Measuring Non-Priority Single
Homelessness
Sheila Spencer, Housing Consultant & NEHTT Member
Sharon Brown, Regional Manager, Youth Homeless NE &
NEHTT Member
Purpose of the workshop
• To consider the gaps in existing data systems
about the scale and nature of single nonpriority homelessness.
• To share new initiatives to address the gaps.
• To consider what else might be needed to
capture data about the scale and nature of
single homelessness.
• To identify three actions to improve data on
non-priority single homelessness.
Why measure single homelessness?
‘Whenever I visit towns and cities around the
country I’m struck by the extent of knowledge
about the causes, characteristics and dimensions
of local homelessness. But no matter how much
anecdotal information exists, it seems that little
gets systematically collected over time and used
to build up long-term strategies.’
Shaks Ghosh
Former Chief Executive, Crisis (2001)
Why measure single homelessness?
“At Trident Social Investment Group, we are experiencing a
massive increase in the proportion of our annual lettings made
to homeless applicants. Over half of our lettings in 2011/12 were
made to homeless applicants for the first time in our 50 year
history …….. What is most worrying is that three quarters of
Trident’s lettings to homeless applicants were to those assessed
as ‘non-statutory’ homeless and who are not recorded in the
official figures.”
John Morris, CEO, Trident Social Investment Group, 20th Dec
2013 in DASH 24Housing
Defining Single Homelessness
• By single non-priority homelessness, we mean single
people and couples who are not likely to be in a priority
group as defined in the homelessness legislation (Housing
Act 1985 as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002).
People not likely to be in priority groups will be:
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aged 18 or over but under pensionable age
not care leavers
not pregnant or with dependent children
not vulnerable because of their health, disability, or
experiences
• not homeless because of a disaster (flood, fire etc.)
Current data collection
• Statutory homelessness duties introduced (1977)
• LAs asked to periodically review housing needs (Housing Act 1985
Section 8) and to carry out Homelessness Reviews and produce
Homelessness Strategies (2002)
• and to report through the P1E return to DCLG the number of
applications and decisions made in each quarter (and detail of
households accepted as owed full duty)
• More recently, LAs required to record all prevention work
• Rough sleeping: count or estimate of number of people sleeping
rough (snapshot on 1 night, usually November)
• YHNE Annual Survey of Youth Homelessness in the NE
• Only 30-40% of LAs collect good data on all applicants /
enquirers
Other helpful data collected
• Offenders’ housing needs at start & end of
sentence / licence
• Drug / alcohol users’ housing needs at start &
end of treatment
• Advice agencies – numbers seeking help
because of homelessness
• Housing-related support???
• A&E and other occasional data
Context
• Cuts to LA funding have led to reduced capacity
within LAs
• Appears to be more stringent application of the
homelessness legislation - fewer people accepted as
being owed full housing duty
• Concern that young people, aged 18 – 24 year old,
and single people affected by homelessness are
slipping through the net
• Funding cuts have led to reduction of services
provided by voluntary and community sector,
notable reduction in supported housing beds
Table Discussion
What are the gaps in existing data
systems?
• Discuss – considering the picture locally, regionally
and nationally
New initiatives: Measuring single homelessness
NE pilot
Use of a minimum dataset to record data gathered during the
homelessness assessment for all non-priority applicants for the
period 1st July - 30th September 2015
The data to be collected is:
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Age
Gender
Household type
Primary and Secondary cause of homelessness
Needs (i.e. primary presenting vulnerability)
Outcome
Last Settled Accommodation
New initiatives: Youth Homelessness Databank
The Youth Homelessness Databank is a Centrepoint two-year
digital innovation project that is building two key digital tools for
the youth homelessness sector:
• A Data Dashboard that will collate, measure and display youth
homelessness data from multiple sources such as national
government, local authorities, charities and housing providers.
This tool will be generally available for all to use.
• The second tool will be a web or mobile app for young
people who have left Centrepoint’s youth homelessness
services, where they can share stories with each other and
society.
A blog for the project has now been established with more detail:
http://yhdatablog.com/about/
Making sense of this….
© 2012 Centrepoint: www.centrepoint.org.uk
Prototypes!
• Map of official data –
campaigning tool
© 2012 Centrepoint: www.centrepoint.org.uk
•‘Minimum Viable Product’ –
example dashboard
Table Discussion
Do the initiatives presented meet the
gaps?
• Discuss – considering the picture locally, regionally
and nationally
What do we need to do to improve data on
non-priority single homelessness?
• Identify a single priority action
• Who should be involved in taking this
forward?
Further information
• http://youthhomelessnortheast.org.uk/nehtt/
measuring-single-homelessness-june-2013/
• http://youthhomelessnortheast.org.uk/nosecond-night-out/ne-regional-homelessnessgroup/