Emergency accommodation

Homeless people may need access to emergency accommodation. Some homeless people will have a legal entitlement to have accommodation provided by a local authority. Others, including many single homeless people and couples without children, do not have a legal entitlement to emergency accommodation and may have to rely on voluntary sector hostels, refuges or other types of emergency accommodation or may risk having to sleep rough.

CONTEXT

The Government’s 2008 rough sleeping strategy, No One Left Out; Communities Ending Rough Sleeping, makes clear that while the overall number of rough sleepers in England has decreased significantly in the previous decade, further action is required to end rough sleeping for good. A focus on prevention is key to achieving this aim: the right support must be provided as soon as an individual is at risk of becoming homeless, to ensure they do not end up on the streets.

'No One Left Out’, states that ‘there must be an effective safety net in every area so people can avoid sleeping rough’, secured by a range of effective housing options. This is particularly important for non-statutory homeless people who have no entitlement to immediate temporary accommodation under the homelessness legislation. The provision of emergency accommodation for non-statutory groups is therefore a crucial part of any prevention strategy.

Local authorities have an obligation to assist some homeless people, and many of the people they do assist will be housed initially in some form of emergency or temporary accommodation. This is now less likely to be Bed and Breakfast accommodation, but could be temporary accommodation in the private rented sector or social housing.

Although single homeless people and couples may seek advice from local authorities, some may not have an entitlement to emergency housing provided by the local authority unless they fulfill a specific legal criteria. See our homelessness legislation page for more details. Voluntary sector agencies tend to provide accommodation to non statutory homeless people but this may vary depending on the area.

Typically, emergency accommodation might be:

• Direct access hostels, which are usually accessible by self referral and usually do not carry a waiting list
• Night Stop, or Crashpad schemes
• Church or Winter Shelters
• Supported Lodgings

Emergency accommodation schemes vary in the level of support they offer to clients and the criteria used to assess and accept individuals may also vary depending on the type of project and the local authority.

Homeless Link launched the Emergency Accommodation Project to look at the availability and effectiveness of different emergency accommodation solutions for non-statutory homeless people across England. Our new research report, 'Emergency Accommodation: A survey of provision in areas with no direct access hostel', is now available to download.

SOLUTIONS

Our case studies highlight how different local authorities with no direct access hostels have provided emergency accommodation to non statutory homeless people. Our final report also makes a number of recommendation for policy makers. These include:

• Every area must address the issue of emergency accommodation, even if there a perceived low level of demand. Working with neighbouring authorities and establishing cross-boundary arrangements can make better use of resources, and developing alternative models of accommodation such as night stops for rough sleepers can be particularly cost effective for areas with low demand
• Emergency Accommodation needs to be viewed in the wider context of housing options and advice, often the starting point for somebody’s pathway out of homelessness. Those providing advice need to be fully aware of available provision and have a regular process for identifying these options so that appropriate advice and interventions can be offered at the point when somebody seeks help
• Emergency accommodation needs to be seen as one step in an individual’s longer term move away from homelessness. Emergency accommodation is usually considered to be a temporary, stop-gap measure to address somebody’s immediate need for shelter. However it is important that appropriate services – such as employment advice, mediation or drug treatment- can be accessed alongside accommodation to ensure an individual can move on to a more appropriate, longer term housing solution.

FURTHER INFORMATION

• The Homeless UK website is the national source of information about homelessness accommodation and advice projects across the UK.
• Homeless Pages gives details about publications, good practice and research on emergency direct access hostels.
• The Pan London Providers Group published a research report in 2005 London’s Hostels for Homeless People in the 21st Century , and Far More than a Bed: A Summary.
• The CLG’s website contains a Hostels Review Toolkit available to download.
• Leading Places of Change is a leadership programme for service managers in the homelessness sector. It has been developed jointly by the Chartered Institute of Housing, Homeless Link and Broadway and is funded by Communities and Local Government. Visit our Places of Change page for more information.