This update is aimed at those with a role in preventing or tackling homelessness, giving you news about the role of the team, examples from a range of organisations and other useful information. We want you to contribute so please send information to hatenquiries@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk

Enhanced housing options

In March Communities and Local Government published guidance on the development the Enhanced Housing Options Approach. This identifies that housing options advice has a crucial role to play in addressing urgent housing need but it should not just be for those in the most acute need. Without positive interventions, housing problems may worsen over time so it is best to act before they reach crisis point.

Housing problems are often related to a range of other issues including a lack of employment, training or skills, poor finance and debt management, confusion about benefits, drug and alcohol misuse, mental or physical health problems and the transition from services such as prison and care. To deliver a sustainable solution, therefore, housing options advice requires a holistic assessment of the wider causes of housing need, and links to other types of advice and support to tackle the root causes of the housing problem.

CLG would like to see a wider range of advice being provided across a wider range of clients, including those in the private rented sector, owner occupiers, vulnerable and socially excluded adults and other traditionally hard-to-reach groups. The guidance suggests a range of indicators that may be used to show whether housing options services are have appropriate outcomes. The indicators cover the following areas:

• Meeting housing need with a wider range of solutions;
• Using stock more effectively;
• Tackling worklessness; and
• Improving customer service.

The guidance identifies a series of principles to follow in the development of an Enhanced Housing Options Approach:

• Innovation;
• Personalisation;
• Empowerment;
• Inclusiveness;
• Proactive engagement;
• Holism;
• Partnership working;
• Working with the grain of the Local Area Agreement;
• Capturing wider resources; and
• Cross-boundary working.

Housing Options Trailblazer Programmes

CLG will part-fund two programmes of Enhanced Housing Options ‘trailblazers’. From these they will develop a toolkit of ideas and methods.

The first is the Enhanced Housing Options EXTRA programme aimed at five local authorities:

• To enhance their existing housing options services.
• A grant of up to £350,000 over three years.
• Become part of the integrated employment and housing advice pilot.
• Specifically work to develop housing options services for ex-offenders and other socially excluded adults.
• Mentor other authorities, sharing skills and expertise.
• Be part of a ‘virtual team’ to share ideas and overcome challenges.
• Closely involved in the development of a toolkit of useful information and ideas.

The second is the Enhanced Housing Options Programme aimed at ten local authorities:

• To develop Enhanced Housing Options services.
• A grant of up to £260,000 over two years.
• To be assigned a mentor authority.
• Be part of a ‘virtual team’ to share experiences and challenges.
• Closely involved in the development of a toolkit of useful information and ideas.

The full guidance that includes how to apply for the trailblazer programmes is available on the CLG website.

Housing associations should find out what plans local authorities may have to develop enhanced housing options services and whether they will be bidding to the trailblazer programmes, getting involved where appropriate. Associations should also consider how providing or signposting to this wider range of advice can be built into contact with their customers.

Worklessness

Improving the financial position of residents can be an important way in which homelessness can be prevented. In March the Housing Corporation held a worklessness summit at which two useful documents were highlighted. 

• A briefing published by the Housing Corporation on the role of housing associations in tackling worklessness; and
• A research study published by the Smith Institute looking at the life chances of people living in social housing.

Housing associations tackling worklessness

This Housing Corporation briefing was based on a review of existing literature and a survey of housing associations. The study showed that housing associations reported a significant level of activity, with over £209 million invested in the last five years on almost 900 projects.

Associations adopt a range of different roles in tackling worklessness:

• Employer / indirect employer;
• Direct provider / leader / initiator;
• Intermediary / signposting role: and 
• Partner of those with specialist knowledge.

The report identifies a series of barriers that directly impact on the ability of associations to tackle worklessness:

• Difficulty in obtaining funding;
• Lack of expertise or resources;
• Disincentives that remain in relation to the rents and benefits regime;
• A lack of awareness by some organisations of the potential role of housing associations to contribute to this agenda;
• The challenge of breaking through the barriers experienced by residents; and
• The co-ordination and commissioning of projects and partnerships.

The report also suggests some ways forward for associations to progress their work in this area:

• Adopting a strategic approach which embeds this work into the core business of the association, including procurement processes and ensuring that the organisation has the resources and capacity in place to deliver;
• Engaging and involving residents through an understanding of the market, in relation to both residents’ employment and skills requirements and their support needs;
• Working in partnership and collaboration with other associations, local authorities and other partners in a neighbourhood;
• Working closely with the wider business community; and
• Securing sustainable funding.

The briefing is available online.

The public value of social housing: a longitudinal analysis of the relationship between housing and life chances

This study for the Smith Institute was based around a study of social housing from the end of the Second World War. It is based on cohort studies of people born in 1946, 1958, 1970 and 2000. The report highlights two major results:

• The negative correlations now commonly associated with social with social housing are not inevitable or inherent to the provision of housing by the public sector. For those born in 1946 growing up in social housing was not associated with disadvantage. The negative correlations appear for those born in 1958 and especially for those born in 1970. Over this period social housing has become a shrinking, ageing sector with a poor reputation.
• For those born in 1958 and after there are links between tenure and life chances that go beyond living in social housing in childhood, showing that social housing in  early adulthood is also associated with disadvantage  later in adulthood. This suggests that social housing  may play a role in the persistence of disadvantage – or  at least does not manage to overcome its effects.

It takes time to read the whole report and to understand the range of factors that contribute to these results. However, the report emphasises how important it is for housing organisations to continue to develop their work with communities to tackle social and financial exclusion.

The report can be found at http://www.smith-institute.org.uk/publications.htm.

First TMO Homelessness Action Plan

WATMOS Community Homes in Walsall that operates with 8 Tenant Management Organisations covering all of its homes has agreed its Homelessness Action Plan. This highlights the commitment of the TMOs to preventing and tackling homelessness. It also shows how widely such action plans are being adopted by housing associations.

The work by WATMOS Community Homes is part of a joint approach across all the association in Walsall to adopt a Homelessness Action Plan with shared priorities and actions.

Events

These are some of the events being organised that may be of interest to those working around homelessness. If you know of future events please let us know so we can include them.

CLG Homelessness Summits aimed at local authorities
London, 25th June 2008

NIACE - Better Together: partnerships to prevent homelessness and improve outcomes for young people
London, 9th May 2008

Homeless Link – Joining the dots
Bringing together the evidence base for homelessness related policy and practice
London, 15th May 2008

CIH - Homelessness Seminars
London, 1st July 2008
Manchester, 17th July 2008

NHF Housing Care & Support Conference
Coventry, 3rd & 4th July 2008

Contact us

We ask for your input in a number of ways. If you can help us or if you would like us to meet with you please contact us.

Mark Meehan
mark.meehan@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk
07721 375104

Gerald Wild 
gerald.wild@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk 
07971 667119

Madeleine Jeffery 
madeleine.jeffery@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk 
07798 588752

Nick Sedgwick 
nick.sedgwick@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk 
07919 394910

Dave Anteh 
dave.anteh@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk 
07920 781254