Conclusions and recommendations
1. As far back as 1991 the Committee called
for improved information on homelessness but official statistics
remain inadequate and there is a paucity of reliable data.
In developing strategies to help the homeless only 50% of local
authorities considered the full range of homeless people in their
areas. Working with local authorities and voluntary organisations
the Department needs to undertake regular surveys of homeless
households focusing on the underlying reasons why they became
homeless and track over time the long term success of support
provided to help them.
2. Registered Social Landlords' responsibilities
for accommodating homeless households may need to be clarified.
Local Authorities enter into agreements
with Registered Social Landlords (housing associations) to provide
social housing but some are reluctant to accommodate homeless
households. The full extent of this problem is not known and ODPM
needs to establish with Local Authorities how widespread it is.
If necessary, formal agreements with Registered Social Landlords
need to be strengthened to make their responsibilities much clearer.
Compliance with these agreements should be routinely monitored
and communicated to ODPM.
3. Reducing the number of families living
in Bed and Breakfast accommodation from 6,700 in March 2002 to
28 families in March 2004 was a significant achievement, but some
20% of authorities consider that the quality of accommodation
has not improved in recent years. It is
important that homeless households are not moved from one unsatisfactory
form of accommodation to another. ODPM is strengthening the statutory
standards that apply to temporary accommodation but local authorities
are responsible for inspecting and enforcing them. ODPM needs
to obtain better assurance on the quality of temporary accommodation
by collecting more systematic intelligence on the frequency and
results of inspections, and apply pressure for improvements by
promoting the new powers of local authorities under the 2004 Housing
Act.
4. While temporary accommodation such as rented
housing is better than bed and breakfast, it is only a short term
solution, and the Government has a target to reduce the number
of families living in this way from 100,000 to 50,000 by 2010.
Working with the Housing Corporation and local authorities, ODPM
needs to promote more actively longer term innovative solutions
that are proving successful. These include setting up on-line
clearing houses to provide free quick access to private sector
tenancies, rent deposit schemes to help families purchase their
own home, loft conversion schemes to increase the capacity of
existing accommodation and adjusting the eligibility requirements
to be included on local authorities' main housing registers.
5. Half of the 700 people housed in rough
sleepers' hostels in one London Borough abandoned their accommodation
or were evicted. This pattern of repeat
homelessness is not uncommon. Local authorities that have been
most successful in tackling rough sleeping and rehabilitating
more people back into normal life have put in place a range of
integrated support which needs to be more widely replicated. This
typically includes having sufficient move-on accommodation together
with specialist units, out reach workers, support for welfare
and mental health, skills training and help in finding employment.
6. All 354 local authorities in England have
produced strategies to tackle homelessness in their areas but
only 40% have identified the resources needed to fund their strategy
or considered the full range of funding opportunities.
80% of local authorities consider that as a result the priority
given to homelessness has increased and better support is now
available but very few have set specific targets to monitor progress.
Lack of measurable targets is likely to make it difficult to track
progress in tackling homelessness locally.
7. The number of black and minority ethnic
households accepted as being homeless and in priority need is
three times as high as might be expected.
In drawing up their strategies to tackle homelessness only one
in twelve local authorities had consulted groups representing
black and ethnic minorities. Homelessness policies that are developed
by officials without consulting those intended to benefit are
much more likely to fail. Reliable communication networks that
are easily accessible would give minority groups the confidence
that their needs and concerns can be heard and addressed.
8. More priority needs to be given to preventing
homelessness if more expensive remedial action is to be minimised
in the future. While over 80% of local
authorities considered that the requirement to draw up strategies
had led them to improve their approach to preventing homelessness,
only 45% of voluntary and community sector organisations agreed.
A key barrier to better prevention policies is a lack of definitive
evidence about what works cost effectively in different local
circumstances. ODPM has commissioned an evaluation of best practice,
and the results need to be extensively disseminated including
through a dedicated website for practitioners.
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