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The beginner’s guide to funding Housing First

Could new funding models finally make Housing First a mainstream solution to getting rough sleepers off the streets? Martin Hilditch reports.  Pictures: Getty

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Could new funding models make Housing First a mainstream option to tackling rough sleeping? #ukhousing @HF_England

A new report by @HF_England looks at the growth of Housing First, and what barriers and opportunities there are for growing it further #ukhousing

Over the past couple of years, a new approach to tackling homelessness has been catching people’s eyes in the UK.

Housing First is that new kid on the block.

Back in 2016, Inside Housing called for councils and housing associations to set up Housing First schemes after looking at convincing evidence from other countries, such as Finland, about how it had helped to reduce rough sleeping.

For those that haven’t been following our Cathy at 50 homelessness campaign closely, Housing First is an approach that has been successful for people experiencing repeat homelessness with complex needs.

It provides them with unconditional access to a stable home (apart from the willingness to sustain a tenancy) alongside intensive support, rather than having to jump through hoops and engage with other services before they are deemed to be housing ready.

Since Inside Housing started campaigning, Housing First has become a priority for governments, too. Theresa May announced it would provide funding for three regional Housing First pilots last year, and earlier this year the Welsh Government said it would bring forward a nationwide Housing First programme.


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A new report, out this week, shows that councils and housing associations have been getting schemes off the ground, too – a central demand of our campaign. The report, by the umbrella group Homeless Link’s Housing First England project, shows there has been a significant percentage growth in Housing First schemes in the past year or two.

Ten out of the 32 Housing First schemes it is aware of have only been in existence for a year or less. A further seven have been in operation for less than two years. Clearly it is a growth industry.

All of which is a positive start. But the report, Investigating the Current and Future Funding of Housing First in England, acknowledges there are still “significant barriers to creating an environment where Housing First is considered a go-to intervention” for a broader base of service commissioners.

These obstacles include the pressure on public sector budgets and the limited awareness of Housing First in the health sector.

“We are very aware that the sustainability of Housing First at the moment is quite precarious,” Helen Mathie, Homeless Link

So, if those are the problems, what are the potential solutions?

The report makes a number of recommendations, including that the resourcing and development of Housing First should be part of the imminent government rough sleeping strategy and that attention should still be given to developing new “bottom-up” services while the national pilots are undertaken (a process that could take a couple of years).

But it is when it comes to looking at developing potentially new sources of funding (or ones that have had limited interest to date) that the report is at its most interesting.

It suggests that Housing First should be more widely recognised and promoted as being a health and well-being intervention as well as a housing service.

In particular, it wants funders and commissioners across health, public health, criminal justice and social care to consider Housing First as “a model of supporting people with complex needs”.

Helen Mathie, head of policy and communications at Homeless Link, says that it carried out the research because, despite the growth in Housing First services, “we are very aware that the sustainability of Housing First at the moment is quite precarious”.

“We wanted to demonstrate thinking about where else support for Housing First should come from and diversify the sectors involved in Housing First and funding it,” she states. “It cuts across different areas of people’s lives. Can we try and encourage more conversations with those funders, either locally or nationally?”

While councils and housing associations might be considering Housing First, Ms Mathie says they should not necessarily be thinking about doing this in isolation and should be looking at other funding partners that might be “out there”. Increased use of pooled budgets is floated as an important potential way of helping to get Housing First schemes off the ground.

“People without stable accommodation are known to be a key risk group for reoffending,” Helen Mathie, Homeless Link

Homeless Link is currently setting up meetings with a variety of potential funders. One area that Ms Mathie sounds particularly enthusiastic about is potential interest from the criminal justice system.

“I think the conversations we have had at a national level with the Ministry of Justice have been very encouraging,” she states. “They are very interested in the Housing First approach and understand the benefits of stable accommodation.

"It is so key in terms of their thinking about how to reduce reoffending. People without stable accommodation are known to be a key risk group for reoffending.”

While it is too early to say how those talks will pan out, the report makes the pitch clear, stating it offers a solution for people such as those with high needs who are unable to access supported housing on release (due to availability or previous exclusions), or those for whom it poses risks due to substance misuse issues or their vulnerability to exploitation.

The cover of the report from Homeless Link’s Housing First England project

Click here to read the report

It points out that the Ministry of Justice has started to work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on a joint offender accommodation strategy – pointing at one reason why it might be particularly receptive to conversations that offer new solutions at the current time.

There are similar explorations of the possibilities for accessing health and social care funding. Perhaps surprisingly, given the accepted links between housing and health outcomes, there are only two examples to date of NHS funding of Housing First identified by the researchers. These are Encompass Southwest, the rough sleepers outreach project in North Devon, and Ealing’s Housing First scheme, which was funded through the national Better Care Fund.

“I think the NHS should see this as a huge area for potential interest,” Helen Mathie, Homeless Link

Ms Mathie suggests that health commissioners are after much more detailed evidence of what the health benefits are – so data from the pilots and other early schemes could be crucial in this area. “We know this is a group with the most complex health needs,” Ms Mathie states about Housing First clients. “[Because of this] I think the NHS should see this as a huge area for potential interest.”

One other intriguing area that the report explores is the possibility of funding on a ‘payment by results’ basis.

On the face of it, this seems problematic due to Housing First’s core principle that access to housing should not have conditions attached to it – such as engaging with support services.

Nevertheless, a project that operates in Newcastle and Gateshead in the North East of England suggests this might not be a complete non-starter. The Changing Lives and Oasis Aquila Housing social impact bond (SIB) project, will see the organisations paid to deliver specific outcomes such as a sustained move away from rough sleeping.

The scheme is relatively new, only starting up in December last year with a team of 10 people, including a social worker and addiction specialist.

Kirsty Wilkinson, service manager of the Newcastle and Gateshead SIB team, says the service aims to be completely “client led” and will tailor housing and support offers to need.

To date it has supported 42 people into accommodation and 15 of them have maintained the tenancy for at least three months (with others yet to hit the three-month mark because the service is so new).

The beginner’s guide to funding Housing First 2

Newcastle: Changing Lives and Oasis Aquila Housing’s SIB project is looking at “client led” solutions in the area

Ms Wilkinson doesn’t think the payment by results approach is problematic for a Housing First scheme, because ultimately it is the organisation rather than the individuals which is impacted.

“It is working on the basis of just being client-led and client-focused and hopefully the outcomes will follow,” she states. As “entry into and sustainment of accommodation” is one of the targets the team are paid to deliver, there is compatibility with Housing First’s aims, she suggests.

Certainly, if this is a potential future model for Housing First delivery, there is much riding on the performance of this SIB project. The report acknowledges the potential for “tensions with non-conditionality and client-led approaches” and says that the project will explore these in the “coming months and years”.

More broadly, there are “a lot of exciting Housing First projects in development”, Ms Mathie states. But from Homeless Link’s perspective, the frustration is that more people could be helped.

“If you think about the potential numbers of people that could benefit, it is much, much larger than the number who currently are,” she states.

Housing First: The seven key principles

  • People have a right to a home so Housing First prioritises access to housing as quickly as possible without any conditions other than the willingness to maintain a tenancy. Individuals won’t lose the tenancy if they disengage from or no longer require support.
  • Flexible support is provided for as long as it is needed with housing providers committing to long-term, flexible support without a fixed end date.
  • The housing and support are separate – so housing is not conditional on engaging with the support. The offer of support remains if the tenancy fails.
  • Individuals have choice and control. They have the choice, where possible, about where they live. Accommodation should be pepper-potted and self-contained, unless an individual says they would prefer shared housing.
  • Active engagement. Staff proactively engage clients and caseloads are small. Support provided as long as clients need it.
  • The service supports people to identify their strengths and goals and to develop skills and knowledge to achieve them.
  • A harm reduction approach is used – so individuals who, for example, self-harm are supported to undertake practices which minimise the risk of them self-harming.

Source: Housing First England

Cathy at 50 campaign

Cathy at 50 campaign

Our Cathy at 50 campaign calls on councils to explore Housing First as a default option for long-term rough sleepers and commission Housing First schemes, housing associations to identify additional stock for Housing First schemes and government to support five Housing First projects, collect evidence and distribute best practice.

Click here to read more about Cathy at 50

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