Porchlight Outreach Service

A county-wide approach to preventing rough sleeping

Porchlight has been named by the Department for Communities and Local Government as one of the ‘Ending Rough Sleeping Champions’ as part of their drive to promote best practice in tackling homelessness in 2009/10. They were awarded the title for their outreach work, which operates throughout the 12 districts and boroughs of Kent, with the exception of the unitary authority of Medway. 
 
The outreach scheme deals with all homeless people over the age of 16, and has no support restrictions. The initiative was started in the mid-1990s in response to the concerns of Canterbury councilors who advocated for action on the issue of rough sleeping, which they perceived to be increasing. The then Conservative government’s Rough Sleeper Initiative was important in focusing attention on the problem of rough sleeping. 
 
Porchlight run a weekly drop-in service in every district and borough of Kent. Referrals are made to Porchlight’s hostels in Canterbury, Dover, Ashford and Ramsgate. These hostels are available on an emergency basis but are heavily oversubscribed, with 5 people applying for every available place last year. Referrals are made to whichever hostel has space, with preference given to the clients home area if possible. Capacity constraints were cited as the outreach schemes single biggest problem.
 
Funding was originally secured from two Lottery grants. The scheme has been funded since then by Supporting People, and is the only scheme to be funded in this way in the county. Porchlight regularly meet representatives from Housing Departments, Local Authorities and Supporting People to decide on regional funding distribution. The needs of different areas differ widely, and Porchlight find that regular consultation and information sharing with their partners is the best mechanism with which to decide funding disbursement, rather than having a set mechanism or proportional system for disbursement. While this works well now that funding is from a single source, it was previously a complicated arrangement as projects were funded from different sources, for example a grant from the Lloyds TSB’s charitable foundation which was used to pay for a Prison Worker Scheme. 
 
The scheme went county-wide in response to data collected as part of existing outreach work showing that the need for further outreach in boroughs throughout Kent was urgent. The benefit of expanding the service has been that a truer picture of homelessness in Kent has emerged. Previously the problem had been ignored by authorities, whereas now the level of awareness is now much higher.   
 

Key steps to establish the project

 
  • Canterbury Councilors perceived a rise in the number of rough sleepers in Canterbury city centre and -- spurred on by the Rough Sleepers Initiative -- decided to establish an outreach service. The data collected as part of this provided evidence of the existence of need.
  • Porchlight gained access to Council working groups which involved representatives from relevant Local Authorities. Presence on these working groups gave Porchlight (then called the Canterbury Cyrenians) the chance to make the case for an outreach service to the LA. 
  • They formalized the scheme as the East Kent Homeless Forum, and secured Lottery funding for the first six years of the project. Lottery funding allowed the scheme to go county-wide in 2008. 
  • Funding has increased twice since January 08, and the staff level has risen from 8 to 21 in that time. 

Lessons learnt

 
  • An outreach service dealing with complex, chaotic cases can be difficult to reconcile with the administrative needs of some government funding. 
  • If areas have a low level of supported housing, it is important to explore other options. Porchlight have developed a Private Sector Landlord Liaison service, which builds relationships between with landlords in order to access suitable rented properties.
  • Data collecting and sharing are crucial to generating will among councils and local authorities, and for proving that the need exists for further services.
  • Regular drop-in sessions held at the same time and location and the 24hr helpline, have been important tools for prevention, as they can be accessed by people who are not able to make a certain, set appointment time for advice/consultation.     

Key message

 
A lack of EA facilities makes exploring all options important; Porchlight have developed a Private Sector Landlord Liaison service to facilitate access to suitable private rented accommodation. Regularity and availability are important in service provision, giving clients with a chaotic lifestyle multiple opportunities regular access options increase individuals’ chances of accessing the services in question. Also, collection of reliable data emerged again as a vital step in both establishing need and arguing for funding and resources.