The new Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s commitment to end rough sleeping, backed by new investment, is a positive step. The additional funding that will come to Scotland through Barnett consequentials provides an important opportunity to strengthen efforts to end rough sleeping in Scotland and support more people into safe, secure homes.
We are calling on the Scottish Government to use this extra funding to expand Housing First and ensure more people experiencing the most severe and complex forms of homelessness can access the housing and support they need.
Housing First is one of the most effective and innovative policy interventions of recent times. It provides people with a permanent home alongside flexible, person-centred support. The evidence is clear that this approach works, providing the stability and support required so they can leave homelessness for good and rebuild their lives.
Scotland has long been recognised as a leader in progressive approaches to ending homelessness. But leadership is measured by delivery.
Through the Ending Homelessness Together action plan, the Scottish Government committed to making Housing First the default option for people with multiple and complex needs. Yet access remains far below the level required, with current provision estimated to meet just nine percent of demand.
With rough sleeping continuing to rise, this funding is a chance to turn ambition into action. Expanding Housing First would ensure Scotland continues to lead the way in ending homelessness and delivering on the ambition to end all forms of homelessness.
Fife Council lead officer for Housing Access and Advice John Ashford took time out to come to a Connect event in Stirling earlier this year, where he shared the local authority’s experiences of running Housing First. In this blog John again provides an expert view on the strategies that are working well in the area, and the challenges.
Fife has 89 Housing First cases, with 73 people in tenancies and 16 who are not ready for their tenancy or are waiting for a property. They have gone through the referral and assessment process before signing up.
Support is provided when a person is in temporary accommodation if the service user has not been allocated a permanent tenancy – or wherever they are residing (if sofa surfing etc) – this is a good opportunity to build a relationship.
We upscaled Housing First in March 2023 and now have four organisations providing support – Rock Trust for Youth, Bethany Christian Trust, Fife Women’s Aid and Turning Point Scotland. When the upscaling commenced, there were 29 Housing First tenancies – in just over 18 months we have increased to 73 Housing First tenancies and 16 awaiting the allocation of a tenancy.
One of our greatest achievements is the allocations process. This involves Housing Options discussions with case managers, providers and allocating officers in different areas.
We will identify two or three voids matching what tenant is looking for. This is not always possible due to housing demand but will look to identify at least one property that meets the preferences the customer has confirmed.
We encouraged the allocations officers to understand that we offer people a choice of home because that’s more likely to result in a successful tenancy. However, we do also attempt to manage the expectations that it is not always possible to provide multiple options on properties due to housing demand.
With any person experiencing homelessness we try to balance the preferences of the homeless customer against stock turnover, demand and number. But it also needs to be a realistic conversation.
People in Fife are more likely to be housed in a bigger town with more turnover of stock. There are challenges in the more rural areas – for example a small village might not have good transport links or a chemist. Tenants need to have support provision in those areas too.
Making sure tenants have access to other services can be a challenge for us and for the tenant. Operationally, we have great relationships with the support providers. We have a steering Group for higher end strategy and an operational Group. But once you step out of those groups it becomes harder to get buy-in. People tend to only come to those groups if an issue is raised about a tenant.
If I could change one thing, I would go to other local authority services and say ‘this is how much you will save and reduce returns into your service through Housing First. This is how we can stave off crisis points for people accessing those services’.
I would love to see Housing First models for care leavers or prison leavers – programmes for different groups. At the moment, in Fife, this is not the case but I would like to see this opened out to give opportunity to more groups that require the support given in Housing First to have access to this.
From 31 tenancies in 2018 to 318 total tenancies today, Housing First has scaled up in Glasgow, providing homes with flexible support for people whose homelessness is complex and often tied up with issues including mental health and addiction.
The city’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) works successfully with Housing Associations to provide Housing First homes, with a current target of 600 tenancies.
A sample of 20 tenants shows that prior to their tenancies they made a combined 220 homelessness applications, some dating as far back as 1994 – Housing First clearly works to keep people facing overlapping disadvantage in tenancies.
Eleanor Lee, Principal Officer for Housing First at Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership, says the city has learned on the job and refined its processes over the last six years in the face of unprecedented pressures. Here, she sets out how the system operates to ensure people’s wellbeing needs are met.
My team consists of a team leader, senior addiction practitioner, eight assessment officers and a resource worker supporting governance.
The first step is a referral to Housing First – anyone can refer you and you can self-refer. A crucial new addition at this stage is an in-depth pre-screening of candidates, looking at their historical data on our systems.
The idea is to assess risk, look at how systems have responded to a person’s needs and trauma, what needs to happen this time to keep a person in a tenancy. A care manager has input from the start of the process. The assessment is also available across the HSPC systems, meaning applicants don’t have to repeat their story again and again.
We then link up with a Registered Social Landlord who has accepted the tenant to discuss matching their needs to a tenancy and raising any potential issues.
Successful applicants sometimes have to wait for upgrades to a void and it can be a challenge keeping them stable in temporary accommodation while they wait. But some of our tenancies have been out of this world. Low-level, great condition houses. It’s not all perfect but there’s really been an effort here to make the best offer.
A care plan is then put in place. When someone is moving into a new type of tenancy, wraparound support and building a relationship with a support worker is critical.
In Glasgow we recognise that a good relationship with a Housing Officer is important too, and they will meet the tenant before the tenancy. The tenant is more likely to flag problems if they have a rapport – say the water’s off, they might not tell their care manager or support worker.
Landlords often add in a bit extra – a starter pack, or fire-resistant bedding if a fire risk has been identified – instead of refusing housing which would have happened in the past. The aim is to prevent issues arising in the first place.
Once the tenant has moved in, six and 12-week reviews are carried out with them, in the property, to ensure they’re safe and well before we sign-off on the tenancy. They may be vulnerable to exploitation or self-harm, like cuckooing and hoarding. There is a part missing though. When your life has been chaos for 20 years you might not know how to run your home, how to keep it clean and tidy. People should have the opportunity to learn these skills before their tenancy starts.
During the tenancy, a cycle of care managers will be on board to get responses within the HSPC to things that aren’t going right – this is where a whole systems approach comes in.
There is an issue around mental health services; our shared understanding of the issues is unclear. Sometimes we’ll see a tenant struggling mentally even after a community practice nurse has said they’re fine. We’ll try to look back in whether through the adult support protection route, the care manager, a service review – whatever needs to be done.
Quite often when we start assessment people have burnt their boats with their family, and after coming into Housing First they re-establish connections.
One tenant was in the Bellgrove Hotel hostel in Glasgow for 14 years. His marriage broke down, he was separated from his wife and kids, he lost his job, was drinking heavily and had anger management issues. He now needs no support and has re-engaged with his family. He told us: “I’m not angry at life now – I’m happy with life”. Others have moved on in recovery, they’re going to university, taking courses.
The final stage is the overview. We have a weekly live caseload with updates on cases from the support organisations, and a fortnightly case management meeting to highlight concerns about tenants.
We work with the wider homelessness system in Glasgow, liaise with RSLs and provide six-monthly Scottish Government monitoring report with qualitative information about tenants, looking at their journeys rather than seeing people as numbers. Reporting includes within the GCCHSPC and to the Integrated Joint Board. There is a huge amount of governance and reporting but you need to understand how things are going.
During Covid there were no lets and we’ve not properly recovered. There’s big pressure on homelessness from leave to remain cases, from indigenous presentations, and a downturn in availability of housing. Referrals are more than double the 318 tenancies.
But looking at the statistics, of the 61 people in tenancies in 2021/22, 45 are still there, which is remarkable. You can see how the system of assessment is improving, support is improving and having an impact. It’s amazing to see.
A homelessness expert in the US has written about the successes and challenges of Housing First in Washington State – also providing an insight into how Housing First is viewed there.
Writing in The Seattle Times, Paul Carlson says: “The persistence of homelessness frustrates everyone, no matter your politics, beliefs or assumptions.
“However, the strategy of moving homeless people directly into housing that also provides social services is tried and true.”
Carlson goes on to spell out why the state must not give up on Housing First despite a media backlash, and offers practical solutions for making the system work more effectively for those who need support the most.
Families are increasingly benefiting from the positive impact of Housing First Scotland, figures highlighted in a new report suggest.
The annual Check-up published by Homeless Network Scotland flags up Scottish Government figures showing there are 100 children in Housing First households against fewer than five reported in 2021 – hinting at the growing scope for Housing First to reunite parents and children.
This would add to proven life-changing effects of Housing First in preventing homelessness for people who face multiple disadvantages, by providing settled housing with flexible support.
But despite these promising figures the report warns the housing crisis and current funding arrangements are “actively damaging” delivery, upscaling and staffing of Housing First – amid rising demand and increasing homelessness.
The report states: “Housing First reaches people other services have not been able to reach. All this needs a steady supply of social homes.”
It says contributors have given examples of tenants engaging in the Housing First process so they can work towards having access to their children – and in time take them out of care – but adds that more data is needed to get the full picture of what is happening.
Housing First combines settled, ordinary housing in a community with flexible support – as much or as little as needed – to help a person maintain their tenancy.
The Check-up report sets out the successes and challenges in 2023-24 of Housing First across 26 local authorities, based on insights from housing and support providers, and tenants.
The report contains 14 priorities based on themes that came up again and again – covering areas such as funding, tenancy support, partnership working and staffing.
As of September 2023, 1,646 Housing First tenancies had been started since inception in Scotland. Housing First is demonstrating that 90% of tenancies are being sustained over 12 months from entry.
But the report points to analysis by Heriot-Watt University that suggests Housing First is currently only meeting around 9% of projected demand, underscoring the need for long-term funding.
In most local authorities, funding for Housing First is aligned with transition funding from Scottish Government which is temporary in nature.
In some areas this means local authorities are unable to offer Housing First workers job security, with knock-on effects on recruitment and caseload sizes.
The report highlights the urgent need for Housing First to move toward a more permanent cycle of funding so that it can be upscaled at pace. Due to the overlapping nature of people’s circumstances, a model of funding that reaches across a range of council departments is now needed to get best results – including homelessness, community justice, mental health, drug and alcohol recovery services.
The report also points to evidence of cost savings across the NHS and wider public sector delivered by Housing First and stresses the importance of all services that benefit investing in delivery.
Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: “Providing people experiencing homelessness with accommodation first, before helping with their longer term needs, is at the heart of rapid rehousing.
“The Scottish Government’s ambition is that Housing First will be the first response for people across Scotland whose homelessness is made harder by experiences with trauma, addiction and mental health difficulties.
“I welcome this report which highlights the steady progress local authorities have made in rolling-out Housing First across Scotland, with 26 local authorities now delivering the service, over 1,600 tenancies delivered, and tenancy sustainment rates of 90%.
“It is particularly profound that enabling people to maintain settled tenancies through Housing First is supporting children to return to safe homes.
“I recognise that for Housing First to achieve its full potential, a steady supply of social homes is needed and there is more to do to ensure it is available for anyone who needs it. We remain committed to working in partnership with local authorities to achieve that ambition.”
Homeless Network Scotland chief executive Maggie Brünjes said: “Housing First in Scotland is becoming internationally regarded and our local authorities and their partners deserve huge credit for branching out Housing First in the face of housing, budget and cost-of-living crises.
“But there are thousands more people braving a range of challenges who are not getting the proven benefits of Housing First. And there are many support staff juggling complex caseloads under a shroud of job insecurity.
“This can be solved by giving more homes to Housing First and by drawing funding from across local authority budgets to mirror the range of life circumstances that Housing First meets. We can’t risk rolling back on Housing First. We need national and local leadership to help step up our efforts to extend the positive impact of Housing First to more people, families and communities.”
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