Faced with grant cuts, some local authorities are resorting to short-term housing solutions which could have long-term human and financial costs. But some authorities have found creative answers, as Rosemary Trustam heard at the winter conference of the Housing & Support Alliance.
We know the vital role played by housing in people’s lives – indeed in all our lives. Getting it wrong can mean the difference between building a life in your community and developing a fulfilling life or living in a miserable situation maybe with people you don’t like, away from your family or natural community. The former can lead to more independence, the latter to an Assessment and Treatment Centre because your resulting objections become challenging to services and increasingly exclude you from your community.
Some local authorities playing too direct a role for the best of motives have found themselves committed to high voids payments when they don’t have a housing role or a voids reserve. In a world where many local authorities face being unable to pay for their statutory services because of government grant cuts, this isn’t tenable. However, nor is trying to fit the wrong people into voids in shared houses which is happening where service providers are not standing up for the rights of the people already there.
Security
None of us would make compromises about our long-term homes. These are not student households for a short time; they are people’s homes and security and the tenants are people unable to just up sticks and move. Short-term fixes are not the answer.
There are providers who have sourced housing themselves either as managing agents collecting the rents and passing them on minus a management fee and maintaining a voids reserve, or directly with private and social landlords expecting the landlords to maintain their own pooled reserve which works well for landlords who have a range of properties.
We heard of some initiatives to source housing at the Winter Housing and Support Alliance conference in a workshop presented by two providers who run a housing brokerage service. As well as offering a housing management service to people in their properties which they own or lease and to other social landlord tenants, United Response have helped some people source housing, offering a housing brokerage service, helping them understand their housing needs and find the right solutions, even including how to fund properties. It’s not cost free but can make the difference for people. As a specialist agency they also know the range of options and funding issues. Where local authorities need this help they should consider that a small fee might save them a lot of money. (http://www.unitedresponse.org.uk/to-find-a-home)
Essex County Council funds a housing brokerage service through Dimensions for people with learning disabilities, autism, physical disabilities, substance abusers and people with mental health issues. Their priorities are people with multiple needs for whom the housing service has no responsibility. It’s not a crisis service but a planned referral service. They can provide a tenant sustainment service, offering advice and information and help with accessing a range of activities including community links, developing their tenancy management skills, budgeting and life skills.
Victoria, a housing broker, explained how it works. They look at housing options, involve the social worker if possible to consider support needs and try to match to what they can find. Sometimes they can’t find exactly what’s needed but will compromise and have negotiated a rent reduction with a private landlord, or adjustments with the council agreeing some resource. If they get it right they have also succeeded in reducing the support package. One example was the placement of a young woman who had challenges placed in shared living, one suspects driven by cost imperatives, which broke down. They managed to look at all resource possibilities to get the right situation and got help from the family in a shared ownership house which enabled her to live alone. (https://www.dimensions-uk.org/press-release/essex-leads-way-housing-innovation/
Brokerage
In an earlier issue (Creative housing solutions, Volume 29, No. 1) we saw how a small specialist provider like Care Housing may also offer this kind of brokerage as part of their service. Local authorities might consider how small investments in skilled providers and planned referrals might save them much in breakdown costs and, most importantly, get the best outcome for the person.
What about those people with learning disabilities no longer supported by social care?
Whilst the government’s rent-capping does not so far seem to apply to supported housing, this is no help to those no longer eligible for social care support – the ‘disappeared’. These are people who often need this extra support to maintain their basic tenure. This was the intention of Supporting People (SP) funding, a £1.8billion grant from 2002, intended to help vulnerable people live independently. However, this was reduced and then the ring-fence was removed in 2009 resulting in many services being withdrawn. The SP funding that existed for people with learning disabilities has been captured by local authorities and pooled with their social care budget so those no longer eligible may now have no source of support.
The responsibility for housing rests with the Housing Executive whose strategy to 2015(1) suggests they are only considering people in social care schemes and prioritising development for resettlement. They haven’t identified the most needy group as those not in touch with any services. If people are now in general needs housing, they may well most likely be in privately rented accommodation. Even if they are in social housing their rents will be capped which restricts the extent to which landlords can give support. Additionally, this group faces increasing difficulties with benefits, both with the change from DLA to PIP disability benefits and the imposition of sanctions, in particular on people with learning disabilities and mental health problems (2,3).
There is a huge shortage of sources of help with benefits at a time when the government has withdrawn legal aid for benefits appeals. There are fewer and fewer ‘front doors’ from which to seek help on the high street and there seems to be an expectation that people can apply on line.
Homelessnes
Am I alone in thinking we will see a growth in homelessness and more people found alone in their unheated flat with no food, not understanding why their benefits have stopped or knowing what to do?
Funding for self advocacy groups is being withdrawn or reduced, removing for some the only place of support and help – a vital preventive service.
Whilst we are concerned about the plight of those whose services are being reduced, they do have the law on their side and can challenge decisons in the courts, but if people cannot make the case for eligibility, the worry is that they will become homeless, end up in the criminal justice system or A&E to access any help – by which time their needs will be far greater.
Is this just a cynical political move to put off the costs to the long-term so that savings can be made in the short-term, ignoring the human cost?
Local authorities would do worse than look at Essex’s example and consider investing in preventive housing services, addressing the needs of the ‘disappeared’ group before these rebound on their stretched resources.
References
(1) http://www.nihe.gov.uk/index/corporate/strategies/supporting_people_strategy.htm
(2) http://www.abcorg.net/item/416-oakley-report-dwp-committee-announcement
(3) http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/26/benefit-sanctions-government-jobseekers-appeals
