The scale of homelessness across in England is unacceptable and is getting worse. Last week, the annual official figures showed that more than 320,000 households accessed help from their council last year – the highest figure ever recorded. It is vital that our response, as a sector, and in the corridors of political power, rises to the scale of the challenge. Let’s use this World Homelessness Day as a platform for bold, positive ambition.
In Westminster, we are in a rare moment of possibility, where fundamental change feels possible. Post-election I was delighted to see the Deputy Prime Minister commit to a new strategy – one that will tackle all forms of homelessness, not just rough sleeping – and the establishment of an inter-ministerial group to unlock the solutions across government. The commitment to work alongside Councils and Mayors also signals a fresh and empowering approach.
New energy and answers to homelessness are on the way. But what are the ingredients for success? What does bold and positive reform involve? Here are five key elements for success:
A housing-led plan
The pledge to build 1.5 million homes over the next 5 years offers the foundation for a breakthrough on homelessness. It is critical that a substantial proportion of these homes are delivered at social rent (the research suggests at least 90,000 a year) with local housing targets based on levels of homelessness in each area.
But it is not only about more supply. A housing-led approach to addressing homelessness is also about moving people quickly into a home of their own with the right support so they can build a foundation for everything else. This means actively decreasing the use of temporary accommodation.
A housing led approach is now the norm in many European countries, as recommended by the OECD, and is even the suggested approach for tackling homelessness in Ukraine. It is a long overdue paradigm shift in England.
Prevention
All too often, opportunities to prevent homelessness are known, but missed. Any strategy to address homelessness must have prevention as its cornerstone. There is a lot to learn from proposals in Scotland and Wales, where there are respective plans to introduce legislation that prevents homelessness at least 6 months before it occurs and to extend legal duties to wider public services.
The Homelessness Reduction Act was a vital step in the right direction in England, but it is time to go further so that the full public sector is working to prevent homelessness.
Addressing immediate need
Successful strategies must of course have long-term goals, and there are excellent examples in Denmark, Finland and elsewhere to draw on. However, in the here and now, homelessness is a humanitarian issue on our streets, hostels, B&Bs, and elsewhere. It is ruining lives and driving council finances to bankruptcy (the bill for temporary accommodation is £2bn and rising). We need to stop things getting worse whilst simultaneously working on the long-term reforms.
There is an opportunity in the upcoming budget to give councils the tools to address short term need, asking them to help more people out of homelessness by removing the cap for the temporary accommodation subsidy and by investing in Local Housing Allowance. We can also shift funding right now through the Affordable Homes Programme to deliver more social homes.
Focus on outcomes
Over the last 10 years in England, the political focus has been on tackling rough sleeping, neglecting the wider forms of homelessness. This has incentivised a focus on limited action and solutions. Of course, many good things happened because of this, and we should not lose sight of that. But we must also be honest in pointing to the range of other ways in which policies drove homelessness in the wrong direction; from the treatment of prison leavers; punitive welfare changes; the ‘hostile environment’ for people with no recourse to public funds, and of course the failure to build social housing.
The alternative approach is to agree the outcomes that all government policy should be driving towards – outcomes such as more people living in safe, secure homes, less expenditure on temporary accommodation and reductions in repeat homelessness. The Government need look no further than Wales, where such a framework was recently agreed and published.
Localism
The increase of English devolution and Mayoral power has massive opportunities to show local leadership, progress elements of a homelessness strategy and test solutions at a local level that can be replicated elsewhere. We have seen examples of this already such as in Greater Manchester with an adoption of a ‘housing first’ philosophy for all residents of the city region to have a safe and secure home.
Right now, tens of thousands are trapped in poor quality temporary accommodation, hostels, night shelters, or forced to sleep on the streets, in cars, sheds, and public transport. We have a huge opportunity to ensure no-one experiences the trauma of homelessness again or when it does it is rare, brief and unrepeated. Let’s work together to make this happen.