Draft Homelessness Strategy
2013 - 2018
©2012. East Riding of Yorkshire Council. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior
permission of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council
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Contents
Contents
Foreword ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
Section 1: Introduction .......................................................................... ...7
Vision ............................................................................................................................................................... 7
Background .................................................................................................................................................... 7
Linkages to National, Local and Corporate Priorities .......................................................................... 9
Linkages to other Strategies and Policies .............................................................................................. 10
Corporate Requirements.......................................................................................................................... 11
Outcomes ..................................................................................................................................................... 12
Progress since 2008 ................................................................................................................................... 13
Development and Monitoring of the Strategy ..................................................................................... 14
Section 2: Context .................................................................................. 15
Definition of Homelessness ...................................................................................................................... 15
Homelessness Overview ........................................................................................................................... 16
Statutory Homelessness .......................................................................................................................... 18
Families with Young Children ................................................................................................................. 20
Young People (aged 16-24) including Care Leavers .......................................................................... 21
Households Fleeing Domestic Violence ............................................................................................... 22
People with Health and Disability Issues ............................................................................................... 23
Single Homelessness including Rough Sleepers .................................................................................. 24
Substance Misusers ................................................................................................................................... 27
Offenders .................................................................................................................................................... 27
Gypsies and Travellers ............................................................................................................................. 28
Armed Forces .............................................................................................................................................. 28
Migrant Workers ....................................................................................................................................... 29
Section 3: Outcome 1.............................................................................. 30
Information, Advice and Guidance.......................................................................................................... 31
Homelessness Prevention Services ....................................................................................................... 32
Universal Services that Contribute to Homelessness Prevention................................................... 37
3
Services Provided by Other Agencies .................................................................................................... 42
Section 4: Outcome 2.............................................................................. 47
Social Housing Supply and Demand ...................................................................................................... 48
Private Sector Housing ............................................................................................................................. 50
Temporary Accommodation .................................................................................................................. 52
Accommodation for Young People ........................................................................................................ 53
Accommodation for People with health and disability issues ........................................................... 57
Accommodation for Single People or Couples, inc rough sleepers................................................ 58
Accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers ....................................................................................... 60
Section 5: Outcome 3.............................................................................. 63
Improving Health Outcomes for Homeless People ............................................................................ 63
Services for Young People ........................................................................................................................ 64
Services for Rough Sleepers .................................................................................................................... 66
Services for Families with Young Children ........................................................................................... 67
Services for ex-Armed Forces Personnel and their Families ............................................................ 68
Services for Migrant Workers ................................................................................................................. 69
Services for Gypsies and Travellers........................................................................................................ 70
Action Plan ........................................................................................................................................... 73
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Foreword
To be inserted in final version
5
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Section 1: Introduction
The homelessness strategy sets out how the East Riding of Yorkshire Council
and its partners will strive to prevent people becoming homeless by working
together to tackle the causes of homelessness. It also considers how best to
meet the needs of people without access to a home of their own. It takes into
account all forms of homelessness: from people sleeping rough on the street to
the 'hidden' homeless; people without access to their own secure
accommodation. Such households live amongst extended family and friends,
often in overcrowded housing and are therefore hidden from official statistics.
The strategy will also consider the needs of those who are living in temporary
accommodation. It will help the Council achieve the following 'gold standard' (see
1.3 below).
Have a homelessness strategy which sets out a proactive approach to
preventing homelessness and is reviewed annually so that it is
responsive to emerging needs.
1.1
Vision
The Council's vision for East Riding of Yorkshire is to: improve the quality of life for
our community; earn the respect of the people we serve and build pride in belonging to
the East Riding of Yorkshire. The homelessness strategy will help the Council to
achieve this vision by seeking to deliver improved and improving services to anyone
in the local area that is homeless or threatened with homelessness, regardless of
whether they may be owed the main statutory duty 1or not.
1.2
Background
The Homelessness Act 2002 places a duty on all local housing authorities to
carry out a homelessness review for their district and, in consultation with local
partners and stakeholders, formulate and publish a homelessness strategy based
on the results of that review, at least every five years. East Riding’s current
Homelessness Strategy was published in 2008 and covers the five-year period to
end of March 2013. In August 2012 the Council commissioned Gill Leng
Housing Solutions (GLHS) Ltd to undertake an independent review of
homelessness in East Riding of Yorkshire. The homelessness strategy has been
developed using the findings of the review and in consultation with key
stakeholders and partners. The approach to the homelessness review is set out
in section 1.3 below.
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S.193 Housing Act 1996, Part 7 (as amended)
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Much has changed since 2008 and the homelessness review reflects the impact of
the economic downturn and the Government’s policy response to this,
particularly welfare and social housing reform, the shift of power to local areas
legislated for in the Localism Act 2011, and other public service reforms such as
health. The Welfare Reform Act 2012 received Royal Assent on 8 March 2012.
The Act sets out fundamental changes to the welfare system, aimed at improving
the benefits system to reduce dependency on welfare through: improving
incentives to work, making work pay and reducing overall spend.
From April 2013 Housing Benefit will be reduced if a tenant rents a council or
housing association property that is too large for their household requirements
under housing benefit rules. This brings this type of rented accommodation in line
with existing arrangements for private rented accommodation. Around 1400
council and housing association cases in the current caseload will be affected by
this change in legislation. Reforms to Council Tax Benefit will come in at the same
time. All local authorities have been required to design their own local schemes
to support their residents who need help with their council tax. The new scheme
applies to working age residents only. In East Riding of Yorkshire the difficult
decision was taken that the new council tax support scheme will limit the amount
of help that working age residents can receive to 75% of their council tax bill.
The new scheme means that no one of working age will receive 100% support
towards their council tax, and every working age household in the East Riding will
have some council tax to pay.
The introduction of Universal Credit from October 2013 will change the way in
which households receive financial support towards their housing costs. Both
housing benefit (for tenants) and Support for Mortgage Interest (for
homeowners) will be abolished and replaced with equivalent support under
Universal Credit. For most households Universal Credit will be paid in arrears as
a single monthly payment. Where a couple make a joint claim they will have to
decide who receives the single payment. The Department for Work and Pensions
(DWP) are currently running a number of direct payment demonstration projects
with local authorities and housing providers to see how tenants manage their
monthly payment of housing benefit and to seek to address any problems in
communication that may arise.
The DWP's Impact Assessment on changes to the Housing Benefit Regulations
highlights that there is likely to be an increase in rent arrears and possession
proceedings potentially leading to an increase in evictions. A cross-departmental
Welfare Reform Impact Group and Board, has been established with the purpose of
sharing information about the reforms (internally and externally with partners) and
to ensure a co-ordinated response to the reforms across the Council. Households
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not affected by reforms to welfare benefits are also facing real difficulties in
managing their income and housing as a result of the continuing economic
downturn and its impact on the housing market, and the actions taken by
Government to reduce the national debt. Homelessness is increasing across the
country, and there are fears that it will continue to increase. The East Riding of
Yorkshire Financial Inclusion Strategy has been developed with the aim of
increasing resident's financial capability and improving access to advice and
support to prevent a financial crisis.
1.3
Linkages to National, Local and Corporate Priorities
In August 2012 the Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness published its
report, Making every contact count: A joint approach to preventing
homelessness, which focuses on how services can be managed in a way that
prevents all households from reaching crisis point and becoming homeless. This
approach will make the best use of available resources and also achieve local
outcomes such as improved health and wellbeing. The report sets out ten
challenges that can contribute to local authorities achieving a ‘Gold Standard’
housing options services and this strategy reflects East Riding of Yorkshire
Council’s commitment to developing services that meet these challenges. These
are shown in gold coloured boxes at the beginning of each section of the strategy.
Since the general election in May 2010, the Government has implemented a
programme of change and reform. This reform agenda has meant local homelessness
services needed to adapt quickly to deliver services more efficiently, and to mitigate
potential homelessness impacts arising from welfare reforms. Other key changes that
have had (or will have) a direct impact on the way in which the Council delivers
housing and homelessness services to the community include:
Comprehensive Spending Review
Oct 2010
Affordable Homes Programme Framework
Feb 2011
No Second Night Out
Jul 2011
Laying the Foundations: National Housing Strategy
Nov 2011
Localism Act
Nov 2011
Welfare Reform Act
Mar 2012
Reinvigorating Right to Buy and One for One Replacement
Apr 2012
Allocations Code of Guidance
Jun 2012
The Allocation of Housing (Qualification Criteria for Armed Forces)
Aug 2012
(England) Regulations 2012
The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2012
Nov 2012
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The Housing Act 1996 (Additional Preference for Former Armed Forces Nov 2012
Personnel) (England) Regulations 2012
The homelessness strategy has been produced with regard to the above national
agenda and legislative changes. In addition it will help the Council to meet the
following corporate priorities:
• Maximising our potential – working with others to support sustainable economic
growth and strong communities ensuring the East Riding is a great place to invest
in, live, work and visit;
• Supporting vulnerable people, reducing inequalities – supporting in times of need,
protecting from harm and improving the quality of life;
• Promoting health, wellbeing and independence – helping people to stay healthy,
strong and fit for the future; and
• Reducing costs, raising performance – developing our workforce and working
with partners to provide excellent service, effective governance and value for
money.
Finally, the homelessness strategy will help deliver the three priority outcomes of the
health and wellbeing strategy. These are:
• Health and wellbeing inequalities in the East Riding are reduced;
• Children and young people in the East Riding enjoy good health and wellbeing;
and
• East Riding residents achieve healthy independent ageing.
1.4
Linkages to other Strategies and Policies
The homelessness strategy has taken the local context from the overarching housing
strategy (2011) for East Riding of Yorkshire which sets out the Council’s vision that:
the range, quality and affordability of housing in the East Riding will meet the needs of
current and future residents, contributing towards more sustainable communities and
encouraging economic growth and prosperity. The housing strategy has three key
objectives which seek to deliver this vision and the homelessness strategy has been
produced with regard to these objectives:
• Objective one: Knowing our community - Understanding the socio-economic,
housing and support needs of current and future residents;
• Objective two: Ensuring strong, vibrant and healthy communities - ensuring that
East Riding has quality sustainable housing, complemented by local services and
infrastructure, to meet the needs of current and future residents; and
• Objective three: Delivering excellent housing services - promoting and facilitating
excellent service delivery across all housing tenures to meet the housing and
support needs of residents.
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The homelessness strategy has been produced with reference to a number of other
housing related policies and strategies that have been updated as a result of
reforms highlighted in 1.3 above. This includes the housing strategy for vulnerable
people, older people's housing strategy, housing assistance policy, affordable
warmth strategy, allocation policy, tenancy policy, affordable rent policy, tenancy
strategy and empty homes strategy.
The homelessness strategy also aligns closely with a number of other local
strategies including the financial inclusion strategy and family poverty strategy and
emerging private rented housing and affordable homes strategies.
1.5
Corporate Requirements
The Council has a duty to conform with certain requirements. This section sets
out how the homelessness strategy addresses those requirements shown below:
East Riding Community Plan
Launched in November 2006, ‘Our East Riding’ is the East Riding Local Strategic
Partnership’s (LSP) second community plan and provides a blueprint for the area
over the period 2006 - 2016.
The LSP is an umbrella partnership which brings together organisations from all
sectors to work toward a common goal – our ambition for the area. The LSP
provides a strong platform for joint working to stimulate innovation; it is also a
vehicle for ensuring that public services are delivered in a strategic, cost effective
and timely way.
As a group of partner organisations, the LSP is working together to ensure that the
East Riding is a place where:
•
•
•
•
•
Children and young people have a brighter future.
Older people enjoy a healthy independent lifestyle.
Communities are healthy, thriving, prosperous and safe.
Regeneration transforms deprived areas and reduces health and other
inequalities.
We value and care for the diverse character of the area.
The homelessness strategy is identified as a key multi-agency plan that will help to
deliver the community plan. A draft of the strategy will be presented to the Health,
Care and Wellbeing Action Group, a sub group of the LSP Board.
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Crime and Disorder Act 1998 – Complying with Section 17
Section 17 imposes a duty requiring local authorities to consider crime and
disorder reduction in the exercise of all duties. Section 17 states that ‘each
local authority should take account of the community safety dimensions in all of
its work. All policies, strategies, plans and budgets will need to be considered
from the standpoint of their potential contribution to the reduction of crime
and disorder’. The homelessness strategy will lead to reductions in crime and
disorder by ensuring that people who are sleeping rough on the streets of East
Riding of Yorkshire are supported to access appropriate accommodation that
meets their housing and related support needs.
Equality Analysis
The Council must ensure that services are equally accessible to all, regardless of,
race, religion, belief, gender, gender reassignment, disability, age, sexual
orientation, marriage and civil partnership or pregnancy and maternity. The
equalities impact assessment, published on the Council's website, explains how
the homelessness strategy meets the three aims of the Equality Act 2010 - to
eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation, advance equality
of opportunity and foster good relations.
Wellbeing
The most simple definition of ‘wellbeing’ is, ‘a contented state of being happy,
healthy and prosperous’. The homelessness strategy has been developed using a
toolkit to identify how it can impact on wider wellbeing. The outcome of this
assessment has been published on the website as part of the accompanying
evidence base as part of the consultation process.
1.6
Outcomes
The East Riding of Yorkshire homelessness strategy recognises the importance of
early intervention and prevention to reduce homelessness and demonstrates the
Council’s commitment to enhancing the experience of homeless households. To
achieve the aims of the strategy the Council and its partners have identified three
priority outcomes:
Outcome 1
Prevent homelessness through effective partnership working
Outcome 2
Improve pathways into housing for all client groups
Outcome 3
Secure access to safety net services and support for those in
crisis to manage a transition to settled accommodation
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Sections three to five set out the key issues under each of these areas and actions
to address them.
1.7
Progress since 2008
The Council monitors performance against the actions set out in the last
homelessness strategy. Key successes are outlined below. Where performance has
been poor or targets not been met it has been identified as part of the
homelessness review and actions carried forward into the revised strategy. Since
2008 the Council has:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Invested nearly £50m to provide over 330 new Council dwellings including
£20m from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA);
Enabled a further 50 additional affordable homes through the planning
system;
Improved two Council owned gypsy and traveller sites and secured funding
from the HCA Traveller Pitch Fund for the third;
Secured funding from the HCA Affordable Homes Programme to provide 156
additional Council dwellings between 2011 and 2015;
Secured funding from the HCA Homelessness Change Programme to open an
11 bed supported housing scheme in Bridlington for rough sleepers and those
at risk of rough sleeping;
Secured funding from the HCA Empty Homes Fund to bring 13 long term
empty properties back into use by 2015;
Opened a supported housing scheme for homeless young people in
Bridlington;
Launched a property accreditation scheme for private sector tenants and
landlords;
Achieved the 2010 decent homes target for Council housing and worked with
housing association partners to help them to meet the standard;
Brought over 50 empty properties back into use by a mixture of
encouragement and enforcement;
Introduced a homelessness prevention team;
Commissioned a generic housing related support service;
Undertaken regular estimates of rough sleeping;
Worked with partners to reduce homelessness through the homeless steering
group;
Introduced a homeless outreach service and supported them to access
national funding;
Supported partner agencies to access funding to set up an emergency
nightstop and supported lodgings scheme for homeless young people; and
Undertaken a strategic housing market assessment which identifies the
housing and support needs of all residents.
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1.8
Development and monitoring of the Strategy
The homelessness review ran for 12 weeks from September 2012 and included
customer surveys, visits to services and focus groups with specialist groups, a
stakeholder day, interviews with Council staff and other organisations, data
analysis, a review of the national and local drivers of homelessness and a review
of the effectiveness of local services.
The Council has considered the findings of the review and has taken forward
many of its recommendations which have informed an action plan in section six.
Priorities are linked to supporting the Council to achieve the 10 local authority
challenges set out in the Government report “Making Every Contact Count” (see
section 1.3).
The draft homelessness strategy will be consulted on widely with key partners
including agencies involved in advising, supporting and housing homeless people or
people who are threatened with homelessness. The names of individuals and
stakeholders consulted are in appendix one and the results of the consultation are
shown below:
[To insert following consultation]
The homelessness strategy will be reviewed annually and monitoring reports
presented twice a year to the Health, Care and Wellbeing Action Group.
Further Information
For further information on this strategy, or to provide feedback on it, please
contact the Housing Strategy and Development Team at the address below or by
telephoning 01482 393949.
Housing Strategy and Development
East Riding of Yorkshire Council
County Hall
Cross Street
Beverley
HU17 9BA
Email: [email protected]
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Section 2: Context
This section sets out the scale and main causes of homelessness in the East Riding
of Yorkshire. It provides a definition of homelessness and the Council’s legal
duties to help homeless households. It also provides an overview of the scale and
causes of homelessness across the East Riding as a whole and for individual
groups most at risk of homelessness.
2.1
Definition of Homelessness
Homelessness is about more than rooflessness. A home provides roots, identity, a
sense of belonging and a place of emotional wellbeing. Homelessness is about the
loss of all of these. It is an isolating and destructive experience and homeless people
are some of the most vulnerable and socially excluded in our society. At worst,
homelessness can mean sleeping rough on the street, however the vast majority of
homeless people are actually families or single people who are not literally sleeping
on the streets but living with relatives and friends, in temporary accommodation or
other accommodation that is about to come to an end.
Local authorities do not have to provide housing for all homeless people. Instead,
they have a duty to house 'statutory' homeless people and every year more than
1,000 people apply to East Riding of Yorkshire Council for homelessness assistance.
To be legally defined as homeless, households must either lack a secure place in
which they are entitled to live or not reasonably be able to stay in their current
accommodation. However, in order for the Council to have a duty to find
households accommodation, there are further strict criteria that have to be met.
Statutorily homeless households are those that are:
• Eligible for public funds (this will depend on immigration status);
• Unintentionally homeless (not their fault that they became homeless); and
• In priority need.2
In addition, households must have a local connection to the local authority area in
which they are seeking to be accommodated (unless fleeing violence). The Council
may offer temporary accommodation either within its own stock or bed and
breakfast whilst enquiries are made to establish the household's circumstances or
pending an offer of more suitable permanent accommodation. The 2011 Localism
Act made significant changes to the homelessness duty in England and Wales. Local
2
Priority need groups include: pregnant women, households with dependant children, someone vulnerable as
a result of old age, mental illness or handicap or physical disability or other special reason. someone homeless
or threatened with homelessness as a result of an emergency such as flood, fire or other disaster, young
people aged 16 and 17 years old, aged under 21 years old who were in local authority care between the ages
of 16 and 18, or aged 21 and over who are vulnerable as a result of leaving local authority care, someone
vulnerable as a result of leaving the armed forces, leaving prison or fleeing domestic violence or threat of
violence.
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authorities are now able to fully discharge their duty by offering a private rented
sector tenancy of 12 months, without the consent of the tenant. Previously the local
authority had to offer a social home unless the tenant opted for a private tenancy.
More information on this is found in section four.
Most single homeless people over the age of 18 are not classed as statutory
homeless unless they are deemed to be in priority need because they are 'vulnerable'
- that is, they are less able to resolve their homelessness than an 'ordinary' person
perhaps through mental or physical illness. The Council provides such households
with advice and information on homelessness and homelessness prevention but
official statistics do not currently record the outcomes of this advice. Opportunities
to access emergency accommodation in East Riding are limited (see section two) and
many will drift into neighbouring authorities to access homeless services such as
supported housing. Others go on to become part of the 'hidden homeless', staying
with friends and family or sleeping in their car. Only those who go on to sleep rough
or make a formal request for assistance (either under homeless legislation or
homeless prevention activity) are recorded by the Council's information
management systems. Agencies that provide advice and assistance to homeless
people keep their own record of people whom they help and these figures provide a
more comprehensive picture of the scale and causes of homelessness in East Riding
of Yorkshire, more detail of which is found below.
2.2
Homelessness Overview
The East Riding is a very large geographical area and homelessness manifests itself in
different ways across the authority, for example: migrant workers are more
prevalent in Goole, occupying mainly private rented accommodation; smaller
accommodation in Bridlington is scarce, but the area has a relatively high proportion
of single people; and private rents are higher in Beverley and there is a very limited
supply of social housing, including supported accommodation for people who are
homeless, or at risk of homelessness. However, a common factor is the lack of
affordable accommodation available to working age single people.
During 2011/12, Customer Service Centres across East Riding took 2,250 enquiries
about homelessness or risk of homelessness, of which at least 718 were requests to
make formal presentations to the Council for assistance under homeless legislation.
Homelessness acceptances have increased year on year – 337 in 2009, 451 in 2010
and 463 in 2011. There have been significant increases in the rate of homelessness
because of loss of private rented accommodation, but a decrease in the proportion
of applicants who were made homeless by their families. The East Riding is split into
three housing management areas; Beverley, Bridlington and Goole and officers from
each team provide face to face housing advice both to existing tenants of the Council
and to new applicants, including homeless households. A small homelessness
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prevention team offers family mediation, a bond guarantee scheme, mortgage rescue
assistance and other help, for example, negotiation with private landlords.
There is little emergency or supported accommodation specifically for those who
are homeless, whether or not they are accepted as being owed a full duty. The
review highlighted that most of the supported accommodation is intended for people
aged 16 to 24, and is disproportionately in Goole.
Figure 1 below shows the number of homeless presentations by area in 2011.
Bridlington had the highest number of homeless presentations to the Council.
Figure 1: Homeless presentations by area, 2011
Number of homelessness presentations by Ward in 2011
Bridlington inc Flamborough & Bempton
East Wolds and Coastal
Driffield and Rural
Wold Weighton
Pocklington Provincial
Beverley Rural
St Mary's
Minster
Dale
Cottingham inc. Woodmansey
Wolfreton
Tranby
South Hunsley
Hessle
North Holderness
Mid Holderness
South West Holderness
South East Holderness
Howdenshire
Howden
Goole inc Hook
Snaith etc
Total
Total
378
30
59
28
30
13
0
88
15
28
3
29
7
45
40
15
20
44
19
10
97
17
1015
Source: P1E
Ethnicity of those making a presentation
There are very low levels of homeless applications from non-white ethnic
backgrounds, for example in 2011 only 4 applications were received and at the time
of the review no applications had been received in 2012. The 2011 Census data
reports that 1.9% of East Riding’s population are from non-white backgrounds.
Age of those making a presentation – accepted homeless households
The majority of homeless households that the Council accepts a full duty to are
17
working age, between 16 and 64 years old. The number of young people accepted
as homeless has risen by 27% from 2009 to 2011 and the number of households
aged between 45 and 59 accepted as homeless has increased by 76%. Within the
age range of 16 to 24, numbers of 16/17 year olds have been relatively low; 6 in
2009, 5 in 2010, 4 in 2011 and 2 for the period of January to June 2012.
2.3
Statutory Homelessness
Homelessness is increasing within East Riding, which reflects the national position.
The number of homeless presentations has increased by 21% since 2009, with the
number of acceptances also increasing by 37%.
The chart below shows that there are large numbers of applicants found to be ‘not
homeless’ but no further breakdown is available. It is likely that the applicant either
had access to suitable accommodation already (i.e. were not homeless within 28
days) or that an intervention such as access to the private rented sector meant
they were able to move to alleviate their potential homelessness. The review
highlighted that some people were making a homeless presentation to the Council
so that they could be awarded additional priority on the waiting list. This is
discussed further in section 4.1.
Figure 2: Annual homeless decisions
Source: P1E
Priority need – accepted homeless households
An analysis of the priority need reasons tells us that:
•
The majority of accepted homeless households have dependant children; and
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•
Since 2009 levels of applicants accepted as homeless due to physical disability has
increased year on year by 71% until the end of 2011, although the numbers are
still very small.
Official statistics only capture the main reason for ‘priority need’ status under
homeless legislation but for many applicants there can be secondary and tertiary
reasons that would have also fitted within the priority need status. The
homelessness review highlighted that other authorities capture secondary reasons
for priority need and it is a recommendation of this strategy to develop systems to
capture relevant data associated with non statutory homelessness approaches. This
is discussed further under section three. The table below shows the main reason
homeless applicants were awarded ‘priority need’ between January 2009 and June
2012.
Figure 3: Reasons for households being accepted as homeless and in 'priority need', 2009-2012.
Figure x: Priority need reason for accepted homeless households
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2.4
Families with young children
Homeless households in this client group are de facto in priority need, because of
the presence of children/pregnancy in the household, and there is a good general
awareness of this across all agencies. These households are therefore far more
likely to find their way to the Council than are other client groups. Stakeholders
that work with families and children tend to have a high awareness of the risks that
might result in homelessness, such as welfare reform, debt, domestic abuse and
family breakdown.
The eastern area office based in Beverley collected information about all
homelessness presentations during 2011. Whilst this represents only 29% of all
presentations, it provides some useful information to understand the pattern of
homelessness amongst this customer group. 59% of all those making a
homelessness application had dependant children. The highest proportion (40% of
all presentations) was from female lone parents, 17% were from couples with
dependant children and 2% were male lone parents. Official data on accepted
homeless households is shown below:
Figure 4: Accepted households whose priority need is dependent children or pregnancy
Priority need
Pregnant
With 1 dependant child
With 2 dependant children
With 3 dependant children
Total with dependant children
Total
2009
44
116
57
25
198
Total
2010
48
154
70
49
273
Total
2011
39
182
82
41
305
2012 (2
qtrs)
17
88
39
28
155
Source: P1E Eastern Area Office
The northern area housing office based in Bridlington has the highest numbers of
acceptances overall and as figure 5 below shows, the main reason for homelessness
is termination of assured shorthold tenancies; far exceeding loss of a tenancy for
other reasons. Family licence termination is significant across all areas, but the
western area housing office based in Goole, has fewer acceptances for relationship
breakdown than the other two areas. The northern area office has the highest
number of domestic abuse acceptances.
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Figure 5: reasons for homelessness of accepted lone parent households in 2011
Provided families are not found to be intentionally homeless, they are usually rehoused in Council or housing association stock and very occasionally in privately
rented housing (only with the applicant’s prior agreement). Following the powers
introduced by the Localism Act in November 2012, the Council is now able to
discharge the homelessness duty into the private rented sector. This is discussed
further in section 4.2.
2.5
Young people (aged 16-24) including care leavers
The impact of national and local drivers for homelessness, on young people is
particularly marked. As a result of Government reforms there is less assistance
with housing and living costs:
• Local housing allowance rates are limited to a single room within a shared
property instead of self-contained accommodation;
• There is a lower job seekers allowance;
• Non-dependent deductions have increased significantly since 2011;
• Education maintenance allowance has been withdrawn; and
• There are lower minimum wage rates for under 21 year olds.
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Welfare reform has particularly affected families with children who are no longer in
full-time education. Evidence collected as part of the homelessness review found
that there is growing pressure on family budgets which is increasing the numbers of
young adults being asked to leave the family home.
Local conditions in East Riding compound the impacts of these national drivers. The
largely rural area means that many people need a car to travel to work, with 45%
of East Riding’s population commuting outside the area. The number of young
people in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance rose from 1,850 to 2,150 between April
2011 and April 2012. Outside the main towns, home to almost half the population,
employment opportunities are even more limited, and there is little or no
affordable housing available to rent or buy. Family stresses are compounded by the
inability to afford a home large enough to meet an extended family’s needs.
Added to this, there are marked variations in the supply of one-bedroom homes
suitable for single young people across the area. The 2011 Strategic Housing
Market Assessment (SHMA) identified that, across all tenures, under 5% of all
homes in East Riding are one-bedroom properties, with particularly low
proportions in the Wolds, Beverley and Holderness. Many of these are bungalows.
The SHMA also highlights the low rates of flats. Although it indicates that there is a
relative oversupply of one bedroom social housing, this does not take into account
the impact of the size criteria for working age social housing tenants in receipt of
housing benefit. This will increase demand for smaller units of social housing from
existing social housing tenants looking to downsize from April 2013. A review of
the Council’s sheltered housing supply should help to increase the supply of such
housing however, by potentially re-categorising it as general needs housing for all
ages (see section 4.1).
The homelessness review highlighted the increasing problem of sofa surfing
amongst young people. This group do not often present to the Council as
homeless, but stay with extended family and friends. The Youth Support Services
(YSS) has started to pick up more cases because the young people drop out of
education (at least one case per week). Most fall under the levels of concern to be
a child protection issue, but there are concerns about the risks both from the
itinerant lifestyle and to their futures. Those who approach the YSS themselves
tend to do so because they have run out of options or because they are involved
with the Youth Offending Service (YOS).
2.6
Households fleeing domestic violence
The Domestic Violence and Abuse Partnership works with a range of agencies and
services to address the needs of those subject to domestic abuse and violence.
22
Figure 6 below summarises the data from official homelessness statistics relating to
relationship breakdown and domestic violence. Between 7% and 10% of all
acceptances are for domestic violence.
Figure 6: Homelessness Reason - Violence
Reason for homelessness
Relationship breakdown violent
Relationship breakdown non-violent
Total acceptances
% acceptances because of domestic
violence
09/10
35
32
354
10%
10/11
44
47
469
9%
11/12
34
40
466
7%
The team prevent homelessness by providing information, advice and guidance as
well as emotional and practical support around legal options, housing, welfare
benefits, staying safely at home and, in high risk cases, finding somewhere else to
stay. In the 18 months from January 2011 to June 2012, these accounted for 93.9%
of all preventions to enable someone to stay in their home, and 84.4% of all
preventions, whether to stay put or to move to an alternative home.
2.7
People with health and disability issues
Health and disability issues are only recorded as the priority need reason on the
homelessness statistics for those who have no other priority need. This means that
information about the health and disability issues of homeless people is
considerably poorer than for other groups, e.g. families with children.
Figure 7 shows the number of households that were accepted as homeless on
discharge from hospital. This will be the reason for homelessness recorded for
those who were homeless on admission, but now owing to their illness or event,
are in priority need. It is also used where someone’s illness or event meant they
were unable to return to their settled home.
Figure 7: Households accepted as homeless on discharge from hospital
Leaving hospital
% homeless from hospital
Total acceptances
Total 2009
Total 2010
Total 2011
5
1.5%
337
8
1.8%
451
11
2.4%
462
2012
qtrs)
5
2.1%
233
(2
Age is, to some extent, a predictor of health and disability issues and is more likely
amongst those who are aged 60 and over. The numbers and acceptance rate for
older adults is unusually high in East Riding of Yorkshire. Some of these may be
those that were accepted as homeless from hospital, but official data does not
enable cross-referencing for individual cases.
23
Figure 7: Households accepted as homeless - over 60
Acceptances of
older adults
Total
2009
%
accept
Total
2010
%
accept
Total
2011
%
accept
2012
(2
qtrs)
%
accept
60-64
65-74
75+
Totals over 60
years
Total
acceptances
16
8
7
31
4.7%
2.4%
2.1%
9.2%
21
22
18
61
4.7%
4.9%
4.0%
13.6%
19
24
12
55
4.1%
5.2%
2.6%
11.9%
3
9
10
22
1.3%
3.9%
4.3%
9.5%
337
451
463
233
Where there is no other predominant priority need reason, households may be
accepted as in priority need because of old age, physical disability, mental ill health
or other vulnerabilities (including learning disabilities). There is no priority need
category for people with learning disabilities within Government data so
households are usually recorded under ‘other reasons’. The Council has only
recorded 2 households under ‘other’ in the last four years, so it is likely that this is
a rare occurrence amongst homelessness acceptances.
Figure 8: Households accepted as homeless - health
Priority
reason
need
Old age
Physical disability
Mental health
Total
acceptances
Total
2009
%
accept
Total
2010
%
accept
Total
2011
%
accept
2012
(2
qtrs)
%
accept
18
34
10
337
5.3%
10.1%
3.0%
27
49
16
451
6.0%
10.9%
3.5%
21
58
16
462
4.5%
12.6%
3.5%
8
31
9
233
3.4%
13.3%
3.9%
The Council is required by law to investigate the needs of those presenting with
physical, learning or mental health issues. Community Mental Health Teams and
GP's are approached for help in making decisions; as are adult social services where
the customer is known to them.
2.8
Single homelessness including rough sleepers
There is currently no reliable data on homelessness amongst single people collected
by the Council other than the number of non-priority decisions made in each period
(although this will also include childless couples). This shows that about 17% of all
presentations are from people with no priority under the homeless legislation. There
is also no record of the housing needs of single people who seek housing advice but
do not go on to make a homeless application. Section 3.1 recommends improving
local systems to capture data on the number of approaches for assistance by nonstatutory homeless households to improve outcomes for this group.
24
Other data recorded by the Council can help to assess the scale of need from single
homeless people:
•
•
•
•
In 2011, 31 homeless presentations came from people who were recorded as
having no fixed abode;
Five people made presentations from prison;
In 2009-10, 73 single homeless people were provided with housing support, and
in 2010-11, 91 single homeless people received housing support;
Once domestic violence services are taken out of the picture, single
homelessness accounted for 20% of all entries into housing related support
services in 2010-11.
There is more information about single homelessness in East Riding of Yorkshire in
relation to rough sleeping. The following table shows the number of people assisted
by the rough sleeper outreach service provided by the Hull Homeless and Rootless
Project (Hull HARP) in 2011/12.
Figure 9: Rough sleeper outreach service
Place
Bridlington
Goole
Beverley
Willerby/Anlaby
Hornsea
Driffield/Langtoft
South Cave
Newport
Total
Number found
83
13
3
3
2
2
1
1
108
% of total
76.85%
12.04%
2.78%
2.78%
1.85%)
1.85%
0.925
0.925
Source: HullHARP
This shows that the incidence of rough sleeping and single homelessness is spread
across the local authority area, but the largest number is still to be found in
Bridlington; 89 of these people were male and 19 female. Figure 10 below shows the
ethnic origin of all clients assisted by Hull HARP in 2011-12. Of the 13 East
Europeans assisted in the first year of outreach, 3 were found in Bridlington and 1 in
Beverley, and 3 Latvian women were amongst those rough sleeping in Goole (see
section 2.11 for more information on homelessness amongst Migrant Workers).
Figure 10: Ethnicity of people sleeping rough
Ethnic origin
White British
Scottish
Irish
Latvian
Polish
Lithuanian
Romanian
Number
92
2
1
8
2
1
1
%
85.09
1.85
0.925
7.41
1.85
0.925
0.925
25
Estonian
Total
1
108
0.925
100
Source: Hull HARP
The following table shows that the largest group is in the 20-29 age band, which
reflects the view of the substance misuse and criminal justice agencies that it is this
age group that is struggling most to resolve their housing need.
Figure 11:Age of people sleeping rough
Age band
under 20
20-29
30-39
40-49
50 or over
Total
Number
11
37
24
19
17
108
%
10.2
34.3
22.2
17.6
15.7
100
Source: Hull HARP
The main causes of homelessness recorded by Hull HARP are poverty, alcohol
problems, a history of offending, and mental health problems (as well as benefitrelated problems). It should be noted that not all the people recorded by Hull HARP
are found to be sleeping rough; the table below shows 4 people who were sofa
surfing – usually defined as moving from one friend or family member’s home to
another but likely to involve occasional periods of sleeping rough.
Figure 12: Support needs of people sleeping rough
Presenting problem – cause of homelessness
Benefit-related
Alcohol addiction
Offending
Mental Health
Relationship breakdown
Drug-related
Entrenched/transient
Former LAC (care leaver/institutionalised)
Disabilities/health
Prevented (avoided rough sleeping)
Sofa surfing (not classified as rough sleeping)
Evicted
Discharged from Armed Forces
Total
Number
32
19
10
10
7
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
1
108
%
29.6
17.6
9.25
9.25
6.5
4.6
4.6
3.7
3.7
3.7
3.7
2.77
0.925
100
Since the rough sleeper outreach team was established to work in East Riding in May
2011, counts have taken place on a quarterly basis. Hull HARP outreach expects to
find and work with an average of 10 rough sleepers or people at risk of sleeping
26
rough a month. In addition, the latest official rough sleeper count, estimated that 11
people were sleeping rough on a given night in November 2012.
2.9
Substance Misusers (people with a drug or alcohol problem)
Generally there is a low prevalence of drug use in the population of East Riding,
below the national average. Numbers in treatment in 2011-12 remained fairly similar
to those of 2010-11. There are however pockets of deprivation, social exclusion and
isolation, particularly in Goole, Bridlington and Withernsea; prevalence of drug use
usually follows the indices of deprivation. Adult Partnership performance reports for
2011-12 shows that out of 231 drug users starting a treatment journey, 26 had a
housing problem and 5 were of no fixed abode or had an urgent housing problem.
There is no equivalent data for alcohol users. The number in treatment is known to
be a very small proportion of the people with significant alcohol problems (possibly
as low as 4%). As a consequence, there is little known about the housing needs of
people with alcohol dependency in East Riding of Yorkshire. The lack of data
recording referred to earlier makes it difficult to obtain a complete picture of the
housing needs of this group.
2.10
Offenders
East Riding of Yorkshire is a relatively low crime area. In 2011-12, comparisons of
recorded crimes across the country show that there were 24 crimes per 1,000
households in the area, compared with, for example, 54 in Hull and North East
Lincolnshire, and 41 in North Lincolnshire, an average across the sub-region of 41
and 38 across England and Wales. Data for East Riding from 2009 shows that
significant numbers of offenders working with the Probation Service have housing
problems. A snapshot in July 2009 showed that:
• 70 Offenders had a significant housing problem: 22 were of No Fixed Abode,
and 48 were in transient or short-term accommodation (21 were in a hostel,
either in Probation Approved Premises or another supported housing scheme).
• A total of 101 offenders (22% of the total caseload) had issues to do with
accommodation with a strong link to their offending; these may include
problems over the suitability of their accommodation and its location. In a
further 14% of cases, there was a link between accommodation problems and a
risk of harm to themselves or others.
More recently, the Integrated Offender Management team estimated that 20% of
their current caseload are offenders with housing problems, and an analysis of data
for 2011-2012 shows that the number of adult offenders who are homeless, sofa
surfing, or in transient and unsuitable accommodation has increased over the last 3
years. A total of 57 offenders (14%) had a significant accommodation problem.
27
2.11
Gypsies and Travellers
Gypsy and Traveller households can be homeless if they:
• Own a caravan or mobile home but have nowhere legal to park it;
• Are staying temporarily with family and friends, in their caravan or in ‘bricks and
mortar’ accommodation and it is not reasonable for them to stay there or their
family or friends have asked them to leave; or
• Have a home, but it is not reasonable live there, for example because it is
unaffordable or in a bad state of repair or if the household is in danger there (e.g.
because of domestic violence, or serious harassment).
In 2011/12 the Council received five homelessness applications (out of almost 1,200)
from people who described themselves as being a Gypsy or a Traveller. As most
Gypsies and Travellers do not usually want to be housed in traditional ‘bricks and
mortar’, their homelessness may manifest itself in either illegal encampments or as
'hidden homeless', doubling up on pitches on authorised sites.
The Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment (2012) found that
although it is difficult to gather empirical evidence on the economic circumstances of
Gypsies and Travellers, a number of families will be excluded from accommodation
provided at market rates and will require additional support to access safe and
secure accommodation in line with their cultural needs. Without this support they
may be at risk of becoming homeless.
2.12
Armed Forces
Very little is known about homelessness amongst the Armed Forces in East Riding of
Yorkshire. Homelessness data reports that the Council accepted a homeless duty for
seven households who were homeless because they were leaving the Armed Forces
in the period January 2009 to end of June 2012. Research undertaken by the Council
to inform the Armed Forces Community Covenant suggests that there are 6,700
veterans excluding dependants in the Humber area. An estimate provided by the
Royal British Legion suggests there are up to 12,000 veterans including their families.
The majority of veterans in the area are thought to be over 65 years old, with a
much smaller proportion of working age.
National research suggests that those leaving the Armed Forces face a number of
challenges which may trigger homelessness including:
• Common mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, stress, physical
limitations;
• Financial hardship including lack of employment and difficulties accessing benefits;
and
• Social problems include loneliness, adjusting to civilian life, social isolation and
difficulties with new or existing relationships.
28
2.13
Migrant Workers
Since 2005, there has been a significant increase in the numbers of migrants living and
working in the East Riding of Yorkshire. During 2005-2008 approximately 4,360 new
National Insurance (NI) numbers were issued to overseas nationals living in East
Riding, compared with just over 100 in the three previous years. Migrants live in the
more urban parts of East Riding, particularly Goole, however they also live and work
in Bridlington, Beverley and Driffield. In Goole migrants are settling on a more
permanent basis in extended family units. During 2010, births to mothers whose
place of origin was outside the UK accounted for over one-third of all births
registered in the town.
Most migrant workers find accommodation in the private rented sector, and housing
problems most commonly arise when they have periods of unemployment and are
unable to pay their rent. This appears to be more severe in Goole where
homelessness amongst this group first appeared in any scale around 2009. This led to
a homeless drop-in service being established by the Council, and ultimately to the
setting up of the Migrant Engagement Team and repatriation service, Communities
Together, now based at the Courtyard.
The Communities Together team regularly see migrant workers who are homeless,
threatened with homelessness, or living in someone else’s flat or house whilst they
await either benefits or the chance to get work. In addition, there are occasional
threats of (mainly) illegal eviction from private landlords when people are not able to
pay their rent because their job has ended or due to requests to tackle poor
conditions and overcrowding. Migrant workers are amongst the people seen by Hull
HARP since their rough sleeping outreach service started in April 2011, with a total
of 13 migrant workers helped in 2011-12. Most were Latvian, two Polish, and one
from each of Lithuania, Estonia and Romania. Substance misuse and criminal justice
agencies say they have seen an increase in the small numbers of people known to
have offended and substance misuse (particularly alcohol) problems from the East
European countries (e.g. around 12 people out of 488 in treatment in 2011-12).
29
30
Section 3: Outcome One – Prevent homelessness through
effective partnership working
Key services must work together to tackle the underlying problems that can lead to
homelessness and ensure that those who become homeless get the second chance
they deserve. Vulnerable individuals at risk of homelessness will be spotted earlier
and their underlying problems will be addressed before they reach crisis point.
Those who do become homeless will have a better chance of rebuilding their lives.
Individuals will receive the help they need to get their lives back on track - to be
healthy, find a stable home, enter and hold down employment, manage their finances,
up skill and stay away from crime. Central to this will be local action. The
recommended actions set out in this section will help the Council achieve the
following gold standards:
Adopt a corporate commitment to prevent homelessness, which has
buy in across all local authority services
Offer a Housing Options prevention service, including written advice
to all clients
Actively engage in preventing mortgage repossessions including
through the Mortgage Rescue Scheme
3.1
Information, Advice and Guidance
The Council provides front door advice and information through its customer
services online, by phone, in person at 14 Customer Service Centres and by video
link via CitizenLink kiosks across the East Riding of Yorkshire. Households in need
of housing advice can be provided with information about advice or accommodation
provided by the Council and other organisations (including completion of a housing
application form) or if they are actually homeless or at risk of homelessness they can
be made an appointment to see the Housing Management Officer covering their
area. These are not homelessness specialists, but they take homelessness
presentations and these are investigated and determined by others within housing
services.
Households can ask to see one of the homeless prevention officers instead (see 3.2
below), but publicly-available information on this is very limited. Appointments at
peak times (e.g. summer months in Bridlington) can take up to two weeks to see a
31
housing management officer, unless it is an emergency situation. This is a loss of
valuable time when prevention activity could have been undertaken, meaning that the
household's homelessness journey is extended and in some cases, prevention work
comes too late to stop homelessness from occurring.
As a result of the welfare reforms and other changes, e.g. the withdrawal of national
funding for advice services, the Council has launched a review of advice provision to
ensure that customers do not have to repeat their problem to a range of different
officers and they are signposted quickly to the most appropriate department or
agency to help. The homelessness review showed that there is a need to focus on
early intervention and recommended creating a bespoke housing options team.
Although this may not suit the way that services are delivered in the East Riding, the
Council is reviewing the way it delivers housing options and advice with a view to:
improved customer service and outcomes; more homelessness prevention and
reduced associated costs; and to avoid duplication. This would also show the
Council’s commitment to delivering a gold standard service as set out in Making
Every Contact Count.
Service Improvement Plan
In order to improve access to information and advice the following priority actions
are recommended:
•
•
•
•
•
3.2
Revise the Council’s response to all housing enquiries so that appropriate
information, advice and signposting is provided at the first point of contact;
Review the housing options and advice (homelessness) service;
Ensure the local authority website provides self-help options on-line to improve
customer access to quality advice to prevent homelessness;
Develop local systems to capture and report relevant data associated with nonstatutory homelessness approaches; and
Ensure that anyone approaching the housing service receives a comprehensive
assessment of available housing options and, where practicable, written advice.
Homelessness Prevention Services
The Council currently provides a dedicated homelessness prevention service which
includes family and landlord mediation, bond guarantee scheme and mortgage rescue
scheme. The homelessness prevention officers endeavour to provide effective advice
and assistance to enable the customer to either remain in their own home or move
to more appropriate accommodation. Appointments with these officers can be
sought via the Customer Service Centre or through referral by the housing
management officers and some other agencies such as adult and children’s services.
Prevention data for the last three and a half years is shown in the table below.
32
Homelessness relief means that the customer was homeless when they approached
the service and the Council was able to relieve their homelessness by supporting
them into alternative accommodation, without the need to seek assistance under the
homeless legislation.
Figure 13: Homeless prevention and relief figures
Homelessness prevention and relief
Total
2009
Total
2010
Total
2011
Homelessness prevention
Homelessness relief
Totals
1,088
19
1,107
1,328
21
1,349
1,208
5
1,213
Total
2012
(2 quarters)
583
1
584
The prevention methods used to enable customers to remain in their homes are set
out below. The largest number of preventions recorded is for measures provided by
the Domestic Violence and Abuse Partnership.
Figure 14: Prevention methods enabling people to remain in their current home
Homelessness prevention measure
DVAP
Mediation
Conciliation
Rent arrears/service charge
Debt advice
Negotiation to stay in PR accommodation
Other assistance to stay in PR accommodation
Mortgage arrears assistance
Housing Benefit problems
Homeless Prevention Fund
Other prevention to stay in home
Totals
Total
2009
835
48
0
10
1
3
0
1
22
0
0
920
Total
2010
1,084
52
0
8
5
1
2
9
2
1
2
1,166
Total
2011
1,035
29
13
10
9
2
2
2
1
0
0
1,103
2012
(2 quarters)
476
6
9
7
1
3
2
3
0
0
0
507
Bond scheme -The Council’s Bond Guarantee Scheme is, apart from the work
recorded by DVAP, its main homeless prevention tool, accounting for around twothirds of homeless preventions recorded by the Council in returns to the
Government in each year since 2009. Through a written agreement between the
landlord, applicant and Council, the Council will take responsibility for up to a
maximum of £400 of any damage, rent arrears or legal costs relating to the tenancy.
To be eligible applicants must be threatened with homelessness, be on a low income
or benefits and have little or no savings. Applicants must also be registered on the
housing waiting list and have a local connection, and be capable of keeping a tenancy
and understand the responsibilities of being a tenant.
The number of applications to the bond scheme has been decreasing over the last
33
three years, from a peak of 589 in 2009/10 down to 248 in 2011/12. Despite this, it
appears from statistics that there is a high level of interest in the scheme, or at least
interest in accessing the private rented sector. In 2011/12, 931 customers
approached Customer Service Centres seeking information or advice about the
scheme, with 410 being provided with a form and 278 requesting advice. Over the
same period 248 applications were actually made to the scheme, of which 76 were
successful.
The £400 per month limit means that only bonds for one bedroom accommodation
fall within this cap. The average deposit required for a two bed home in East Riding
of Yorkshire is £415.83, and for a three bed home £568.75. This could be a reason
why approvals have fallen from their peak in 2009/10. The homelessness review
identified that the bond scheme makes a positive contribution to homelessness
prevention activity by helping people into privately rented accommodation.
Mediation
The Council employs a full time family mediation officer and part-time landlord
mediation officer to negotiate with private landlords and family members to try to
resolve any issues that could lead to the household being asked to leave or evicted
from their accommodation. If this is not possible they work closely with housing
providers to relieve homelessness by securing alternative accommodation wherever
possible. The homelessness review identified that the service was very successful in
preventing homelessness but suggested that there was insufficient capacity within
existing resources to meet demand. More detail on family mediation is found under
section 5.2.
Domestic Violence and Abuse Partnership (DVAP)
DVAP employs 7 FTE workers (two managers, two project workers and three
project assistants). The service is provided to any victim of domestic abuse,
whatever their gender and age (children under 16 years old will be referred to the
safeguarding team in children’s services). A package of support is crafted around the
individual. There are four office bases across East Riding that accept self-referrals or
referrals from agencies. Figure 15 below shows only those agencies that referred
above single figures over the last four years:
34
Figure 15: Referral source for DVAP
Referring agency
Police
Open access (i.e. self referral)
Housing
Child care team
Customer Service Centre
Other DV service
Health
Children's Centre
Probation
CMHT/CAMHS
Care management team
Education
Other
Drug & Alcohol Services
Totals
20092010
1,833
222
85
85
28
11
19
8
21
9
10
3
4
3
2,341
20102011
2,401
195
111
85
18
15
12
7
7
9
6
9
3
1
2,879
20112012
2,332
186
111
85
38
29
14
14
10
7
5
4
6
6
2,847
2012-2013
Apr to Aug
870
57
29
48
12
13
9
17
1
1
3
2
3
3
1,068 (part
year)
The focus of the service is prevention of harm to the victim and their family, so
those whose risk cannot be reduced will, with their agreement, be moved to a
refuge property and re-housed through the waiting list or, occasionally, DVAP will
help to find a privately rented property. DVAP does not provide a sanctuary scheme
per se; rather it target hardens properties through measures such as lifelines that
enable victims to raise the alarm quickly and without having to speak over a phone
(in front of a violent partner, for example) and security measures for doors and
windows. These measures are counted as homelessness preventions if the victim
has presented to the Council as being at risk of or actually homeless, and the
domestic violence or housing service has used these measures to enable them to
return or stay in their home. The main issues identified during the review were
around the pathway from first reporting to DVAP, which varies depending on the
location that the customer first presents. Section four explores this in more detail.
Support for Owner Occupiers
The Council employs two full-time equivalent officers to assist homeowners at risk
of losing their home due to mortgage arrears and help out with other homelessness
prevention activity as required. Since the introduction of the Mortgage Pre-Action
Protocol in 2010 there has been a significant increase in the number of referrals and
enquiries. In 2009 there were 217 enquiries and in 2010 there were 515 enquiries.
The Council actively participates in the national Mortgage Rescue Scheme run in
conjunction with Chevin Housing Association. This enables qualifying home owners
struggling to afford their mortgage repayments to sell the property to Chevin and
35
rent it back from them. In East Riding of Yorkshire, 24 of these arrangements have
been completed (by September 2012). The same scheme can also offer a small equity
loan charged against the property to clear any mortgage arrears and the Council
completed 9 such loans during the same period.
In addition, a Repossession Prevention Fund provides 0% interest loans to those at
risk of losing their home through either mortgage or rent repossession. These are
repayable, based on individual circumstances, but the duration is usually a maximum
of five years. Since the inception of the fund up until September 2012, almost
£67,000 had been used. The fund allows a maximum loan of £5,000 per household.
Of the 28 payments that have been made, 14 have been in respect of mortgagerelated issues and 14 in respect of rent-related issues. In May 2012, the criteria for
the Repossession Prevention Fund was amended to include the possibility of nonrepayable grants of up to £1,000 to enable resettlement of rough sleepers (e.g. for
furniture packs), and of up to £500 to offset rent arrears or other tenancy related
debts where to do so will keep a tenant in their home.
Actively engaging in preventing mortgage repossessions will help the Council to
deliver a gold standard housing options service as set out in Making Every Contact
Count. However more needs to be done across the local authority and its partner
agencies to raise awareness of the services available and to improve access to
financial advice and assistance for residents at risk of losing their home due to debt,
before it becomes too late.
Service Improvement Plan
The homelessness review recognised the important contribution that the homeless
prevention and domestic violence teams make to preventing homelessness but
highlighted that they were under resourced, particularly as demand for their services
is likely to increase. In addition to the review of housing options and advice service,
the following will be considered as a priority:
• Review capacity for more family mediation within housing and the youth support
service;
• Review the bond scheme to be even more effective in homelessness prevention
and increasing access to housing in the private rented sector;
• Ensure that customers presenting with issues around domestic abuse and
violence receive a consistent approach at the ‘front door’; and
• Raise awareness of the mortgage rescue scheme and repossession prevention
funding to help struggling home owners before it becomes too late.
36
3.3
Universal Services that Contribute to Homelessness Prevention
The Council provides a number of services that contribute to preventing
homelessness. Services that are specific to particular client groups are shown in
section five.
Aids and Adaptations
The Council seeks to enable vulnerable older people and disabled adults and children
to remain in their own homes, living as independently as possible, for as long as is
reasonably practicable. Suitably designed or adapted housing, along with appropriate
health and social care, is fundamental to the delivery of this aim. Private sector
households with an assessed need for an adaptation to their property can apply for a
Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), and Council tenants can apply for their home to be
adapted out of the Council's own resources. All applications are subject to means
testing, with the exception of households with disabled children. Households living in
adapted properties that are at risk of homelessness due to a shortfall in their housing
benefit can apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment (see below).
Discretionary Housing Payments
Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) is managed by the adjudication team located
in partnership and commercial services. Customers are signposted to the scheme by
staff at the Customer Service Centres and housing services. The fund may be used to
minimise the impact of rent restrictions for homeless referral cases or to prevent
evictions. In general its purpose is to ensure that those who claim Housing Benefit
do not suffer high levels of hardship and their value in homelessness prevention is
recognised across all Council departments. Payments can normally only be made for
a short period unless there are exceptional circumstances. Information about DHP is
included on the Council’s website.
To mitigate the impacts of welfare reform, the Government announced increases in
DHP by £10m in 2011-2012 and £40m3 a year in subsequent years with the stated
intention to: “keep people in homes where needed; there are some people who may be
living in more expensive homes than the LHA rate will become, who will need to stay there,
for instance people who have very heavily adapted that home” and to “help with the
transition and to support recipients”. Figure 16 below shows the amount of funding
received by the Council for DHP.
3
This was subsequently reduced by £10m in 2013/14 and 2014/15 and £5m in 2015/16 and 2016/17 following
the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.
37
Figure 16: DHP funding
Period
2008/09
2009/10
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
Government
contribution
£73,829
£69,531
£63,054
£118,224
£248,570
£374,000
The Government’s on-going commitment to increase the level of DHP funding
provided to local authority’s highlights the anticipated impact of the benefit changes
and the Council’s guidance has been updated to reflect the new demands on this
fund. The removal of previous limitations for the use of DHP’s has seen a significant
increase in expenditure by the Council.
The payment can cover a variety of shortfalls, including rent officer restrictions,
reductions to local housing allowance following changes to the law, increases in costs
for accessing work, and removal costs to move somewhere cheaper. It can also be
used for deposits and rent-in-advance although the use of DHP for this purpose has
so far been limited due to the criteria in which this can be claimed. The following
table shows that payments are being made to address shortfalls arising from welfare
reforms; the increase in people awarded a DHP because of the shared
accommodation rate is particularly noticeable. It is also noticeable that there has
been a shift in recording the reason for the award from ‘other’ to ‘low/insufficient
income’ although unfortunately this does not reveal much information about
household's circumstances. As a result of the bond scheme changes (it now provides
a guarantee rather than cash payment) it is likely that requests for DHP for rent in
advance will increase in the future.
38
Figure 17: reason for DHP award 2010-12
Housing Related Support
The Council provides housing related support to enable people to live
independently. Over the twelve-month period from August 2011, the generic floating
support service, delivered by Boston Mayflower, helped approximately 160
households, a significant proportion of whom were at imminent risk of or actually
homeless. Others would have become at risk of homelessness had they not received
support to address issues.
To improve access to housing related support and better outcomes for service
users, the Council has developed a framework of providers that individuals can
choose from once they have received an initial assessment. The support provided
will be based on their individual need and will be classed as either short term to help
vulnerable people or households in a crisis to overcome barriers to independent
living (usually up to three months) or long term (ongoing). Households that are
identified as having a housing related support needed to enable them to access or
maintain independent living will initially be assessed by the Council’s single intake and
duty team. This assessment will determine the number of hours of support the
individual is eligible to receive. The design and delivery of the package of support will
be determined between the individual and their chosen support provider. This will
deliver a more person centred approach to support planning and enable the Council
39
to monitor demand for services more closely, leading to improved commissioning
decisions.
A number of accommodation based schemes are being reviewed as contracts expire
and the Council is working with service providers to find the most sustainable model
going forward, to ensure each scheme’s long term viability, whilst improving housing
related support outcomes for residents. The homelessness review identified that this
was a key issue for the Council to prevent the loss of valuable services in the future.
Where there is an identified gap in provision the Council will explore opportunities
to jointly commission services with neighbouring authorities, support partners to
submit relevant funding bids and consider innovative solutions such as 'spot
purchasing' of services in other areas, where it is not feasible to develop new
schemes in the East Riding.
East Riding Council Benefits and Money Advice workers
The Council provides a benefits and money advice service which can assist with
many benefit enquiries including Council Tax, Housing Benefit, Pension Credit,
Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Carers entitlements. The
team sits within the Council’s Partnership and Commercial Services area. There are
two money advice officers and three visiting officers. In the six months from April
2012 the money advice officers have received over 1,000 referrals and visited just
under 700 customers. Successful outcomes for customers from the service are
measured in terms of housing and Council tax benefit awarded. Customers are
referred to the Council’s employment and support team and Citizens Advice Bureau
as appropriate. They are actively involved in raising awareness of the welfare reforms
amongst those affected and demand for their service is likely to increase in the
future.
Local Welfare Assistance will replace the Social Fund from April 2013 which
provided crisis loans and community care grants to people in receipt of benefit. The
new scheme will be administered by East Riding of Yorkshire Council, with support
from 'trusted partners' who will be trained to help people through the application
process. There will be two elements to the scheme:
• Support Grants (SG) - to meet, or help to meet, a need for community care;
and
• Emergency Loans (EL) - to meet, or help to meet, an immediate short term
need.
Applications for emergency loans will be approved within two days and in most cases
payment will be awarded within 24 hours. Through the partnership there will be
more joined up working leading to improved outcomes for people that are homeless
or at risk of homelessness.
40
East Riding Council Employment and Support team work with and alongside
Jobcentre Plus, helping people to overcome barriers to work, for example through
mock interviews, CVs, application forms, budgeting, childcare, etc. This team also has
a role in signposting people to the right place to overcome barriers. There is good
knowledge transfer between Council teams which ensures that signposting and
referrals are made, although the homelessness review recommended that support
workers could add questions around housing need to their interview form to enable
better signposting to these services.
Jobcentre Plus - There are four Jobcentre Plus offices across the East Riding, based
in Beverley, Goole, Bridlington and Hessle and providing advice and information
regarding access to employment as well as benefit entitlement advice. Claimants for
job seekers allowance can also be assisted to apply for housing benefit. Electronic
transfer of information to East Riding Housing Benefits (HB) team ensures that
claims are assessed and put into payment as speedily as possible.
The Government aims to ‘make work pay’ and, alongside welfare reform, is changing
the role of Jobcentre Plus to focus more on meeting the needs of the individual. The
quality of this service may impact on homelessness, for example timely and
appropriate signposting, may prevent someone who has recently lost their job from
getting in mortgage or rent arrears. In addition they will be expected to work even
closer with local authorities and other partners to make use of funding such as the
Flexible Support Fund which is available to remove barriers to work. The Pre-Work
Programme training, whilst mainly targeted in East Riding towards young people and
employment, may offer an opportunity to connect with young people and
understand if more can be done through housing activity to support them in gaining
employment, accessing and sustaining a home.
Service Improvement Plan
Joint working between council services including housing and Jobcentre Plus will lead
to improved outcomes for homeless households and those at risk of homelessness.
The following actions are recommended as a priority:
•
•
•
Ensure that homelessness is adequately addressed in the development of services
to improve financial inclusion;
Commission support services which prevent homelessness and support
resettlement and; where there are identified gaps, develop alternative methods
of provision such as arrangements with neighbouring authorities;
Review opportunities for Jobcentre Plus and the Employment and Support team
to help people who are vulnerable to homelessness to overcome housing
barriers to work.
41
3.4
Services Provided by Other Agencies
The 2006 Homelessnes Code of Guidance for local authorities is very clear
regarding the importance of partnership working across a range of partner agencies,
providers and persons. There are a number of agencies that provide homeless
prevention services across East Riding of Yorkshire, however there is little
knowledge about the effectiveness of the range of information and advice and
whether referrals achieve the desired result (i.e. homelessness prevention or help
with specific issues that might lead to homelessness). East Riding is both large and
diverse and most agencies work in only specific areas so while some organisations
work closely together they may not be aware of other services. Regular
homelessness forum meetings are held in Beverley but these cannot engage all
agencies across the area to ensure that customers get all the advice and information
they need to avoid or resolve homelessness. The Council will strengthen its
relationship with these agencies over the course of this strategy through the
homeless steering group and other multi-agency meetings.
The Hinge (Bridlington and Goole)
The Hinge acts as a gateway to all agencies related to service user’s individual needs.
It operates from two centres and provides support to the residents and young
people living in the local communities served.
The Bridlington service is located in a property let by the Council to the project. It
offers resettlement support for homeless single people; this is predominantly but not
exclusively used by younger people asked to leave by parents. Benefit and welfare
support services are also provided to local residents, including support with Disabled
Living Allowance applications and with eviction notices. The project is linked to the
community centre and runs a number of drop-ins, classes for all members of the
community across age groups and services for children. A food store helps anyone
who needs it: predominantly homeless young people who are sofa surfing or rough
sleeping. There are two designated workers supported by student social workers.
They provide a wide range of advice and assistance to people who are at risk of
homelessness.
The Goole base of The Hinge Centre currently has funding for a Big Lottery
‘Chances for Life’ programme, aimed at helping people to progress with their lives
within local communities. The staff team consists of two full-time members of staff,
both social work qualified, supported by volunteers from time-to-time.
There are four types of help offered to people who might face or have faced
homelessness. Firstly they provide an advice and advocacy service and can help
source accommodation. If family mediation is needed, staff may carry out that liaison
role, along with Social Services. Secondly they provide resettlement services to help
42
people get settled in to the accommodation. Thirdly they provide support to gain
skills for independence such as cooking, financial management, and integration within
the community and finally they can provide people with a pack of essential items for
daily life, non-perishables in the main but also food and a hot drink for people who
are sleeping rough or sofa surfing.
Cherry Tree Advice Centre
This general advice service is based in Beverley and the running costs are funded
partly by the Council, the Community Legal Advice Network, as well as receiving
funding from many other sources including Beverley Town Council and fundraising.
The advice service has 5 part-time staff including a Manager, advisors and an
administrative assistant and there are 14 volunteers. A solicitor volunteers on a
Friday to provide legal advice predominantly regarding relationship breakdown and
family law generally.
The service deals with all age ranges and find that currently they are very busy
dealing with all sorts of recession-related situations including debt problems, job loss
and relationship breakdowns. They advise that their main client groups are single
homeless people both in priority need and not in priority need. Although their
service covers all age ranges, they find that the greatest number of customers are
aged between 18 and 40. They are currently seeing two people a week with
homelessness issues.
Community Legal Advice Network (CLAN) provided by the Hull and East Riding
Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), opened in March 2010 with funding from the Council,
for the provision of a generalist advice service, and the Legal Service Commission
(LSC), for the provision of a specialist advice service in debt, welfare benefits,
housing, employment and community care. The CLA network operates from three
main offices (in Bridlington, Goole and Beverley), through a network of 10 outreach
locations across the East Riding and via a dedicated 0300 telephone contact number.
Reforms to the Legal Aid system, introduced by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and
Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, come into effect on 1 April 2013. This
significantly reduces the services that are available under the Legal Aid system, both
in terms of the categories of advice remaining in scope and the eligibility of potential
claimants. In East Riding it is estimated that over 90% of the claimants who are
currently provided with Specialist advice under the Legal Aid system (through the
LSC funding) would no longer be able to access that advice once the Act comes into
effect. The Council is exploring ways to identify potential sources of funding to
continue specialist advice provision, in recognition that demand for these services is
likely to increase. In addition, the Council has resolved to fund the CAB to deliver
generalist advice services from April 2013 for an interim period of 12 months whilst
43
establishing longer term, more sustainable advice provision.
The Courtyard, Goole
In relation to general advice and information, this facility has the following
organisations based within it:
•
•
Children and Family Action which enables individuals to access resources and
information around issues of benefits, training and employment; and
East Riding of Yorkshire Council Advice Goole Neighbourhood Programme,
which aims to tackle liveability issues by improving services in the most
disadvantaged neighbourhoods in partnership with a range of agencies.
East Riding Voluntary Action Services (ERVAS)
Historically ERVAS has provided a Community Voluntary Sector directory called
Prime, which is available on the Council’s website. This provides details of all
voluntary agencies operating within East Riding. This directory will shortly be
replaced by a new e-market place for adult social care; setting out all the appropriate
agencies and having forums within it to seek advice.
Faith Groups
Faith groups have always played an important role in helping people in need and the
Council recognises the valuable work that volunteers from churches across the East
Riding do to help feed and house the homeless.
•
Christchurch, Bridlington offers a main meal once a week for homeless people
and a drop-in 4 times week, providing basic food, clothing, and household
items. They occasionally pay for bed and breakfast in ‘dire emergencies’ or
provide the bus fare to Leeds or Hull.
•
Kingfisher Café, Bridlington provides free meals to homeless people three
times a week. They are also open the public to raise funds. Every morning
that the café is open they provide homeless people with a free breakfast.
Personal items can also be provided. Volunteers help by contacting landlords
and have some success in helping people to find accommodation, in which
case they can also assist in finding furniture. They also provide advice and
information about other key services within Bridlington.
•
The Mission Trinity Methodist Church in Goole works with individuals and
families who are destitute; both migrant workers and local people, offering
food, clothing and a listening ear. The main contact time is on Friday evenings,
when a hot meal is provided. On occasions, bed and breakfast
accommodation is provided for a couple of nights whilst other avenues are
44
tried.
Hull Homeless and Rootless Project (HARP)
Hull HARP provides an outreach service across East Riding for single homeless
people and rough sleepers. There are three workers in the service, and two of
these share the outreach sessions in East Riding. The work is carried out through
visits to hotspots, and to places like the Kingfisher café in Bridlington. The
outreach service has recently developed links with the Beverley Poverty Action
Group and also links into the Cherry Tree Advice Centre in Beverley. The
service identifies that they have supported a total of 776 individual clients in four
years across both Hull and East Riding, and have managed to accommodate 31%
off the streets, with 35% now accessing services.
Young Adult Support Service (YASS)
YASS is a social enterprise that was set up in 2004 in recognition of the
homelessness issues of young people. It provides free and confidential advice to
young adults (aged 16 to 35) on all areas of lifestyle and health. The service is
provided by eight members of staff: two directors and six volunteers, and is open
daily between 12 noon and 7pm but they will respond outside these times if
necessary. They also host a drop-in service for Mental Health advocacy from
10am until 6pm and run training seminars for other local agencies in all areas of
health and lifestyle.
Service Improvement Plan
The following priority actions will ensure that the Council delivers a multi-agency
response to homelessness prevention across the East Riding of Yorkshire:
•
•
Explore with agencies the option to develop three homeless action groups in
East Riding, and mechanisms to ensure there is wide awareness of the services
and accommodation available across East Riding; and
Develop education and awareness raising sessions, including joint training across
statutory and voluntary sector services, regarding the local response to
homelessness and the importance of preventing homelessness and information
sharing arrangements between local partners.
45
46
Section 4: Outcome Two – Improve Pathways into Housing
for all Client Groups
The profile of housing supply in East Riding of Yorkshire is noticeably different
compared with England; levels of owner occupation are much higher, and levels of
social and private renting are much lower. This presents a challenge to
accommodating households who are unable to access owner occupation because of
their financial situation. Private renting has increased since the 2006 housing market
assessment, from 7% to 8%, whilst social renting (local authority and housing
association) decreased from 9% to 8% (13,700 properties), particularly through a
reduction in Council owned housing. In October 2012 there were over 10,700
applicants on the Council's housing register (including transfer applicants).
Developing local approaches that are flexible enough to deliver personalised
pathways into housing for individuals who require a different approach will prevent
repeat homelessness by ensuring there is always a route back into services for those
who need it. Pathways should include: Assessment services (with access to
emergency accommodation); Progression services (where people can develop the
skills they need to live independently); Specialist services (which can cater for people
with high and complex needs); and Move on units with resettlement and floating
support services. Improving pathways into housing for all client groups will also
ensure that the goal of independent living is more attainable and that there is
sufficient movement through schemes to promote the availability of supported and
temporary accommodation options for new customers.
The following Gold Standards will be achieved by the Council as a result of this
outcome:
Have housing pathways agreed or in development with each key
partner and client group that includes appropriate accommodation
and support
Develop a suitable private rented sector offer for all clients, including
advice and support to both clients and landlords
Not place any young person aged 16 or 17 in Bed and
Breakfast accommodation
Not place any families with children in Bed and Breakfast
accommodation except in an emergency
47
4.1
Social Housing Supply and Demand
At April 2012 the Council’s rented housing stock comprised 11,318 dwellings, with a
further 206 leasehold properties. The majority of properties are general purpose
for all age groups but 14% (1,638 properties) are designated sheltered housing for
older and disabled people, located on 47 individual housing schemes. Apart from
sheltered housing, the Council does not currently manage any supported housing
within its own stock. However, a number of vulnerable and disabled people reside
in general needs stock and receive support and care packages. Examples include
people fleeing domestic violence, care leavers and people with mental ill health.
In addition to the affordable housing owned and managed by the Council there are
approximately 2,500 homes owned and managed by housing associations. This
means that around 8% of housing stock in the East Riding is considered to be
affordable (below market rent). Approximately 1,000 social housing units (7%) are
allocated to new tenants each year (excluding allocations to transferring tenants and
homeless households placed in temporary accommodation). Of these, just over 500
are in general purpose housing with two or more bedrooms, suitable for families.
The table below shows the number of new lets into Council housing in 2011/12 by
property type and housing market sub area.
Figure 18: New lets into Council housing 2011/12
Lets to new applicants
Studio/
2 bed
3 bed
4 bed
1 bed
Housing market sub area
No
%
No
%
No
%
No
%
Beverley / Central
Bridlington Coastal
Driffield and the Wolds
Goole and Humberhead
Holderness and South Coastal
112
35
18
73
25
47%
32%
43%
48%
27%
95
48
14
68
44
40%
44%
33%
44%
47%
32
24
10
13
23
13%
22%
24%
8%
25%
1
2
0
0
1
0
2%
0
0
1%
Vale of York
TOTALS
20
283
25%
39%
37
306
45%
42%
24
126
29%
18%
1
5
1%
1%
The Council receives nominations to approximately 50% of all housing association
voids. The Housing Strategy 2011 identified the need to review nomination
agreements with registered providers of social housing and to increase this figure to
at least 75%.
The 2011 Strategic Housing Market Assessment identified a need for an additional
1,008 new affordable homes per annum. The main reason for such high levels of
housing demand for affordable housing and identified housing need is that private
housing costs are too expensive for many households. In September 2012 the
48
average sale price for a property in East Riding was just under £133,000 and average
full-time gross earnings were just over £25,500, giving an average income to house
price ratio of over 5:1.
Over the period 2011-15 the Council is under contract with the Homes and
Communities Agency (HCA) to deliver 156 affordable homes through a mixture of
new build and purchase and repair. In addition, housing associations under contract
with the HCA are committed to delivering 60 affordable and supported units in this
timeframe. The level of affordable housing delivered through planning policy is very
difficult to predict: during 2011-12 a total of 12 dwellings were delivered; the first
nine months of 2012-13 has resulted in the delivery of six dwellings. More
applications are currently being received, however viability considerations, coupled
to local resistance to the provision of affordable housing, mean that increased
delivery may not be achieved in the short to medium term.
In April 2012, the coalition Government introduced a policy to ‘reinvigorate’ the
Right to Buy (RTB) by increasing the cap on the eligible discount for qualifying
households from £26,000 to £75,000. Between April 2008 and March 2012, the
Council sold a total of 46 properties under the RTB. However the Council now
estimates that it will sell 50 properties per annum as a result of the more generous
discount. Altogether, since the inception of East Riding of Yorkshire Council in 1996,
more than 2,500 Council homes have been sold under the RTB.
Demand for general needs housing from young families, couples and single people
has been exacerbated by the Welfare Benefit Reforms including the caps to Local
Housing Allowance and the shared room restriction being applied to under 35 year
olds (see section 1.2). Through the development of the Housing Revenue Account
Business Plan the Council will ensure that all housing policies and procedures seek to
make best use of the Council’s stock, maximise rental income and prevent
homelessness. Historically, sheltered housing has been let to older people,
irrespective of their need for support. The revised Allocation Policy (see below)
seeks to ensure that lettings are only made to applicants who need the support.
Related to this, a review of the mobile warden service by the Council, could
potentially re-designate over 3,000 flats and bungalows previously categorised as
supported housing for older people to general needs housing for all ages. This will
make a significant contribution to the overall supply of housing suitable for working
age applicants and help mitigate the impact of the welfare reforms on households
seeking to downsize.
The Council has already made amendments to its Allocation Policy in response to
the freedoms and flexibilities awarded to local authorities to enable them to make
the best use of housing in their area. The existing Allocation Scheme for Council
49
housing has ten groups and is an open allocations policy. It gives the highest priority
to statutory homeless applicants, followed by those applicants with a reasonable
preference. The new policy, due to be implemented during 2013, has eight bands
and specifies that applicants are:
• required to have a local connection to the East Riding of Yorkshire;
• considered ineligible if deemed guilty of unacceptable behaviour; and
• subject to a financial assessment and if they have a household income of more
than £40,000 gross per annum or savings and assets (including equity in a
property) of more than £150,000 or both will usually be placed in Band 8 (no
housing need).
Priority to facilitate social housing tenants to downsize has been introduced in both
the current and amended policies, making it easier for those affected by the welfare
reforms to move to something smaller. The homelessness review also identified that
the existing allocation policy can offer an ‘incentive’ to people, particularly single
person and childless couple households, to make a formal homeless presentation as
this would improve their chances of getting a Council property. Amendments to the
allocation policy have given homeless prevention activity high priority which should
reduce the number of unnecessary assessments and help to avoid applicants from
becoming statutorily homeless and going through all the associated trauma and
upheaval. In addition, the policy to discharge the homeless duty into the private
rented sector and the introduction of 'flexible' or fixed term tenancies will diminish
the certainty that if you approach the Council as homeless you will be offered a
secure Council tenancy for life.
The above measures will enable people to ‘shuffle around’ and make the best use of
the existing social housing but without a pipeline of new supply to replace units sold
under the policy of right to buy there will be large unmet need and potentially an
increase in the use of temporary and emergency housing to enable the Council to
meet its statutory homelessness duties.
Service Improvement Plan
In order to make the best use of social housing to meet housing need and reduce
homelessness the priority actions are to:
• Increase the supply of affordable homes in areas of housing need; and
• Improve partnership work with other social housing providers to ensure that
best use of stock is achieved across the area and to increase nomination rights
4.2
Private Sector Housing
Despite low interest rates, many households (especially first time buyers) are
struggling to access affordable mortgage lending and as a consequence demand for
privately rented housing is high. In addition, reforms to local housing allowance mean
50
that fewer properties are affordable to households on a low income. In particular
Beverley, Howden and the rural hinterlands are particularly unaffordable for people
in receipt of benefit. The East Riding of Yorkshire falls into three Broad Rental
Market Areas (BRMA), which take into account rent levels in neighbouring Hull,
York and Doncaster. This means that properties in the York BRMA have higher local
housing allowance compared with those in the Hull and Doncaster BRMA.
Many landlords will not let their property to a tenant in receipt of Housing Benefit.
As local housing allowance rates have reduced and payments direct to the tenant
become the norm, a greater number of landlords are reported to be asking tenants
to leave, and retaliatory evictions are expected to increase. There are a number of
reasons why landlords will not accept tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit but the
primary reason reported by landlords in a recent Council survey is because benefits
do not cover the rent, rent is not paid on time and rent arrears develop. Landlords
also report having a bad experience with tenants in the past, disturbances and antisocial behaviour; in general there is a poor perception amongst landlords of housing
benefit claimants.
Whilst the 2011 housing strategy notes the need to increase the role of the private
rented sector in East Riding, the homelessness review has also identified that
termination of assured shorthold tenancies is a significant reason for homelessness
and that more work should be done to prevent this in the future. The private sector
housing team provide dedicated advice, information and training for landlords,
targeted inspection of properties based on an analysis of regular causes and sources
of complaints, a two level accreditation scheme (see below), enforcement action, and
mandatory Houses in Multiple Occupation and additional licensing (in Goole to
address issues arising from sub-letting to migrant workers from the Eastern
European community).
Other services provided by the Council to help increase access to and improve the
quality of the private rented sector include: the bond guarantee scheme, safeguarding
rents (paying housing benefit direct to landlords instead of the tenant) and dedicated
staff to help people affected by reductions to their local housing allowance. In
addition, the Council is considering subscribing to a website, in conjunction with Hull
City Council, which will match tenants in receipt of benefit with affordable
properties available to rent.
The Council operates a property accreditation scheme for private landlords called
Accredited Homes and Accredited Homes of Excellence which the aim of improving
standards in the private rented sector. Tenants benefit from the knowledge that the
property meets the minimum legal standard required (and above this in the
‘excellent’ category) and that the landlord is willing to work with the local authority
to provide a quality assured service. Private landlords benefit from a discount
51
scheme, free advice and regular briefings from the Council. There are currently 320
accredited homes across the East Riding of Yorkshire.
The Localism Act introduced a significant change to how local authorities can choose
to discharge the main homelessness duty into the private rented sector. Prior to
November 2012, Councils were able to arrange for private landlords to offer
Assured Shorthold Tenancies to homeless applicants owed the full homelessness
duty, only with the agreement of the applicant. The changes introduced in the
Localism Act allow local authorities to fully discharge the main homelessness duty by
way of a 'private rented sector offer' without the need to gain agreement of the
applicant. This must be an offer of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy with a minimum
fixed term of one year. Although applicants have lost the discretion to decline the
offer as a final discharge, they still retain the right to request a review of suitability
whether or not they accept the offer. The Council is keen to work with private
landlords to assist more homeless households and those on a low income to access
good quality, affordable privately rented housing and will pursue this by regular
engagement with landlords and through the development of the private rented
housing strategy.
Service Improvement Plan
To help the Council achieve the gold standard to develop a suitable private rented
sector offer for all client groups, including advice and support to both clients and
landlords, the following priority action is recommended:
• Work in partnership internally and with external agencies to mitigate welfare
reform impacts on people living in privately rented housing.
4.3
Temporary accommodation
East Riding of Yorkshire Council has no purpose-built temporary accommodation so
uses its own stock in which to house homeless households, including four empty
properties in Bridlington that have been acquired pending the regeneration of the
area. These properties will eventually be demolished but in the meantime using them
as temporary accommodation helps meet local need and prevents the area from
declining whilst longer term improvement plans are progressed.
In total 137 Council properties were let as temporary accommodation in 2011/12 to
households awaiting a decision on their homeless status or pending an offer of
settled housing. If applicants that are homeless are able to stay temporarily with
friends or relatives it reduces the pressure on the Council's own housing stock and
is a commonly used solution. In 2011/12 79 households were placed in bed and
breakfast for a total of 1,276 days and an average length of stay of 22 days. Of these,
12 were 16/17 year olds, 25 were families with children and 42 were households
52
with no children. Apart from four properties used by DVAP to house households
fleeing domestic violence, none of the Council owned temporary accommodation is
furnished which can make it difficult for some homeless households, particularly if
they are setting up home for the first time.
Service Improvement Plan
In order to improve access to temporary accommodation for homeless households
and to move people on to more permanent accommodation the following priority
actions are recommended:
•
•
•
•
4.4
People in temporary accommodation (including temporary supported housing)
will have move-on plans and housing options are discussed in a targeted way on a
periodic basis;
Except in extreme circumstances, not place any homeless family with children
into temporary accommodation with shared facilities;
Provide at least 3 furnished / carpeted temporary units of accommodation for
households that are setting up home for the first time; and
Ensure that bed and breakfast accommodation has been fully assessed in
advance of each new placement for the impacts of this accommodation on the
household.
Accommodation for young people (aged 16-24) including care leavers
The homelessness review found that most stakeholders report increasing numbers
of young single people including 16/17 year olds, approaching for help to avoid or
resolve homelessness. This is felt to be the result of welfare reform, increasing
demand for scarce housing and rent levels that housing benefit will not cover. The
more complex picture is that of family stress, building up through a long recession
where all households are feeling the pressure (especially those on low incomes),
which eventually result in the parent asking them to leave.
Legislation makes it clear that where a young person is assessed as homeless and is
unable to return home, the Council’s children’s services department should act as
the lead agency to meet the child’s accommodation and support needs. This should
be done in collaboration with the housing department and involve a range of partner
agencies where appropriate in the holistic assessment of and planning for the young
person’s needs.
A protocol exists between housing and children’s services but feedback from
stakeholders was fairly negative about its success so a training event for staff was
held in November 2012. This highlighted the importance of joint interviews by
53
officers from housing and children’s services when a 16/17 year old approaches the
Council as homeless. The priority outcome in almost all cases is that the young
person is helped to return home or to extended family members and this may take
time and support from a number of different agencies. Where the support goes on
for longer than twelve weeks or the young person is not reconciled with their family,
they should be made a ‘child in need’. There are certain benefits to the young person
for this to happen including ongoing support and access to financial assistance.
Following the training event an action plan is being developed which will improve the
form and operation of the 16/17 year old homeless protocol.
As well as the homeless prevention services for young people highlighted in section
3.2, the following accommodation options are available for young people that are
homeless or threatened with homelessness.
Quay Road, Bridlington is a supported housing scheme for homeless young people.
It is owned by the Council and managed by a housing association and provides 9 selfcontained units and 1 emergency bedspace for short stays of up to 28 days. The
service opened in October 2010 and has accommodated 77 people (August 2012).
Residents are supported to move on to independent living and the average length of
stay is four months.
Lansdowne Road, Bridlington is owned by Places for People and managed by East
Yorkshire Housing Association. The project provides six self-contained units of
supported accommodation for young people. The scheme takes a high proportion of
16/17 year olds who are referred, mainly by the Hinge, Youth Support Services and
the local college. The project received 40 referrals during 2011/12. The time limit for
a stay is 18 months and the scheme supports young people to move into social or
private housing.
YMCA, Goole provides accommodation to 18 young persons aged 16-25 who are
single and in need of accommodation and support. One of these is an emergency bed
which is only available to referrals by the Council. The service received 66 referrals
in 2011/12, some of whom they could accommodate and many of whom were living
with friends (sofa surfing) because their family had asked them to leave. Young
people are expected to do something positive with their time for at least 16 hours
per week so they are helped into college, training, employment or voluntary work. In
addition, the service has a resettlement support worker who will work with young
people once they are ready to move on to help them to find and set up their home
and establish their independence.
East Riding Pathways provides Supported Lodgings for young people leaving local
authority care which are effectively ‘board and lodging’ arrangements in a family
54
home. There are 41 supported lodgings providers, 26 of which had placements at the
end of September 2012. A fair percentage of these are in Hull, which also means
that the young person establishes their residency status in the City. Young people
have to be in, or trying to be in, some form of education, training or employment.
Some young people can stay with a ‘staying put’ foster family from the age of 18 to
21 years. The service also has two trainer flats in Beverley, three in Bridlington and
one in Goole, all rented from the Council. Young people can stay until they have
learned independence skills and also proved they are a good tenant (the service tries
to be careful with placements in order to avoid neighbour problems). Move-on is
problematic as there is little one-bedroom Council property available. Figure 19
below shows a snapshot of the accommodation providers for care leavers:
Figure 19: Accommodation outcomes for Care Leavers 2011 - 12
Care leavers' accommodation
snapshot
ERYC foster care
End March
2011
20
End March
2012
20
End Sept
2012
20
Agency residential care
2
3
6
Council tenancy Hull
8
10
10
With family
17
10
11
Supported tenancy or hostel
Specialist placement
University accommodation
21
6
2
18
9
0
10
5
3
Agency foster care
Supported lodgings
Council tenancy ERYC
With friends
Pathway team flat
Armed forces
Homeless/ whereabouts unknown
ERYC residential care
Own private tenancy
Council tenancy other
Bed and Breakfast
Housing association
Custody
Total
5
28
6
14
3
1
1
6
17
0
2
1
3
163
6
29
4
11
5
1
3
3
23
0
3
2
5
165
11
26
3
14
4
1
0
4
20
1
6
2
7
164
Source: Pathways Team
The accommodation data shows that the majority are in relatively stable
accommodation, much of it, including the trainer flats, supported, which is on the
whole necessary for this vulnerable group.
As well as the two emergency bedspaces (in Bridlington and Goole) the following
accommodation is available to young people who are homeless in an emergency:
55
Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) working with the Hinge has established a nightstop
facility. The aim of the nightstop project is to get young people into appropriate
accommodation (where the householders have been Criminal Record Bureau
checked) for a short period of time – generally no more than 3 or 4 nights – whilst
alternative arrangements are made or mediation is effected to try to get them home
to parents or extended family. The scheme went live in October 2012 and is being
rolled out across the East Riding. The target is to provide 200 clients with 800 bed
nights. SASH is also recruiting eight supported lodgings providers for young adults
for stays of up to six months and will also set up a ‘crash pad’ to provide teenagers
who have fallen out with parents with somewhere to stay for up to 12 weeks whilst
the conflict is resolved and a return home enabled.
Supported housing in Hull offers a vital safety net to those young people with
connections to the city either by virtue of family, study or work. There are a number
of supported housing schemes that work with young people including Doorstep,
which has 160 bedspaces in and around the city centre, and the Terry Street Centre,
which has 25 single rooms with shared facilities. Access to such schemes in Hull for
homeless young people from East Riding of Yorkshire is more difficult following city
Council funding cuts. Places are allocated to young people with a local connection to
the city first with other applications being considered subject to availability.
Bed and breakfast - a relatively small number of 16/17 year olds are placed in bed
and breakfast accommodation due to the shortage of alternative emergency
accommodation. The gold standard that the Council will aspire to is to not place any
16/17 year old in bed and breakfast accommodation. The nightstop scheme
established by SASH will help the Council meet this target but more supported
accommodation for young people that can be accessed in an emergency is needed
across the local authority area, particularly in the Beverley and South Holderness
area.
Service Improvement Plan
In order to improve access to accommodation for young people, the following
priority actions are recommended:
• Improve the form and operation of the homelessness protocol between housing
and children’s services;
• Avoid placements of 16/17 year olds in bed and breakfast;
• Provide more supported accommodation for homeless young people in areas of
need; and
• Review and develop pathways into accommodation for young people, in
partnership with Children’s Services, other statutory partners and local third
sector agencies
56
4.5
Accommodation for people with health and disability issues
As well as adapted and sheltered housing for older and disabled people, the
Council has an increasing provision of supported living schemes for a range of
needs, including autistic spectrum, learning disabilities and mental health issues.
However, these cannot accommodate everyone with complex needs or
challenging behaviours. The Housing Strategy for Vulnerable People identified that
the East Riding has approximately 77 units of independent living accommodation
for people with learning disabilities and also provides housing related support.
Expanding the range and choice of housing, care and support services is key to
giving people with learning disabilities and their families more choice and control
over their lives. In addition the following supported housing schemes are available
for people with mental health problems:
MIND, Bridlington provides ten units of short-term (under 2 years) supported
housing at 103 St James in Bridlington. This service receives funding via a
housing-related support contract and from health. It is provided for people with
mental health issues from a formal diagnosis of severe and enduring mental illness
to moderate levels of depression. Referrals come from mental health teams,
hospital, housing, rehabilitation units and other agencies. The property is staffed
during daytime hours with one evening shift and customers receive three or four
hours input per week including through group work on daily living skills (making
this a moderate as opposed to low support scheme). The ability to work with
people in one place increases the amount of input that is possible compared with
floating support.
Turnover is around five or six people per year – people either leave quickly
because the service is not right for them, or will stay until ready to move into
independent properties, which can take up to or beyond two years. There is
plenty of demand, although the service has to refuse people who require more
support than can be offered, or to keep a manageable mix of residents. Most
people are homeless or would be if they had not been discharged into the
scheme from hospital.
MIND also provides two shared houses in Hessle and Beverley (eight places) and
other shared houses across Hull providing 40 places in total. These provide
longer-term accommodation for people with severe and enduring mental health
issues who are referred mainly by mental health units (and occasionally from
other MIND services, housing associations, social services, etc). People are
moved on if able and wish to and there have been several such moves to more
independent living over the last two years. Referrals have increased from 33 in
the first six months of 2011/12 to 37 in the same period of 2012/13 as more
57
referrals are coming from the homeless hostels in Hull. Around 25% of all
customers have a connection to the East Riding, although they may be
temporarily resident in homeless hostels or hospitals in Hull. The majority of
customers are homeless. MIND also provides a mentoring scheme including
trained and supported volunteer mentors, which works with people around
coping strategies and dealing with daily living issues.
4.6
Accommodation for single people or couples, including rough sleepers
There are currently no hostels with emergency access in the East Riding area for
adults over 25. Occasionally, the Mission Trinity Church and the Courtyard in
Goole can pay for accommodation in bed and breakfast. Otherwise, the only
direct access accommodation is found in Hull (see below). Single men and women
from East Riding of Yorkshire are frequently housed in the city although it has not
proved possible to establish exact numbers. A number of caravan sites also
provide accommodation, but this is usually temporary given that people cannot
live on site for the full year: sites tend to close or residents have to move off site
for a period (usually 4 weeks) to satisfy planning regulations, and this leaves large
numbers of people without accommodation at those times.
The Council has secured grant funding to provide a supported housing scheme
for single homeless households and rough sleepers in Bridlington under the
Homes and Communities Agency Homelessness Change Programme. The funding
will allow the Council to purchase and convert a large property into ten selfcontained units of accommodation and one emergency bedspace. The project will
provide intensive housing management and support providers will help residents
to address barriers to independent living through access to advice and services
including health, training and employment. The design of the accommodation will
be open and welcoming and will open in late 2013.
Substance misusers in East Riding of Yorkshire are able to access the supported
accommodation for young people and single homeless households, although none of
these schemes allow drug or alcohol on the premises, so this is a challenge for those
who are as yet unable to control their misuse. All the supported housing schemes
for homeless people in East Riding of Yorkshire will accommodate offenders.
However, the limited supply and turnover means that places are not readily available
when needed. With no additional specialist supported housing, and a difficulty of
accessing accommodation in which to receive support, or accommodation on its
own, offenders’ needs are not currently being met adequately in the East Riding area.
In addition the unwillingness of private landlords to accept this group means that
getting into accommodation can be an uphill task. The Housing First concept sees
people with significant support needs being offered accommodation with a package
of care and support, enabling them to manage an independent life. People do not
58
have to be ‘housing-ready’ and in many cases will have lost several different types of
accommodation in the past. Housing is offered on a settled basis, and is best offered
in a dispersed setting rather than in a block.
The following housing options are available for single and couple households that
are homeless:
Adlam House, Goole is an eight-roomed house providing accommodation for
single homeless men and women aged 16 or over and is owned and managed by
Sanctuary/Carr Gomm.
Residents have en-suite bedrooms with a small
microwave, sink and fridge, a shared kitchen and two lounges. The
accommodation is available for up to two years, as long as people continue to
have support needs. Staff work 9 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday, but can stay
overnight if necessary.
Palace Avenue, Bridlington is a 7 unit supported housing scheme for rough
sleepers which opened in December 2012 using Government grant funding.
Humbercare provides intensive housing management and support to residents in
a 4 bed house and 3 flats on short term basis to meet the needs of this group
whilst waiting for the new supported housing scheme to open in late 2013. The
scheme makes use of empty properties acquired by the Council pending the
regeneration of the area.
The Crossings in Hull was developed by Riverside Housing Association (working
in partnership with Hull HARP) with the support of Hull City Council and opened
in 2011. The £5m facility includes an IT suite, employment and education services,
a multi-gym, treatment rooms and a social enterprise cafe which is open to the
public and provides work opportunities for people living at the Crossings as well
as discounted meals for residents. Many of the other services are also open to
the local community. The accommodation provides 19 direct access rooms
operated by Hull HARP, 11 Hull HARP first stage move-on places and 16
individual rooms with communal facilities operated by Riverside. The Crossings
can house couples as well as single people and is aimed at a target group of
service users who regularly face exclusions from existing local services for
breaching drug and alcohol rules, anti-social behaviour and failure to participate in
support planning and treatment activities.
William Booth House in Hull is a direct access hostel is run by the Salvation
Army Housing Association and provides accommodation for: 67 single homeless
men, 8 single homeless women, 8 single people with mental health issues, 4 single
people moving on to self-contained bedsits, 20 people at resettlement stage and 6
people in two independent supported living houses.
59
Dock House in Hull provides a night shelter operated by Hull HARP. It currently
has funding until March 2013. There are 18 beds available (some in shared rooms)
for a maximum of three months. New applicants need to queue at 8.30pm for a
bed, whilst those who stayed there the previous night have a bed guaranteed.
Each person who stays has access to an hour’s support and an hour’s group
work, with a number of agencies providing in-reach support in the shelter.
Service Improvement Plan
In order to improve access to accommodation for single person households
including rough sleepers, ex-offenders and people who misuse substances, the
following priority actions are recommended:
• Provide training to ensure that agencies working with single homeless people
deliver a consistent approach;
• Consider the Housing First model as a route to tackling entrenched rough
sleeping and for offenders and substance misusers to manage their behaviour;
• Open a supported housing scheme in Bridlington for non-priority single
households that are homeless; and
• Explore how additional emergency accommodation might be provided outside
Goole and Bridlington if needed.
4.7
Accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers
There are three authorised sites for Gypsies and Travellers that are owned and
managed by the Council, providing permanent accommodation for 65 households.
The Housing Act 2004 requires local authorities to undertake regular assessments of
the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers either living in, or resorting to,
their area. The Department for Communities and Local Government Planning policy
for Traveller sites (March 2012) states that local planning authorities should use a
robust evidence base to establish accommodation needs to inform the preparation
of Local Plans and make planning decisions.
In July 2012 the Council commissioned Arup, working with Salford Housing and
Urban Studies Unit at the University of Salford, to provide an up-to-date Gypsy and
Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment (GTANA). This work was undertaken
in accordance with prevailing national policy guidance and reflecting best practice
from elsewhere. Taking into account the number of extant planning permissions for
new sites, the Assessment identifies the net need for permanent provision as shown
in the table below:
60
Figure 20: Net need for new permanent provision for gypsies and travellers
Period
2012-2017
2017 - 2022
2022 - 2029
Total over 2012 - 2029
Number of pitches
21
11
18
50
Although the assessment provides a five year supply figure for the period 2012 - 17,
on the basis that the plan will not be adopted until 2014, the initial five year period
will be from 2014 - 19. In effect this means that if no additional pitch provision is
made during 2012 - 14, then the actual number of pitches will be 25 up to 2019. The
draft East Riding Local Plan identifies two new sites to accommodate the anticipated
need in the first five year period. Thereafter, a more general policy approach will be
included highlighting the need for sites in appropriate locations throughout the
remainder of the plan period.
61
62
Section 5: Outcome Three – Secure access to safety net
services and support for those in crisis to manage a transition
to settled accommodation
If someone becomes homeless they should not have to sleep rough or stay in
temporary accommodation longer than necessary. Alongside the housing pathway
highlighted in section four, the Council will ensure that specialist support is also
available to the most vulnerable groups to ensure that the tenancy is sustained or
the household moved on to more suitable accommodation. This outcome seeks to
engage partners (such as healthcare, prison and police workers) so they have a
basic understanding of vulnerability to homelessness and ways to identify those
who are homeless. Minimising the disruption caused by homelessness by effective
co-ordination of housing and wider services will help the Council to meet the
following gold standards:
Actively work in partnership with voluntary sector and other local
partners to address support, education, employment and training needs
Adopt a No Second Night Out model or an effective local alternative
5.1
Improving Health Outcomes for Homeless People
On average, homeless people die at just 47 years of age. Tackling inequalities in
health is at the heart of the Government's health reforms. The NHS Commissioning
Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups will be under legal duties to have regard
to the need to reduce inequalities in access to and outcomes from health services
and in the integration of services. With millions of patient contacts a day, from
doctors, nurses and midwives, and far beyond, there is real potential for health
services to do more to help identify those at risk of and to prevent homelessness by
referring them on to the appropriate service to address their needs. Healthcare
professionals should 'make every contact count' by using every contact with patients
to maintain or improve their wellbeing, mental and physical health.
In addition, the new Public Health Outcomes Framework indicator on ‘people with
mental illness and disability in settled accommodation’ makes the link between
mental health and housing explicit. The Mental Health Strategy for England ‘No
Health Without Mental Health’ recognises that secure and stable housing is essential
for good mental health and that homeless people experience a range of mental
63
health problems, often in conjunction with drug and alcohol problems. The
forthcoming Mental Health Strategy implementation framework will support local
organisations in ensuring that the mental health needs of homeless people and those
at risk are properly taken into account by local services.
Service Improvement Plan
In order to improve health outcomes for homeless people, the following actions are
recommended:
•
•
•
•
•
5.2
Work with the local Health and Wellbeing Board to develop partnership working
and contribute to integrated working relationships that prevent homelessness;
Develop support provision, including pathways into support with local providers
(including registered providers, health and other relevant partners);
Ensure the Council has effective protocols are in place with local hospitals,
community mental health teams, prisons, probation and other agencies as may be
appropriate, to prevent people from being discharged homeless from hospital or
prison;
Improve connections between housing providers and substance misuse
treatment services through multi-agency working; and
Ensure that homelessness data is considered under the Joint Strategic Needs
Assessment (JSNA).
Services for Young People (aged 16 – 25) Including Care Leavers
Overcrowding of the family home and economic stress prompts both family
breakdown and homelessness of family members who may be thought to be old
enough to fend for themselves. Parents often do not realise that their (homeless)
child will not be given automatic rights to a secure Council tenancy and may have to
move miles away from their network of support to find affordable accommodation.
Explaining the realities to both parties can enable an agreement to be brokered, but
only where the situation has not irretrievably broken down. The following support
services are available to young people including care leavers in East Riding of
Yorkshire:
Family Mediation
Established in 2008, a family mediation officer is employed within the Council’s
homelessness prevention team to work with young people who have been asked to
leave the family home. By April 2012, this post had prevented homelessness for 160
young people by working with them and their families to negotiate an agreement
whereby the young person could stay with their family, usually in the parental home.
Some of these young people are also single mothers, so the work contributes to
parenting support. All work is carried out in the family home, unless there is reason
64
to believe this is unsafe or will be impractical. The aim is to contact the young
person the same day the referral is received and make an appointment to visit.
East Riding Pathways Team supports around 165 care leavers aged 16 and over at
any one time. The accommodation officer finds a suitable home once the family
placement or residential care has ended, ensures benefit forms are completed and
that housing benefit is paid direct to the landlord, and helps the young person to set
up home with carpets and furniture. An ‘odd job’ man can help with furniture
moving, etc. The officer also has good links with people who donate furniture, etc.
Young people have to be at least 18 years old, or have a family guarantor, as
Pathways will not act as guarantor for tenancies. The accommodation officer stays in
touch with all care leavers placed into rented accommodation and the landlord is
able to contact them if any issues arise. This ongoing support is a very significant
benefit in maintaining the accommodation arrangement. As a result, a high
percentage of care leavers do well in independent tenancies.
Hull Young People’s Support Service (YPSS) is a Hull City Council team that
works with young people aged 16 to 21 who are leaving care, at risk of or are
homeless, or who need help, advice and support with any housing-related issue.
They report seeing around 30 young people a year, mainly from Hessle and other
villages around Hull, who have strong connections with the city through education.
Most of these are 16/17 year olds who have been told to leave the family home for a
range of reasons, some more serious than others. They are aware that many more
people aged 18 or over access accommodation in Hull, including the hostels, and
establish residency in the city; eventually being rehoused by Hull City Council or
being helped to access private rented property.
Generic Housing Related Support commissioned by the Council from April 2013
will replace the previous Young Person’s Floating Support Service. This service
provided support to approximately 80 customers a year; 52 at any one time, with an
average input of 6 to 9 months. The new service will be open to anyone aged 16 and
over and the support will be person centred and based around the individual’s needs.
65
Service Improvement Plan
In addition to reviewing the capacity for more family mediation within housing and
the youth support service, primary recommendations to improve access to safety
net services for young people in crisis are to:
•
•
5.3
Introduce mentoring and tenancy training schemes to improve tenancy
sustainment and decrease isolation; and
Introduce independent advocacy for homeless 16/17 year olds.
Services for rough sleepers
No Second Night Out is a national initiative which seeks to ensure that any person
who is new to sleeping rough on the streets is contacted within 24 hours and offered
advice and assistance to access suitable housing and appropriate support services.
Hull HARP as the outreach service for Hull, East Riding and Scarborough is a partner
agency helping to deliver the Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire No Second Night Out
Protocol. Referrals are made either directly to the Council or directly to Hull HARP
via the national helpline which triggers a visit by an outreach worker. If available
emergency accommodation (usually in Hull) is offered until more permanent
accommodation can be found, however in many cases such accommodation is not
readily available. In February 2012 the Government announced £20 million additional
funding for local authorities to ensure front line provision prevents single
homelessness and rough sleeping nationally. East Riding of Yorkshire and Hull City
Councils identified that there was a gap in provision for rough sleepers moving on
from first stage or emergency accommodation and have used the money to fund
a new resettlement service which will be launched from April 2013. In addition, as
highlighted in section 4.6 the Council has used some of this funding to establish a
scheme in Bridlington which provides emergency accommodation and support to
people that are sleeping rough, or at risk of rough sleeping.
Service Improvement Plan
In order to ensure that rough sleepers have access to safety net services and
support to manage a transition to settled accommodation, the following priority
actions are recommended:
•
•
Expand involvement in No Second Night Out to include all agencies working
with rough sleepers and other single homeless people and members of the
public; and
Launch the Hull and East Riding Resettlement Service for Rough Sleepers
66
5.4
Services for families with children
The Council provides or commissions a number safety net services and support
for families in crisis. Awareness of the risk of homelessness for this group
amongst the Council and its statutory and voluntary partners is high, possibly
because of the recognition that households with children in secondary education
are always accorded priority need status. A shortage of affordable family homes
to rent and buy is the biggest cause of homelessness and this often results in
households living in cramped, overcrowded conditions leading to family tensions
and break up. The following support services are available for families with
children:
Sure Start Children’s Centres -There are 19 Sure Start children’s centres across
East Riding. These are designed to provide support and advice for families with
children under the age of five. They also provide family support through home
visits and group sessions on parenting skills, training and job opportunities and
health issues.
Youth Support Service (YSS) - is made up of Positive Activity, Targeted Support
and Youth Offending and Information, Advice and Guidance (formerly
Connexions). The focus is on the needs of the young person to whom services
are delivered, although parents are involved. Services are available to all young
people aged 11 to 19 (up to 25 years if they have learning difficulties or a
disability).
Troubled Families Programme - is a Government initiative which provides
targeted holistic support to families in crisis. The aim is to co-ordinate inputs
from the Council and other agencies, reducing the complexity for the families
themselves, reducing duplication of services and ensuring co-ordinated activities.
This approach replicates the ‘Team around the Family’ which was introduced by
Children’s Services about a year ago. Team around the family meetings are
triggered by a common assessment of a child (1 to 19 years old) identified as
being in need. To date this approach has identified homelessness issues often
arising from Council tenants in overcrowded properties, which create pressure
on the family.
Workless Families Programme - is another Government-led programme which
aims to remove barriers to employment for families with multiple disadvantages.
Children's Services are leading on the programme and referrals are being
encouraged.
67
Service Improvement Plan
In order to ensure that families in crisis have access to safety net services and
support to manage a transition to settled accommodation, the following priority
actions are recommended:
•
•
5.5
Improve information and awareness of services that can prevent
homelessness and address housing need: and
Co-ordinate services involved with a family, through information sharing and
joint working.
Services for ex-Armed Forces Personnel and their Families
The Council signed the Armed Forces Community Covenant on 1 July 2012.
There are three housing specific actions within this: Help to provide, where
possible, affordable and suitable housing for families and single veterans; Provide
individualised advice on housing options; and Facilitate access to and delivery of
housing adaptations according to need. The Council has amended its housing
allocation policy to accord additional priority to former service personnel who
have urgent housing need. In addition the following services are available to
Armed Forces personnel and their families in East Riding of Yorkshire:
The Joint Service Housing Advice Office provides personnel, service leavers
and ex-service personnel still occupying service family accommodation with
comprehensive advice on Housing Options including civilian housing information,
advice and where possible placement into social housing. The Royal British Legion
will refer people to the office who are still serving and are moving to a new area
and want to know about accommodation.
The Royal British Legion provides practical care, support and advice to the
Armed Forces community. The British Legion has a number of branches in East
Riding. There are also two welfare officers covering East Yorkshire who will work
with local authorities in the area to resolve housing issues.
Soldiers, Sailors and their Families Association (SSAFA) is a national charity
for those who serve in the Armed Forces, those who used to serve, and their
families. It offers advice on a range of matters including health and money and will
signpost to CAB and the Council where there are welfare benefit issues. It also
provides practical assistance to people in housing need, for example finding funds
from charitable donations and the Army Benevolent Fund to pay a deposit and
rent in advance for someone to access the private rented sector.
68
Service Improvement Plan
In order to ensure that ex-Armed Forces personnel in crisis have access to safety
net services and support to manage a transition to settled accommodation, the
following priority actions are recommended:
•
5.6
Develop a specific plan to deliver the housing priorities in the Community
Covenant.
Services for Migrant Workers
Migrant Workers tend to live in privately rented accommodation, often provided
by their employer. If they subsequently lose their employment they will usually
lose their housing as well. A very small minority are housed by the Council under
the homeless legislation or through the waiting list (8 households in 2011). Many
migrant workers do not tend to seek help from official agencies either because of
their limited knowledge of the political and administrative system or fear of
repatriation. The homelessness review identified that a training programme for
the agencies working with migrant workers on how best to work with migrant
workers facing homelessness and destitution would be invaluable. This would
cover areas such as eligibility for benefits, homelessness and housing services,
tackling threats of eviction, harassment, and poor conditions, and other
immigration rights. The following services are available to support migrant workers
and their families that have fallen on hard times:
Communities Together has three part-time staff based at the Courtyard in
Goole offering help and advice to migrant workers to access housing, education,
work and health services, and to integrate into the community in Goole. They
will signpost people to the CAB and other services as appropriate and can help
access food and furniture in an emergency. The Council has a grant agreement
with the Courtyard to fund bed and breakfast and repatriation costs for migrant
workers. Over the last eighteen months, 10 people have been assisted at an
approximate cost of £250 per person. The team has made contact with private
landlords to try to develop routes into good quality accommodation when
needed. Funding from the Home Office has also enabled the Team to set up a
world food café, aiming to help migrant workers who have been in prison to gain
catering skills and to enhance their chances of going back into work.
The Migrant Engagement Team works with those who have difficulty finding
housing and benefits and usually encounters people at the stage when they have
exhausted other avenues, and are struggling with homelessness and/or substance
misuse. Many are adamant that they do not want to return to their home
country, so have not sought help from statutory agencies, and often regard
69
sleeping rough or in a tent, or staying in very overcrowded circumstances with
other people from their country, as preferable to repatriation. The private sector
housing team also reports that migrant workers appear happier to accept poorer
conditions if it means they can remain in employment.
Service Improvement Plan
In order to ensure that Migrant Workers in crisis have access to safety net
services and support to manage a transition to settled accommodation, the
following priority action is recommended:
•
5.7
With partners, estimate the scale of the housing problem, agree how best to
make referrals and share information, and develop a training programme.
Services for Gypsies and Travellers
The following support services are available to Gypsies and Travellers in East
Riding of Yorkshire:
Traveller support team/Gypsy and Traveller liaison team -The role of this
Council team, based in housing services, is to manage the three Gypsy and
Traveller sites. The team also signpost and refer households on welfare matters,
for example to health services. The team employs a manager and three officers
working 18.5 hours per week, with one dedicated to each site. The team does
not work with households on unauthorised encampments, unless these are
located on Council owned land. In this instance the contact is to encourage
move-on, although if there are welfare issues these would be referred to the
Minority Ethnic and Traveller Attainment Service (METAS).
Health outreach to Gypsy and Traveller communities - A number of health
workers visit the three Gypsy and Traveller sites in East Riding. A member of the
Mental Health Team has a specific role to work with minority communities to
raise awareness of mental health issues and the help available with these, and to
encourage access. He also works within teams to ensure there is a good
understanding of the cultural and religious needs of minority groups, including
Gypsies and Travellers, and attends meetings of the Gypsy and Traveller
Partnership. This is a multi-agency meeting between the Council, health, police,
ward members and voluntary agencies involved in working with the community
to improve their quality of life.
Hidden Voices, Developing Our Communities was established five years ago to
work with the Gypsy and Traveller community. Funded by the Big Lottery the
role of the worker has been one of advocacy, campaigning and awareness raising.
Hidden Voices has been involved in all consultations by the Council with the
70
community. It also works with other services to enable access for the
community, e.g. Cottingham Youth Club, Health Visitors and East Riding NHS.
Minority Ethnic and Traveller Attainment Service (METAS) is delivered by
the Council. Working in partnership with a wide range of Council services and
other agencies it identifies and supports Travellers, refugees, asylum seekers and
migrant workers to access education and learning for young people and adults.
The service also provides advice and training to other agencies. It describes its
service to the Gypsy and Traveller community as a welfare service. METAS is
usually the only service working with families on unauthorised encampments
(where there is a young person or child involved).The service is in the process of
developing an assessment form for Council use to ensure that welfare issues such
as health, midwifery, education, social care and child protection are considered
when decisions are being made about evictions.
Service Improvement Plan
In order to ensure that Gypsies and Travellers in crisis have access to safety net
services and support to manage a transition to settled accommodation, the
following priority action is recommended:
• Strengthen the Gypsy and Traveller Strategy to address the housing issues
raised in the homelessness review.
71
72
Service/
Group
targeted
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
Outcome 1 - Prevent homelessness through effective partnership working
Information
advice and
guidance
1.1
Revise the Customer Service Centre
response to all housing enquiries so
that appropriate information, advice
and signposting is provided at the first
point of contact
April 2014
HRS
TBC
Complete the review of
advice provision
Revised script and monitoring
procedures
1.2
Review the housing options and advice
(homelessness) service
April 2014
HHPP
N/A
Homeless prevention staff
trained
Dedicated team providing holistic
housing advice
1.3
Ensure the local authority website
provides self-help options on-line to
improve customer access to quality
advice to prevent homelessness
Sept 2013
HRS
HHPP
TBC
Website updated with web
based solutions
On-line Housing Options tool
available
73
Service/
Group
targeted
Homelessn
-ess
Prevention
services
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
1.4
Develop local systems to capture and
report relevant data associated with
non-statutory homelessness
approaches
April 2014
HRS/
HHPP
N/A
Linked to 1.1 to 1.3
Accurate and up to date
information systems
1.5
Ensure anyone approaching the
housing service receives a
comprehensive assessment of available
housing options and where
practicable, written advice
June 2013
HHPP
N/A
Specialist Housing
Advisors toolkit
implemented
Customers approaching the
housing options service receive
written advice
1.6
Review capacity for more family
mediation within housing and the
youth support service
Sept 2013
HCFS
N/A
Capacity for family
mediation is increased
Youth support workers trained in
family mediation techniques
1.7
Review the bond scheme to be even
more effective in homelessness
prevention and increasing access to
housing in the private rented sector
Sept 2013
HHPP
N/A
Bond scheme reviewed in
light of Homelessness
Review
Access to the private rented sector
using the Bond Guarantee Scheme
is widened
1.8
Ensure that customers presenting with
issues around domestic abuse and
violence receive a consistent approach
at the ‘front door’
Sept 2013
HHPP
N/A
Revise the CSC script
Consistent referrals made across
East Riding of Yorkshire
74
Service/
Group
targeted
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
1.9
Raise awareness of the mortgage
rescue scheme and repossession
prevention funding to help struggling
home owners before it is too late
June 2013
HHPP
Ongoing
Press releases, training
sessions with staff
Improved awareness across the
authority and external agencies
1.10
Ensure that homelessness is
adequately addressed in the
development of services to improve
financial inclusion
Sep 2013
HPSP
TBC
Publish the LSP Financial
Inclusion Strategy
Deliver the aims of the Financial
Inclusion Strategy
1.11
Commission support services which
prevent homelessness and support
resettlement and; where there are
identified gaps, develop alternative
methods of provision.
Ongoing
HBM
Housing
Related
Support
Funding
TBC
Increased access to HRS for all
households that need it (regardless
of client group)
1.12
Review opportunities for Jobcentre
Plus and housing services to help
people who are vulnerable to
homelessness to overcome housing
barriers to work
June 2014
HSDM
N/A
Housing Options and
Jobcentre Plus working
together
More people at risk of
homelessness supported into work
75
Service/
Group
targeted
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
Services
provided
by other
agencies
1.13
Explore with agencies the option to
develop three homeless action groups
in East Riding, and mechanisms to
ensure there is wide awareness of the
services and accommodation available
across East Riding
June 2013
HSDM
TBC
Three Homeless Action
Groups established
More targeted action to tackle and
prevent homelessness in local areas
1.14
Develop education and awareness
Ongoing
raising sessions on homelessness,
including joint training across statutory
and voluntary sector services and
information sharing arrangements.
HSDM
N/A
Two training sessions
delivered per annum
Greater understanding of
Homelessness and the services
available and improved data
collection / monitoring.
HSDM
HCA
funding/
ERYC
Capital /
Prudential
Borrowing
HCA Affordable Homes
Programme delivered
More affordable housing provided
in areas of need
Outcome 2 - Improve pathways into housing for all client groups
Social
housing
supply
2.1
Increase the supply of affordable
homes in areas of housing need
Ongoing
76
Service/
Group
targeted
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
2.2
Improve partnership work with other
social housing providers to ensure
that best use of stock is achieved
across the area and to increase
nomination rights
Apr 2014
HSDM
N/A
Revised Nomination
Agreement
Increased nomination rights
Private
sector
housing
2.3
Work in partnership internally and
with external agencies to mitigate
welfare reform impacts on people
living in privately rented housing
On-going
HF
N/A
Monitor through the
welfare reform impact
group
Reduced homeless presentations to
the Council
Temporary
accommod
ation
2.4
People in temporary accommodation
(including temporary supported
housing) will have move-on plans
which are discussed on a periodic
basis
Apr 2014
HHPP
N/A
Revised housing options
and advice service
established
Regular contact maintained with
households in temporary
accommodation
2.5
Except in extreme circumstances, not
place any homeless family with
children into temporary
accommodation with shared facilities
Apr 2014
HHPP
TBC
Alternatives identified
No families placed in B&B except in
an emergency
77
Service/
Group
targeted
Accommod
ation for
young
people
(aged 1625)
including
care
leavers
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
2.6
Provide at least 3 furnished / carpeted
temporary units of accommodation
for households that are setting up
home for the first time
Apr 2014
HHPP
TBC
Funding identified
Carpets and furniture provided in 3
temporary units
2.7
Ensure that bed and breakfast
accommodation has been fully
assessed in advance of each new
placement for the impacts of this
accommodation on the household
Ongoing
HHPP
N/A
Revised housing options
and advice service
established
Assessments undertaken when
anyone is placed in B&B
2.8
Improve the form and operation of
the homelessness protocol between
housing and children’s services
Sep 2013
HHPP/
HCFS
N/A
Protocol reviewed
16/17 year old homeless people are
provided with an improved service
2.9
Avoid placements of 16/17 year olds
in bed and breakfast
Ongoing
HHPP/
HCFS
TBC
Nightstop scheme rolled
out across the East Riding
No 16/17 yr olds are placed in B&B
2.10
Provide more supported
accommodation for homeless young
people in areas of identified need
Apr 2016
HSDM
TBC
Additional units of
supported accommodation
provided
Improved housing pathway for
young people
78
Service/
Group
targeted
Accommod
ation for
homeless
single
people or
couples,
including
rough
sleepers
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
2.11
Review and develop pathways into
accommodation for young people, in
partnership with children’s services,
other statutory partners and local
third sector agencies
Apr 2014
HSDM
HHPP
HCS
N/A
Pathway established and
reviewed
Improved housing pathway for
young people
2.12
Provide training to ensure that
agencies working with single
homeless people deliver a consistent
approach
Ongoing
HSDM
TBC
Training plan developed
and resources identified
Training delivered to all agencies
working across the East Riding
2.13
Consider the Housing First model as
a route to tackling entrenched rough
sleeping and for offenders and
substance misusers to manage their
behaviour
Apr 2014
HSDM
HHPP
TBC
Options appraisal for
increasing access to
housing for ex-offenders
and substance misusers
undertaken
Increased access to housing for ex
offenders and substance misusers
2.14
Open a supported housing scheme in
Bridlington for non statutory single
households that are homeless
Jan 2014
HSDM
HHPP
TBC
Housing scheme opened
Reduced rough sleeping
2.15
Explore how additional emergency
accommodation might be provided
outside Goole and Bridlington if
needed
Apr 2014
HSDM
TBC
Capital bid submitted
Additional units of emergency
accommodation for non-statutory
homeless households provided
79
Service/
Group
targeted
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
Outcome 3 - Secure access to safety net services and support for those in crisis to manage a transition to settled accommodation
Improving
health
outcomes
for
homeless
people
3.1
Work with the Health and Wellbeing
Board to develop partnership working
and contribute to integrated working
relationships that prevent
homelessness
Ongoing
HSDM
HHPP
N/A
Reports provided to the
Health and Wellbeing
Board
Increased awareness of issues that
cause homelessness and joint
working with health to tackle them
3.2
Develop support provision, including
pathways into support with local
providers (including registered
providers, health and other relevant
partners)
Apr 2014
HBM
N/A
Single intake and Duty
Team to provide gateway
to support services
All agencies involved in delivering
support engaged with the new
system
3.3
Ensure that effective protocols are in
place with local hospitals, community
mental health teams, prisons,
probation and other agencies as
appropriate, to prevent people from
being discharged homeless from
hospital or prison
Apr 2014
HSDM
HAS
N/A
Protocols reviewed
annually for effectiveness
Improved joint working with health
and probation leading to increased
homelessness prevention
80
Service/
Group
targeted
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
3.4
Improve connections between
housing providers and substance
misuse treatment services through
multi-agency working
Ongoing
HHPP
HSDM
N/A
Regular attendance at the
Homelessness Steering
Group and Substance
Misuse Forum
Improved multi-agency working
3.5
Ensure that homelessness data is
considered under the Joint Strategic
Needs Assessment
Ongoing
HPSP
N/A
Homelessness data added
to data observatory
website
Improved health outcomes
81
Service/
Group
targeted
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
Services for
young
people (1625)
including
care
leavers
3.6
Introduce a mentoring and tenancy
training schemes to improve tenancy
sustainment and decrease isolation
Apr 2015
HCYP/
HHPP
TBC
Mentoring and Tenancy
Scheme introduced
Improved tenancy sustainment and
decreased isolation amongst
homeless 16-25 yr olds
3.7
Introduce independent advocacy for
homeless 16/17 year olds
Apr 2014
HCYP/
HBM
TBC
Independent advocacy
introduced
16/17 yr olds who are homeless
are able to be represented by an
independent advocate
Services for
rough
sleepers
3.8
Expand involvement in No Second
Night Out to include all agencies
working with rough sleepers and
other single homeless people and
members of public
Apr 2014
HHPP
N/A
No Second Night Out
rolled out across the East
Riding
Rough sleeping is reduced and
more rough sleepers are accessing
services
3.9
Launch the Hull and East Riding
Resettlement Service for Rough
Sleepers
Apr 2013
HHPP
HBM
£60k
Regional
Homeless
Fund
Resettlement service
launched
Rough sleepers moving on from
emergency accommodation are
supported to maintain independent
accommodation
3.10
Improve information and awareness
of services that can prevent
homelessness and address housing
need
Ongoing
HHPP
N/A
CFAS rep to attend the
Homelessness Steering
Group
Improved joint working between
housing and children’s services
Services for
families
with
children
82
Service/
Group
targeted
Ref
What will we do?
When will
we do it
by?
Who
will
deliver
this?
Resources
needed
Milestones
What would success look
like?
3.11
Co-ordinate services involved with a
family, through information sharing
and joint working
Sep 2014
HCFS
HHPP
Troubled
Families
Initiative
(TFI)
Outcomes from the TFI
achieved
Services co-ordinated more
effectively and duplication reduced
Services for
ex -Armed
Forces
Personnel
3.12
Develop a specific plan to deliver the
housing priorities in the Community
Covenant
Sep 2013
HSDM
N/A
Plan produced
Increased awareness of services for
ex-service personnel
Services for
migrant
workers
3.13
With partners, estimate the scale of
the housing problem, agree how best
to make referrals and share
information, and develop a training
programme
Sep 2013
HSDM
N/A
Training programme
developed (see 2.16)
Improved multi-agency working
Services for
Gypsies
and
Travellers
3.14
Strengthen the Gypsy and Traveller
Strategy to address the housing
issues raised in the homelessness
review
Sep 2014
HPSP
N/A
Gypsy and Traveller
Strategy strengthened
Improved services for Gypsies and
Travellers in a crisis and in need of
support
83
84