily under 35 – working with partners, we wanted to identify initially 10 properties for shared housing.

Working in partnership with Norwich City Council and St Martins, we proposed identifying six properties for a Housing First pilot so we can meet the needs of the homeless people locally.

Working with Norfolk County Council, we asked to make four properties available, at a peppercorn rent if necessary, for migrant families who have been judged to have no recourse to public funds while they resolve their situations.

The board has always supported our Homes for Cathy involvement, but we asked for a commitment that will cost us money and expose us to different risks.

I couldn’t take approval for granted but I got 100% support.

Our board felt the commitments helped deliver our social purpose and that, while the health of the balance sheet is vital, it is primarily a tool to deliver our purpose.

Michael Newey, chief executive, Broadland Housing Group

To hear more from our members on how they are implementing the Homes for Cathy commitments, join us at our annual conference. Book tickets here.

Spending the night in a cardboard box is the least we can do

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Sarah Boast, from MHS Homes Group, tells us how spending a night sleeping rough changed her perspective on homelessness.

When my colleague first pitched the idea of sleeping in a card board box in our car park next to the open river for 12 hours in January, I can’t say I leapt for joy.

But I signed up nonetheless, sure it would be totally eye-opening and insightful, hopeful to raise lots of money and support for a Kent homeless charity, Porchlight.

And it was completely shocking.

I’ve never felt so vulnerable. Though tucked up very tightly in my sleeping bag and box, I still felt scared, knowing those two items were all that protected me from the outside world, its elements, a fox that was lurking nearby and plenty of river rats.

I’d heard the horrors but never realised how exposed and susceptible people who are homeless actually are.

And we had it easy – with palettes, cardboard and soup all donated to us from lots of local companies.

We also had the support of one another. About 50 of us took part in the event, spurring each other on and making what seemed like an unbearable challenge somewhat easier.

But imagine what it’s like to not have anyone. No family, no support network around you. So lonely that you must ask for help on the streets and passers by don’t even want to look at you.

That’s why we, at mhs homes, host a Big Sleep Out every other year in winter – to raise funds and awareness and to support a local homeless charity. This year we supported Porchlight and raised more than £10,000.

“Porchlight allows people to escape the misery of the streets and begin to recover from the damaging effects of homelessness. It gives people support with their mental health and wellbeing, and helps them get back into education or employment. It also works with people who are at risk of becoming homeless and need help to stay on track”, said Chris Thomas, Communicatins Co-ordinator at the Canterbury-based charity.

I’m unbelievably proud to work for a housing association that does so much to support local charities and local people too.

The Big Sleep Out always gets lots of support from local businesses, councillors and politicians.

This year we had several stakeholders take part as well as three councillors and MP Tracey Crouch, who had just been appointed as minister for loneliness.

At the time of the event Government had just committed funding to tackle the problem of rough sleeping but I questioned if it’d go far enough to tackle the housing crisis, at a time when Shelter estimated 300,000 people in Great Britain sleeping rough.

According to Porchlight, homelessness in Kent rose 38% in the past year. It’s the seventh year in a row homelessness has increased across the county.

We’re pledging to build at least 600 homes over the next three years and will continue to work closely with our partners and local authorities to ensure that we do all we can to prevent homelessness.

The Big Sleep Out was challenging but completely eye-opening. It’s the very least we can do.

If you’d like to find out more about our Big Sleep Out, what we do or to donate email communications@mhs.org.uk.

Thank you.

How can we end homelessness in Britain?

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Holly Dagnall, NCHA Director of Homes and Wellbeing, tells us more about NCHA’s commitment to tackle homelessness:

“Homelessness and the threat of eviction, particularly from the increasing rents of the private rented sector and pressure from changes in the benefits system are completely unacceptable. With current stats showing that the average lifespan of a rough sleeper is just 47 years old and 160,000 households are currently experiencing the worst forms of homelessness, it’s clear that we need to work together as a sector to do more to support society’s most vulnerable.
“At NCHA, we’re determined to do our bit, recently publishing our Homes for Cathy document, which reinforces our commitment to the Homes for Cathy group and outlines some of the work we currently do to tackle homelessness in the East Midlands.

“Here are some of the ways in which we’re currently helping by:

reviewing our Allocations Policy alongside our offer of tenancy support to reduce the number of households excluded from being allocated an NCHA property.
providing temporary accommodation and resettlement support for households experiencing homelessness in Nottingham City, Loughborough, Derbyshire and Leicester City.
recognising that lifting people out of poverty is the key to preventing homelessness. This year we will review the provision of our tenancy support services across the Homes and Wellbeing Department. We have a range of support for people experiencing problems and provide tenancy support and debt advice for our social and affordable housing customers alongside our specialist homelessness support. We also provide a welfare fund and an employability project – working to help people to secure better paid employment.
reviewing our policy and practice on evictions, ensuring consistent practice across the Homes and Wellbeing Department from a ‘support then enforce’ perspective.
working with the National Housing Federation regarding the Homelessness Reduction Act and having a commitment to working with local authorities on the ‘Duty to Refer’ for households facing eviction.

“Homelessness is a human emergency, but ending it is not an impossible task if we’re committed to do what’s necessary.”

NCHA is a Homes for Cathy member.

Sign up to nine commitments to reduce homelessness

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The Homes for Cathy group is calling on housing associations to sign up to nine commitments that could make a “major impact” on homelessness, explains David Bogle, Chief Executive of Hightown Housing Association.

There is a homelessness crisis going on. At the last count there were almost 160,000 homeless households in Great Britain, including more than 9,000 people rough sleeping and 42,000 in emergency accommodation.

Housing associations must do more, much more to reduce these numbers – that is the central message of the Homes for Cathy group of housing associations.

That is why, working with housing charity Crisis, the Homes for Cathy group has come up with nine commitments which we are asking our members to achieve and which we believe could make a real major impact on homelessness. These are:

To contribute to the development and execution of local authority homelessness strategies.
To operate flexible allocations and eligibility polices which allow individual applicants’ unique sets of circumstances and housing histories to be considered.
To offer constructive solutions to applicants who aren’t deemed eligible for an offer of a home.
To not make homeless any tenant seeking to prevent their homelessness (as defined in the Crisis plan).
To commit to meeting the needs of vulnerable tenant groups.
To work in partnership to provide a range of affordable housing options which meet the needs of all homeless people in their local communities.
To ensure that properties offered to homeless people are ready to move into.
To contribute to ending migrant homelessness in the areas housing associations operate.
To lobby, challenge and inspire others to support ending homelessness
Many of these commitments are challenging.

Our hard-working housing management staff will be throwing their hands up at some of them.

We are calling them ‘aspirational’. We are suggesting that they be used as a tool to develop policies and practices. To deliver the nine commitments, most housing associations will need to find more resources. But housing associations have resources.

Although many housing associations have been providing excellent homes and services for homeless people for decades, it is plainly not enough. Yet the relief of homelessness has to be central to our social purpose. So can we accept an ongoing responsibility for the families whose tenancy has failed so as to ensure that they are not evicted into homelessness?

“The relief of homelessness has to be central to our social purpose.”

Can we provide furniture, curtains and carpets for those homeless people who we house who cannot provide them themselves?

Can we do more for those homeless people who we turn down because they don’t meet the qualifications for our homes?

Can we build or acquire more homes for homeless people?

Can we make a real impact on rough sleeping by working with local authorities to provide some homes for migrant workers even where they have no recourse to public funds?

For most housing associations, the answer to these questions must be “yes, we can” – if there is sufficient will and sufficient resources are allocated.We owe it to the tens of thousands of homeless families and rough sleepers to step up our efforts.These nine Homes for Cathy commitments are a starting point.

This blog was first published in Inside Housing, 10th July 2018

To stop the doors revolving for homeless people a wide range of needs must be met

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After witnessing adults returning to his association’s temporary accommodation scheme who had lived there as children, Tony Stacey calls on the sector to address poverty and homelessness

I have worked as South Yorkshire Housing Association’s (SYHA) chief executive for 23 years now. For the whole time – in fact since it was founded 45 years ago – SYHA has focused on addressing homelessness. Other things too, but homelessness has always been high up on our radar.

“I like to think I am pretty well in touch with the situation locally. But nothing prepared me for this.”

Last week, I was told by our LiveWell support team that we are now regularly seeing new customers for two of our temporary accommodation schemes in Sheffield – used by the council as an alternative to B&B referrals – who had lived there as children.

The accommodation is a good standard – in fact when Jon Rouse led the Homes and Communities Agency, he described one of our projects as the best designed scheme he had visited that year. Nevertheless, we now find ourselves managing an across-the-generations revolving door. And I am not talking about one or two families, this is now a regular occurrence.

Our response to this, for me, reinforces our answer to the SYHA ‘why?’ question, which is: “With SYHA you can settle at home live well and realise your potential.” Think whole person, think whole place. And we do.

I hear a lot about how associations are sweating their assets, but less about how they stretch themselves to offer choices to customers which can get them out of poverty and break this vicious cycle. Shouldn’t our stretch extend to addressing homelessness and poverty?

We have just had our Regulator of Social Housing in-depth assessment. The conclusion was: “Goodness, you people are really going for it.”

One of many things housing associations, GP practices and NHS Trusts have in common is that we’re rooted in the communities worst affected by health-related unemployment. We work in them, get sick and get better in them, and raise our families there. Achieving fairness in employment outcomes for people with physical and mental health conditions is therefore our fight too.

A good job is a healthy outcome. The healthier we are, the more resilient we are. The more resilient we are, the less we are likely to slide into homelessness.

Tony Stacey, chief executive, South Yorkshire Housing Association

This blog was first published on Inside Housing on 14/6/18

Housing associations must be part of the solution on homelessness

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Councils and charities frequently see housing associations as part of the problem when tackling homelessness and this must change, says David Bogle

The Homes for Cathy group of 71 housing associations has been working closely with the housing charity, Crisis, building up to the Homes for Cathy national conference on Monday, 30 April in London. Crisis is working on its Plan to End Homelessness and this will be previewed at the Homes for Cathy conference.There have been several joint workshops with Crisis and Homes for Cathy housing associations that are feeding into the Crisis plan, and eventually into a Homes for Cathy housing association plan or charter.

“Factors have combined to make housing associations more cautious and more inclined to introduce detailed pre-tenancy and affordability checks.”

However, the feedback from Crisis staff and case workers is that housing associations are frequently seen by local authorities and housing charities as being part of the problem when it comes to tackling homelessness locally; that housing associations are erecting barriers which sometimes prevent homeless families and homeless people being housed and sustaining a tenancy.
Perhaps rent cuts, benefit cuts, universal credit, housing support cuts, court delays and other factors have combined to make housing associations more cautious and more inclined to introduce detailed pre-tenancy and affordability checks.
But many housing associations were originally set up to house homeless people or poorly housed people and in response to previous housing crises.
As charities with the resources to house homeless people, we have to be working with the local authorities, who have the statutory responsibilities, and the local housing charities. We must be playing our part.
So what practical steps can housing associations take? Housing associations are already providing homes (temporary and permanent) and support for homeless people and clearly, in the medium and long term, there is the need to build more homes at rents that people can afford. But are there any short-term solutions that housing associations may offer to hard-pressed local authorities which have the Homelessness Reduction Actto implement? Can we purchase homes for shared housing? Can we set up social lettings agencies? Can we provide modular homes on any unused land? And can local authorities put aside some of the money they are spending on temporary accommodation to support such initiatives? Can health or crime budgets be used to provide even temporary support for homeless people if homes can be made available?

“The rising homelessness numbers are a national disgrace”

The Homes for Cathy group has argued that housing associations should be collecting and using information on, for instance, their lettings to homeless people and their evictions, to try to improve their practices and to examine whether safeguards and mitigations can be put in place to allow them to house and support more homeless people – perhaps with help from other agencies. As many people have observed, the rising homelessness numbers are a national disgrace and a personal disaster for those affected.
The government has made a commitment to halving rough sleeping numbers by 2022 and ending rough sleeping by 2027 and we wait to see what resources will be put behind this commitment.
But housing associations have to step up to the plate. This is about our social purpose. We all must examine what we are doing and do everything we can to increase our contribution.
Housing associations have to be seen as part of the solution to this national crisis not part of the problem.
David Bogle, Chief Executive, Hightown Housing Association