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What impact has a year of the Homelessness Reduction Act had?

One year after the Homelessness Reduction Act came into force, the crisis still seems to be getting worse. So what impact is the act having? asks David Bogle

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One year after the Homelessness Reduction Act came into force, the crisis still seems to be getting worse. So what impact is the act having, asks David Bogle #CIHHousing #ukhousing

Another week, another plethora of reports and news items on homelessness.

Rough sleeping is up by 18% in London, with 8,855 people now sleeping on the capital’s streets; tented camps of homeless people are being forcibly removed; there have been calls for the repeal of the Vagrancy Act; and rock group Metallica donated £40,000 to a Manchester homelessness charity.

Each week, the number of families in emergency bed and breakfast accommodation continues to rise.

Few would argue that there is no major homelessness crisis in many parts of the country.

Meanwhile, it is more than a year since the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 came into force. Described as the biggest change in homelessness legislation in 40 years, it assigned local authorities with new duties to prevent and relieve homelessness.

So has the act been effective? This is a subject that will be explored in one of the sessions at the Housing 2019 conference in Manchester.

But looking at the overall statistics for homelessness, the act doesn’t seem to have improved outcomes.


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The Homes for Cathy group of housing associations is keen to work with local authorities to help them with their statutory duties regarding homelessness. We have certainly noticed more activity by councils to tackle homelessness, some of it linked to the act, some to other government rough sleeping and homelessness initiatives driven by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Councils are consulting housing associations about their rough sleeping strategies and linking these discussions to reviews of their homelessness and allocations policies.

“The number of people placed in temporary and emergency accommodation has increased, as has the length of stays in temporary and emergency accommodation”

The Local Government Association has reported that as a result of the act, homelessness presentations have increased considerably (more than 75%). Meanwhile, the number of people placed in temporary and emergency accommodation has increased, as has the length of stays in temporary and emergency accommodation. None of this is good news for homeless people or councils with severely limited resources.

Housing associations have adopted a ‘voluntary’ duty to refer, mirroring the statutory duties of public bodies. But most housing associations would have had protocols in place to refer likely homelessness cases to local authorities already.

At Hightown, we have noticed a more sophisticated use of Discretionary Housing Payments, homelessness prevention funds and credit union loans by local authorities to prevent homelessness, as well as a better understanding of the need for certain pre-tenancy requirements to ensure that tenancies will be sustainable.

But for housing associations working across several local authorities, there is, perhaps inevitably, a lack of consistency in policy and procedure.

Pleasingly, the past year has seen more housing associations benchmarking and reviewing their practices against the nine Homes for Cathy commitments. Boards and senior staff, keen to ensure that associations provide demonstrable social impact, have been scrutinising their policies on homelessness.

Local authorities should be seeing housing associations less likely to adopt blanket and inflexible practices on homelessness nominations and eligibility, taking positive steps to ensure new tenancies can be sustained and putting resources in to preventing evictions into homelessness.

“The past year has shown that we are not going to end the homelessness crisis through legislation alone. We need additional resources to make a real impact”

Working with Crisis, the National Housing Federation and others, the Homes for Cathy group is exploring the potential for housing associations to measure their improved performance on homelessness through indicators such as homelessness acceptances into new and existing homes, successful tenancy sustainment, and contributions to ending rough sleeping and migrant homelessness.

The past year has shown that we are not going to end the homelessness crisis through legislation alone. We need additional resources to make a real impact and to provide homes and services that solve the problems that cause homelessness.

But we also need leadership, impetus and commitment from housing associations working with local authorities, the government, and homelessness charities and agencies. That is what the Homes for Cathy group of housing associations is offering.

David Bogle, chief executive, Hightown Housing Association

Mr Bogle is speaking about the first year of the Homelessness Reduction Act on a panel at the Housing 2019 conference, at 12pm on Thursday 27 June, in Charter One

At a glance: Homelessness Reduction Act 2017

At a glance: Homelessness Reduction Act 2017

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 came into force in England on 3 April 2018.

The key measures:

  • An extension of the period ‘threatened with homelessness’ from 28 to 56 days – this means a person is treated as being threatened with homelessness if it is likely they will become homeless within 56 days
  • A duty to prevent homelessness for all eligible applicants threatened with homelessness, regardless of priority need
  • A duty to relieve homelessness for all eligible homeless applicants, regardless of priority need
  • A duty to refer – public services will need to notify a local authority if they come into contact with someone they think may be homeless or at risk of becoming homeless
  • A duty for councils to provide advisory services on homelessness, preventing homelessness and people’s rights free of charge
  • A duty to access all applicants' cases and agree a personalised plan

The nine Homes for Cathy commitments

The nine Homes for Cathy commitments

The Homes for Cathy group of housing associations, working with housing charity Crisis, is asking its members to sign up to nine commitments to tackle homelessness:

They are:

  1. To contribute to the development and execution of local authority homelessness strategies
  2. To operate flexible allocations and eligibility polices which allow individual applicants’ unique sets of circumstances and housing histories to be considered
  3. To offer constructive solutions to applicants who aren’t deemed eligible for an offer of a home
  4. To not make homeless any tenant seeking to prevent their homelessness (as defined in the Crisis plan)
  5. To commit to meeting the needs of vulnerable tenant groups
  6. To work in partnership to provide a range of affordable housing options which meet the needs of all homeless people in their local communities
  7. To ensure that properties offered to homeless people are ready to move into
  8. To contribute to ending migrant homelessness in the areas housing associations operate
  9. To lobby, challenge and inspire others to support ending homelessness

More from Housing 2019

More from Housing 2019

What’s happening at Housing 2019?

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Whatever Theresa May says, social housing is still the victim of a focus on homeownership Editor Martin Hilditch gives Inside Housing’s verdict to the prime minister’s speech

Your Housing 2019 tweets: a selection of tweets from the conference

Theresa May believes in a change of direction – but will Johnson or Hunt pay any attention? Jules Birch gives his take on Theresa May’s speech to Housing 2019

Watch Theresa May’s speech: a video of the prime minister’s speech to Housing 2019 in full

Dispatches from Housing 2019 – Wednesday The key takeaways from day two of the conference and exhibition

John Healey on Grenfell, Boris Johnson and Labour housing policy Ahead of his speech to Housing 2019, the shadow housing secretary takes part in a Q&A with Inside Housing

Dispatches from Housing 2019 – Tuesday Our round-up of all the key talking points in Manchester on the first day of the conference

Housing Heroes 2019 winners announced Find out the 17 winners and 14 commendations at the ceremony on Monday ahead of the conference and exhibition

In full: Terrie Alafat’s opening address to Housing 2019 The full text of the speech given by the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing to open Housing 2019

What will the Hackitt Review changes mean for you? Conference speaker Debbie Larner writes for Inside Housing about building safety

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John Healey blasts May's housing record

Don't wait for Hackitt legislation to push ahead with building safety, says MHCLG official

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‘No-deal Brexit an opportunity for housing’, claim sector figures

Banks’ appetite to lend threatens offsite take-up, warns major landlord

Minister: funding allocations should be based on joint-agency working

Sector warned that fire safety costs could eat up HRA cap windfall

Theresa May to give speech at Housing 2019 conference

Regulator ‘found no breaches’ following Dispatches programme on Sanctuary

No funding for removal of combustible balconies, says Malthouse

MHCLG housing supply chief: affordable housing grant increase ‘on the table’ for Spending Review

‘We have got to do the right thing’ on affordable housing, says land director of Homes England

Council boss warns against local authority ‘can’t do’ attitude towards housebuilding

Terrie Alafat says Spending Review must ‘make a real difference’

Sector needs £146bn from government over a decade to end housing crisis, says NHF

Savills housing sector survey: building homes more important than existing stock to housing leaders

Morning Briefing: thousands descend on Manchester for Housing 2019

 

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