Summary of Stakeholder Consultation

Draft Report Knowsley 17 Dec 09

Annex C2: Summary of stakeholder consultation

Access to and sustaining emergency accommodation

• Not enough emergency accommodation in the area
• Unclear what criteria used by Field Lane (an important resource)
• Lack of female accommodation in the borough – can lead women into the sex trade
• Access to temporary refuge is a particular problem – have to go out of Borough
• Community of street homeless in Kirkby
• Temp accom can sometimes be quite selective, and operate long bans
• Need for local wet hostel provision, to stabilise people’s drinking
• Not many clients on DRRs have unstable housing, but those who do gave great difficulty finding anywhere
• Real problem being able to place single people with history of substance misuse issues in temporary accommodation while waiting for a homeless assessment
• Significant group of DIP clients aged 30-40, want to settle down but past history gets in their way, seen unacceptable risk, and tend to end up living in houses with other drug users. Forced to commit crimes in return for roof over their head, so revolving door
• Too many intrusive questions asked, when people applying for accommodation
• People with drugs or offending histories may have real difficulties supplying identification papers, can lead to application or homeless case being delayed or closed
• Lack of information about temporary accommodation options for non-priority applicants

/ Access to and sustaining settled accommodation

• Concerns about consistency of standards in relation to floating support services
• Not everyone wants to or can live on their own - isolation can be a critical factor in substance misusers failing in their tenancy
• Concerns about how decisions on intentionality and eligibility for social housing affect offenders, limits access to housing
• Poor mental health the main reason why people fail to sustain tenancies
• Sometimes people have need for a period of respite, especially those facing domestic abuse
• Applications to KHT sometimes held up over documentary proof of criminal record, and previous arrears
• High Priority Panel can be an intimidating process
• Support agencies may only be brought in when an eviction is getting quite close - housing staff not always proactive in contacting support agencies when a tenant is having or causing difficulties
• Too many people rehoused on leaving Field Lane hostel then fail their tenancies, not enough done with them, perhaps not enough time allowed for them to build up skills needed to manage a tenancy
• An apparent policy of containing vulnerable people in blocks together may be a cause of stress for some e.g. older drinkers in blocks with younger drug users
• Young people not able to access floating support, if tenancy collapses they end up going round all the agencies again, little help if then seen as intentionally homeless

Responding to drug and alcohol problems

• Drug and alcohol abuse is the biggest hidden cause of homelessness and lies behind a lot of the cases reviewed by the Homeless Prevention Team
• Alcohol abuse is more the issue than drugs
• There is a small group of older long term drinkers who lost their accommodation some years ago
• Older, long-term drinkers have a need for sheltered / supported accommodation, in some instances intense contact is required for short period – prone to loneliness left alone in their own flat

/ Pathways for resolving housing issues

• The route through the service maze is confusing
• There is often a gap when people have nowhere to go between detox and rehab
• Papers of homeless applicants are sometimes lost and this can lead to people having to start the process from scratch
• No training for staff in drugs agencies about how best to help clients resolve housing problems, and not enough resource information

Systems and working together

• No clear pathway through service for people - too much focus on treatment, not enough on addressing underlying social and environmental causes of problems
• More consistent and comprehensive training needed for floating support staff
• Homelessness staff have difficulty in accessing social work support
• Unclear what advice / housing services are provided for substance misusers
• Resettlement service in prison do not appear to be working – often hear about need for accommodation only just before release date, too late to do any planning
• Alcohol services operate on a more traditional model, and tend to refer people to Social Services rather than provide help on housing issues within the alcohol service
• Not always effective communication about homelessness

/ Other

• Most floating support is linked to having a tenancy and not available to people in various forms of temporary accommodation
• People with substance misuse history are cause of significant level of ASB problems
• Boredom is a major trigger for relapses

Suggestions about what else is needed:

Emergency housing

• More emergency accommodation – men and young people, Accommodation for women and couples
• Wet accommodation
• Provision of floating support for people without a tenancy
• Floating support for young people with substance misuse problems
• A focus on taking action to address rough sleeping, to include a policy of clearing arrears of drug / alcohol users so that they can access accommodation
• Local supported housing for families recovering from addictions
• Consistent, honest, non-judgmental approach from KHT staff, and clear information about people need to bring with them to homeless and other interviews
• More support for drinkers at Field Lane
• Supported accommodation that made allowances for drinkers, and looks at the behaviour and risks associated with someone needing temporary accommodation
• Immediate accommodation needed to be available while homeless assessments are done

Settled housing

• Need a dedicated KHT worker to work with this group
• A need for shared housing or housing with some shared facilities, to combat isolation
• More tenancy support
• Probationary tenancies - opportunity to demonstrate capacity to manage independently before being granted a full tenancy
• More intensive work to prepare people for tenancies (pre-tenancy training)
• Younger powder cocaine users, need someone to prepare them for independent living in the future

Systems and working together

• More effective and integrated multi-disciplinary work – suggestion is for a social worker to work into each of the drug and alcohol teams

Drug and alcohol services

• Local residential provision for drug and alcohol users
• People have to give up tenancies if go into places like Summergrove – deters families from using these resources
• Hard to get funding for schemes like Summergrove and Park View
• Big need for drop-in services in Knowsley, to get more engagement with people, earlier identification of housing problems

Peter Fletcher Associates Ltd1