Addressing the needs of the older homeless population

The Older Homelessness Project at Homeless Link, supportred  by the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales, works to improve services for older homeless people who tend to be a marginalised and neglected section of the homeless population. This  guidance draws together work that has been done over a couple of years into a set of recommendations on addressing the needs of older homeless people.

Purpose of Guidance

• To provide guidelines to local areas to tackle the issue of older people living inappropriately in temporary accommodation or precariously housed.
• Share examples of where local authorities and providers have been addressing the needs of this group.

Commendations for the Guidance

Representatives from the CLG and the DH have been involved in the steering group on this project and have both commended the guidance to local authorities and their partners.

Older homeless people are a marginalised client group. This guidance from Homeless Link encourages the sort of integrated approach across the different sectors of housing, housing related support, health, and care which the Department of Health sees as vital. We commend it to local authorities and their partners interested in developing better joint commissioning and forging solutions that meet the needs of this vulnerable group.

Jeremy Porteus
National Programme Lead - Housing
Department of Health

The CLG commend the use of this valuable guidance to providers and commissioners in the older people and the homeless sector. Older homeless people are a particularly vulnerable group and yet older people’s accommodation and support strategies are often produced with no mention of homeless people. The guidance highlights the specific issues that need considering when planning to tackle older people's homelessness and draws on case studies from across the country where providers and commissioners are  improving services for this group.

CLG

Who is it aimed at?

• Commissioners of  housing and support services for homeless people
• Commissioners of longer term housing care and support for older people.
• Providers of services, in the homeless sector looking to move on older people from hostels. 
• Providers of retirement housing addressing the needs of a client group that may be unfamiliar and different to their traditional client group.

What does the guidance include?

The Guidance consists of five sections, many of the issues overlap but they have been broadly divided into these areas. The sub sections will be found under each of the main headings.

1. Why work on this agenda? - This section incudes sub sections on why commissioners should work on this agenda, why homelessness providers should and why sheltered/retirement housing providers should.
2. Skills and expertise - This section includes sub sections on Assessing need, Hostel staff training, Developing expertise or specialist responses  in Sheltered housing and in Adult social care and developing the expertise of Commissioners.
3. The resettlement process - This section includes sub sections on Managing cultural change, Referrals to other housing options, Preparing individuals, and Strategic recognition of gaps in services.
4. Housing options for older people - This section includes sub sections on Independent housing with initial resettlement support, in the private rented sector or in sheltered housing, Independent housing with long term resettlement support, Permanent supported housing and Accommodation with care.
5. Cross cutting issues - This section includes sub sections on Personalisation, Institutionalisation, Service user involvement, Community integration and Meaningful activity.

There are case studies and real examples from local authorities and providers throughout the guidance. We hope it will inspire shared learning and solutions to the issues presented.

Acknowledgements

The guidance has been produced by Homeless Link with the help of a steering group including representatives from  Communities and Local Government ,  Department of Health, Leicester City Council, Shelter, National Housing Federation, hact, Help the Aged, and Anchor. Homeless Link would like to thank them all for their help and guidance in the project.