2014 Annual Review of Support for Single Homeless People in England

For the past seven years, Homeless Link has produced an annual review of the available support for single homelessness in England in its Survey of Needs and Provision (SNAP). Single homeless people are less likely than families to be to be entitled to housing from their local authority, and therefore often rely on homelessness charities for accommodation, advice and other forms of support. 

The reports track the sector’s capacity, support services available to homeless people, funding for homelessness services, and changes to the provision of homelessness support.

Support for Single Homeless People in England: Annual Review 2014 provides vital evidence for services, commissioners, policy-makers and others planning support for people who become homeless and is the only available data source of its kind on the homelessness sector in England.

In total 459 agencies took part via in-depth telephone interviews and online surveys, and 218 accommodation projects provided data about their service via a self-completed data return.

Key findings

People using homelessness services

• 70% of people using accommodation projects are men and 53% are young people (under 25), with only 10% aged 50 or over.
• A third of people have needs related to drug use (33%) and mental health (32%) and over a quarter have complex and multiple needs (28%). 15% are recent rough sleepers and 27% have an offending history.

Services for homeless people

• There are 1,271 accommodation projects in England for single homeless people, a 3% annual decrease. There are 216 day centres in England, a small increase from 211 last year.
• The accommodation projects provide 38,534 bed-spaces and around half are small, with 46% having 20 beds or fewer. Over half (53%) report having no spare bed-spaces on a given night.
• 91% of accommodation projects refused access to people assessed as being too high a risk to other clients or staff, compared to 79% last year, and 74% refused people whose needs were too high for the project to manage, up from 63%.
• More projects are requiring referrals to have a local connection, a trend that has been emerging over the past years.

Access to external support

• Most accommodation projects and day centres provide access to health and substance use services, largely through referral to external agencies.
• There were few gaps identified in local provision, except for day centres where 11% reported having no access to a GP or practice nurse and 10% no access to employment, training or education services.
• 44% of day centres experienced difficulties accessing mental health services, including due to long waiting lists, clients’ disruptive behaviour, and high access thresholds.

Outcomes for homeless people

• 22% of people who move on from accommodation projects return to friends or family, and a further 21% move into second-stage accommodation with ongoing support. 15% move on to social housing and 10% move into the private rented sector (PRS).
• 66% of accommodation projects said that local housing market pressures and limited supply of suitable rental properties were the main barriers to move-on. On average, accommodation projects reported that 32% of people currently staying in their services were ready to move on. 48% of those had been waiting for more than three months.
• Projects reported that 21% of people using their services were managing their health better and 30% were engaged in money management skills development, sport, arts or other meaningful activities. 12% of people reduced their offending and 10% had achieved paid employment.

Funding for homelessness services

• 38% of accommodation projects saw their funding fall over the past 12 months, while 8% saw an increase in funding. 31% of day centres reported a funding increase and 26% a decrease.
• Accommodation projects continue to rely on a small number of funding sources. 96% receive Housing Benefit payments, 91% rent and service charges and 88% receive housing related support. Day centres continue to rely on fundraising income.
• Housing-related support (formerly Supporting People) is the primary funding source for 58% of projects, a significant reduction from 76% last year.
• The main changes resulting from funding decreases are in the range of services offered and the level of support available. 19% of projects with funding cuts reported reducing the provision of key-working and 33% reported reducing the provision of meaningful activities. 48% of projects also reduced their frontline staff, and 41% reduced their back-office capacity.
• Accommodation projects with funding reductions have made various adaptations, including reducing the number of staff (23% of projects), restructuring (23%), reducing staff costs (11%), using more volunteers or junior staff (10%), and reducing the hours or support given to service users (8%).

Alternative types of support for homeless people

• Many accommodation projects have been developing new types of support. Most offer some form of personalised service, ranging from co-production of support plans (74%) to personal budgets (39%). Others are using private sector leasing schemes (26%), Housing First (23%) and peer landlord schemes (10%).

Impact of welfare changes

• Welfare changes, including changes to the conditionality and sanctions regime, Local Welfare Assistance, the Shared Accommodation rate and Local Housing Allowance, are having a substantial impact. Day centres are advising an average of 100 people each month on welfare benefits issues, because of claims being suspended without people knowing why (71% of day centres), a change in a person’s fit-to-work assessment (70%), and benefit sanctions (68%).
• People using day centres were experiencing increasing anxiety about making ends meet, and the demand for food parcels had increased. Access to Local Welfare Assistance schemes varied, reflecting the local differences in eligibility and process. Benefit sanctions for homeless people were a concern in 69% of accommodation projects, as well as delays in receiving Housing Benefit or due to changes in circumstances.
• 85% of accommodation projects had rent arrears from current clients, with 27% of clients in arrears on average.