Reducing evictions and abandonments: information and good practice seminar - Sheffield

Friday 18 November 2011

"I found it really useful and a good source of information"
Delegate
This free event was aimed at sharing good practice in reducing evictions and abandonment from homelessness services and was attended by 30 people representing 16 organisations across four local authority areas in the South Yorkshire sub-region.
 

Programme

The programme of the day was as follows. Presentations can be viewed by clicking on the relevant title.
 
10.00 - 10.30: Registration and refreshments
10.30 - 10.40: Introduction to the day - Helen Loosemore, Yorkshire and Humber Regional Manager, Homeless Link
10.40 - 11.00: The importance of preventing evictions and abandonments in South Yorkshire 
11.00 - 11.30: Staying in: preventing evictions and abandonment research - Helen Loosemore,  Yorkshire and Humber Regional Manager, Homeless Link
11.30 - 11.50: Small group discussions
11.50 - 12.10: Break
12.10 - 12.40: Practical findings from 5 pilot projects - Joanne Thomas, Innovations Project Manager, Homeless Link
12.40 - 13.30: Local good practice: new methods in action - Matthew Newman, M25 in Doncaster, and Jacqui Smith, Young Women's Housing Project in Sheffield.
13.30 - 14.00: Lunch and networking
14.00 - 15.00: Group discussion
15.00 - 15.15: Further tools/resources 
 

Feedback from the day

"Very interesing, I will use a lot of what was suggested." Delegate

Feedback from the event was very good, and included providers and commissioners identifying the following actions:

 

Sheffield Supporting People Team: Will explore ways to monitor levels of evictions and abandonments from commissioned services and set targets for organisations to achieve.

South Yorkshire service providers:

  • Will review how risk of abandonment is monitored and addressed, aiming to pick up on early warning signs and address these through appropriate support.
  • If a client does abandon ensure the effective follow up work is undertaken
  • Share good practice
  • Review / reflect on unplanned moves identifying ways to improve their approach
  • Look at the rules of the service – are there too many? Are they appropriate for the client group?
  • Review timescales for warnings – do these last too long?
  •  Be flexible regarding expectations of client behaviour while they are ‘settling in’ to the service
  • Explore a working agreement with the local authority as to how arrears can be managed
  • Set up effective house meetings for clients – can these be service user led?
  • Review how sanctions are issued to clients, discuss behaviour, clarify expectations and make sanctions a ‘mutual agreement’
  • Use the sanction discussion check list
  • Explore ways to reward positive behaviour
  • Clarify expectations between client and the provider from the outset
  • Use the Homeless Link website and tool kit
  • Ensure consistency of keyworker for the client
  • Staff training on dealing with challenging behaviour
  • Share good practice from this seminar with the full staff team through team meetings

FURTHER SUPPORT 

Throughout 2011 we want to spread learning and tools as widely as possible across England in order to see a reduction in people being evicted or abandoning services. If you would like support, please contact us.

We have collated all of the tips, ideas, tools and guidance into a resource: our reducing evictions and abandonment toolkit. The toolkit is aimed at both providers and commissioners, and includes resources and examples from other services to help you understand the causes of evictions and abandonment in your area and give you ideas and means to reduce them.

We have also created a dedicated good practice page on our website including tips for frontline workers and case studies of effective services outlining how providers and commissioners have achieved a reduction in unplanned moves.