Research Report Findings A8 nationals in London Homeless Services

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Research Report Findings - A8 nationals in
London Homeless Services

• ONLY TO BE USED IN EMERGENCIES!!!

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A New Ethnic Minority Population?

• London is a city built on migration
• The governments estimates were 11,000 people
  from new EU countries would come to UK each year
• Official estimates are C500,000 since 2004
  (probably a conservative figure)

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This Presentation

• The History Behind The Research
• The Basic Methodology
• Some of the Results
• Our Recommendations and Progress So Far
• Some Questions and Arguments For Action

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History 1

• May 2004 European Union Expansion ten new
  states join the EU
• Certain benefit limitations placed upon citizens
  of eight of the ten accession states migrating to
  the UK(A8 nationals) including .

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Benefit Limitations Key Ones

• 12 month unbroken period of employment on Workers
  Registration Scheme before any entitlement to Job
  Seekers Allowance
• No entitlement to Housing Benefit unless somebody
  is working and WRS.
• Hence if unemployed very few housing options

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History 2 Research Into Agencies Concerns Over
A8s In Homeless Service

• Aims.
• To get a better picture as to what extent A8
  nationals were accessing homeless services
• What issues was this creating for homeless
  services
• What changes were needed to address the issues
  identified in A and B above

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What Were Services Surveying

• In addition to basic demographic information we
  asked
• Employment Status
• Accommodation Status
• Support needs (overview not individual)
• Other Issues of Concern

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THE KEY MESSAGE THAT CAME BACK FROM
AGENCIES

• TWO DISTINCT A8 GROUPS USING HOMELESS SERVICES
• CIients with low support needs who basically need
  a job and/or somewhere to live (vast
  majority)
• Clients with support needs similar to the
  traditional homeless client group (small
  minority)

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Who Replied To The Survey By Service Type

• 29 Day Centres (69 response rate)
• 8 Shelters (80 response rate)
• 6 Outreach Teams (40 response rate)
• NB. Hostels were not surveyed

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Who Replied To The Survey By London Geography

• 74.4 of services responding were inner London
• 25.6 outer London
• This reflects the concentration of homeless
  services in inner London boroughs

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Total Number Of Contacts In All Services

• 4356 Contacts seen in a seven-day period
• Of Which
• 638 Were from A8 Countries
• 15 of all contacts reported
• clients may have been counted by more than one
  service

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Total Number Of Contacts By Service

• 76 of homeless services surveyed saw at least
  one A8 national in the week covered by the survey
• 567 (89) were seen by Day Centres
• Some Graphs To Show Basic Demographics versus the
  Official Figures From The Workers Registration
  Scheme
• (Red Line Survey)
• (Green Line WRS)

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Gender Breakdown v WRS
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By Age v WRS (unknowns removed)
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Country Of Origin v WRS Others include
unknowns
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Length of Stay By Months (no WRS data
unknowns removed)
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A Typical A8 National Using Voluntary Sector
Homeless Services???

• Male
• Polish
• Older than most of those on the WRS
• Over 50 Chance of Having Been in the UK for 6
  Months or more

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Support needs
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Barriers
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Top Three Support Needs and Barriers

• Support Needs
• Housing
• Employment
• Language

• Barriers
• Language/Translators
• No Referral Routes
• Funding Obstacles

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Recommendations

• 1. Recognise that there are A8 nationals who are
  homeless and in need of support.
•  2. Give responsibility to the Cabinet Office (or
  another central unit) to take the lead in
  responding to issues relevant to A8 nationals and
  to coordinate activity across government
  departments.
• 3. Formulate a clear national action plan that
  addresses the small but significant number of A8
  nationals who need support to avoid homelessness.

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Recommendations

• The national action plan should establish local
  integration hubs that can support A8 migrants
  to find work.
• The national action plan should also set out how
  mainstream public services will meet the needs of
  A8 nationals. All statutory services, including
  Jobcentre Plus, health and education services
  should take steps to meet the needs of A8
  nationals.
• Embassies need to develop the capacity to deal
  with the queries from their nationals who find
  themselves without the means to support
  themselves, including offering support for
  individuals to return to their home country if
  this is needed.

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Progress

• Media
• Today programme, Guardian, Times, Bloomberg,
  Politics Show
• National Government
• Ministers, Round Table Meeting With Government
  Depts
• Regional government
• ALG, GLA Both broadly supportive
• European Embassies
• Met with 7 of the 8 Consuls
• European Union
• Met with MEPs

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Update as Of 17th January 07

• Positive noises coming back from EU level
• Romania and Bulgaria (A2s) acceded to the EU 1st
  January 2007. Too early to tell whether homeless
  services have been effected
• DCLG announced 250,000 for local authorities who
  have been particularly effected by A8
  homelessness.

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Questions We Have Been Asking

• Do the recommendations make sense?
• Whose responsibility (if anybody) is it to
  address increasing numbers of A8 nationals
  sleeping rough or squatting?
• What are the implications if nothing is done?

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Three Possible Arguments For Persuding Government
To Act

• Moral Especially as people were invited over
• Social Disharmony Undermining progress made on
  rough sleeping, crime, vandalism, prostituion,
  substance misuse etc
• Economic There is no free option (e.g. impact
  on health and homeless services). Employed A8s
  will contribute to the economy - whereas
  unemployed will not.

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Who to contact

• Paul Anderson Head of London and South East
• Paul.anderson_at_homelesslink.org.uk/ 020 7960 3016