A Welsh Perspective on Homelessness

1
A Welsh Perspective on Homelessness

• Chris Price Welsh Homelessness and SP Networks
  Coordinator

2
Overview

• Strategic context
• Objectives of 10 Year Plan
• The issues were grappling with
• -Existing Legislation
• -Moving from the deficit model
• -Our approach to staff / the sector
• -Focusing funding in the right way
• -How we measure what matters
• Our next steps
• Conclusions

3
Strategic context

• Coalition Welsh Government (Labour and Plaid)
• One Wales set out the vision
• Included promise to deliver a 10 Year Plan to
  tackle homelessness
• 2001 saw widening of priority need groups
• English prevention model been embraced since
  2004/5
• Short term SP funding retained by Assembly,
  long term ring-fenced within LAs
• And now the recession.

4
WAG 10 Year Plan

• Vision
• Reducing homelessness to a minimum by 2019
• Strategic Aims
• Preventing homelessness wherever possible
• Working across organisational and policy
  boundaries to deliver joined up services
• Placing the customer at the centre of service
  delivery
• Delivering our equality and social inclusion
  objectives
• Making the best use of resources

5
The issues were grappling with

• Legislation
• There is a legal duty for care leavers to have a
  pathway plan (1 LA in Wales - 15 have them)
• There is a legal duty for those who have been
  sectioned after suffering mental illness to
  receive aftercare (Many in Wales are still being
  accommodated in BB following discharge from
  hospital)
• There will be a legal duty in Scotland to house
  all homeless people (there are ?? Households
  currently in BB)

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Grappling (cont.)

• Legislation (cont.)
• WAG 10 Year Plan promises an impact assessment
• Shelter Cymru want eradication of priority need
  etc., but allow discharge into PRS / transitional
  accommodation
• Councils fear resource implications and whether
  it will meet housing and other needs
• Yet, how do we shift from focus on legitimacy
  of need?
• What would you advise?
• In your experience, has the planned scrapping of
  priority need etc. been the right approach?
• Should a more flexible approach to discharge of
  duty be adopted?

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Grappling (cont.)

• Moving on from the deficit model
• Focusing on aspirations, rather than needs
• System promotes dependency?
• Free up SP funding to focus on what people want
• Learning from English Places of Change and
  Enhanced Housing Options
• Reduce the fear of moving on from Benefits
• Tapping into DWP initiatives
• Social enterprise, targeted recruitment
• How do we develop leadership of developments from
  the people accessing services?

8
Grappling (cont.)

• Our approach to staff / the sector
• Develop approach about motivation, rather than
  judgement
• I left feeling far worse about myself than when
  I went in
• Training is centred on interpretation of the law,
  rather than meeting the needs of the individual
  (Legal challenge)
• Why are staff de-motivated?
• Has your approach changed how staff in LA
  frontline services approach the issue?
• Is the homelessness sector perpetuating current
  arrangements?
• To what extent are the people in the sector
  campaigning for the survival of the sector,
  rather than for the needs of the people who use
  it?
• What do service users think?

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Grappling

• Focusing funding
• How can we focus SP funding and liberate it to
  meet need?
• Should Wales be spending 1m on Rough Sleeping
  Outreach services. How much would it cost to
  house?
• Is funding for domestic abuse services directed
  correctly?
• What can we learn from The Quarriers project in
  Glasgow?
• Should we be developing more financially self
  sustaining projects? Social Lettings Agencies,
  Social Enterprise, etc.
• What do service users think?

10
Grappling

• Measuring what matters
• We are too busy measuring process, rather than
  outcomes
• Are people accessing the accommodation options
  that are appropriate for them?
• Are their aspirations allowed to prosper?
• Is this what we should be measuring?
• How are we involving those who experience
  services?
• If so, this approach needs to be adopted across
  agencies and across the public sector

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Our next steps

• General view that the existing plan is a little
  flimsy
• Action planning groups established to drive
  service improvement across 16 different areas
• These groups are engaging agencies who wouldnt
  normally attend homelessness meetings
• They are all committed to driving cultural change
• It is not the plan that will change things, but
  the fertilisation of good ideas
• Social lettings, targeted recruitment, Standing
  Up to the Downturn, empty homes, DA remodelling,
  outcomes approach, PoC type programme (?),
  assessing skills gaps, etc

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Conclusions

• We have a plan
• We are at a crossroads
• We have principles we want to deliver
• We are at a crossroads on how we deliver these
  most effectively
• We want to learn from the successes and mistakes
  of our partners
• Please talk to me about what you have learnt and
  what you think of our aspirations