COMMENT 19


‘The Cost of Homelessness Services in London’ report revealed that due to the chronic lack of affordable housing and record number of homeless households, the homelessness cost burden has fallen disproportionately on London councils. The cost of handling a homelessness case in London is at least double the cost for England, while the cost of preventing a homelessness case (either helping a household to stay in their current accom- modation or find a new place to live prior to becoming homeless) in London is almost four times the England average. Councils across the country, particularly those in large metropolitan areas like Bristol, Birmingham and Brighton have claimed the ‘new burdens’ grant funding to support implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act has not taken into account their higher costs. Costs and service pressures are undoubtedly higher in the capital, with London’s councils spending over £919m on homelessness services in 2017/18. This is projected to rise to over £1bn a year by 2021/22. If funding arrangements do not change, the cost to London boroughs’ general funds (which arguably should be used for other council services) is estimated to rise to £237m by 2022/23. This suggests the Governments of


Theresa May and Boris Johnson both underestimated the financial impact of implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act. Councils also point out that additional administrative require- ments take their staff away from doing frontline prevention work.


SOCIAL POLICY CHANGES REQUIRED Councillors and officers regularly tell me that more affordable housing and targeted support needs to be made avail- able to the homeless, while various policy changes are required across Government to avoid people ending up on the streets in the first place. Policies in the benefits, care, health and immigration sectors are regularly referred to as ‘problems,’ as well as family law and the (mis)handling of domestic violence cases by various agencies. However, one social policy area decision that was warmly welcomed over the holiday period, was the decision to extend support for the Troubled Families programme by £165m. This will allow the programme to continue for an extra year through to the end of March 2021. It is unclear what happens after that. Since the current programme began in


2015, almost 298,000 families have made improvements with the problems that led to them joining the programme in the first place. The main focus has been on providing early and on-going intensive


homeless people and, importantly, prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. But we have got to do even more, and we’re committed to expanding rough sleeping and homelessness programmes and ensuring more integrated working between our local health and housing services.” Mr Jenrick spent the evening of Christmas Day volunteering at Birmingham’s Christmas Shelter. He later said: “I will put tackling homelessness and rough sleeping right at the heart of this Government. We are committed to putting an end to rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament.


“Last year the number of people sleep- ing rough fell for the first time in several years, and while the Government’s inter- ventions are working, there is a great deal more work to do.”


support to vulnerable families. It follows an ‘invest to save’ principle, that says money spent on helping people early on will save far more in the long run. In some ways this shares many of the characteristics of the Housing First programme, which aims to support vulnerable rough sleepers and homeless people into settled and secure accommo- dation. Specialist caseworkers help people to maintain their tenancy while also tackling the issues that led to them becoming homeless in the first place. The latest evaluation of the Troubled


Families programme shows that, compared to families with similar charac- teristics who have not been on the programme, 19-24 months after starting to receive support:


• The proportion of children on the programme going into care has reduced by a third


• The proportion of adults on the programme going to prison has reduced by a quarter and juvenile convictions reduced by 15 per cent


• More people on the programme are back in work, with 10 per cent fewer people claiming Jobseekers Allowance.


GREATER INTEGRATION OF SERVICES More of this problem-solving and targeted support is required, but it was reassuring to hear both Boris Johnson and his Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick speak about their hopes and ambitions, as well as their determination to end rough sleeping.


Speaking at a rough sleeping shelter in London, Johnson said: “It cannot be right in the 21st century that people are homeless or having to sleep on our streets, and this Government will work tirelessly to bring this to an end. “This new funding is going to help councils provide better support to


A TOUGH TASK The scale of the task was revealed in figures released by the charity Shelter, shortly before Christmas. These showed the number of people who are homeless in England has hit 280,000 – 23,000 more than three years ago.


Official figures showed that across England one in every 200 people are without a home. In parts of London that figure is far higher, with Newham, in east London, recording one in 24 people as homeless, while in Kensington and Chelsea, the number is one in 29. The London average is one in 50.


Outside of the capital, Birmingham has one person in 66 who is homeless, in Brighton and Hove the figure is one in 75, while in Manchester one in every 102 people is without somewhere to live. For the first time, Shelter’s review has also exposed that close to 220,000 people in England were threatened with homelessness in the past year. Shelter say that despite its report being the most comprehensive overview of homelessness, the true level of homelessness is likely to be even higher. Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Homelessness blights lives and leaves a lasting imprint of trauma, and yet 280,000 people in England were without a home this Christmas. And many are only days away from joining them. This is the grim truth our new Government must confront and do something radical to change.”


This will be a tough ask to deliver, when so much attention will be focused on delivering Brexit and the Prime Minister’s other high profile promises made during the recent election. Shelter, Crisis and London Councils clearly believe they need more resources and a greater focus on ending homelessness.


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