2015 Annual Review of Support for Single Homeless People in England

For the past eight years, Homeless Link has produced an annual review of the available support for single homelessness in England. 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. 

Support for Single Homeless People in England: Annual Review 2015 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.

The findings are based on key data sources, including surveys of 357 accommodation providers and 104 day centres from across England, a self-completed data return from 250 homelessness accommodation providers, data from the Homeless England database, national government statistics and detailed service case studies.

The report provides a detailed overview of the nature and availability of key services, the challenges and opportunities faced by the sector and the needs and circumstances of the people accessing services.

Key findings

People who use homelessness services

• 70% of people using accommodation projects are men. 49% are young people aged 16 to 24. 19% of people have recently slept rough.
• 38% of people using accommodation projects have complex or multiple needs, 30% have drug problems and 23% have alcohol problems. 32% of clients in accommodation services have mental health problems and one in five (22%) have a history of offending.

Availability and use of homelessness services

• There are 1,253 accommodation projects for single homeless people in England, a 1% decrease from last year. There are 1,994 fewer bed spaces available than last year, a decrease of 5%.
• The number of day centres in England has reduced by 4% since last year from 216 to 208.
• The two biggest reasons for accommodation services declining referrals or refusing client access were the person was assessed as being too high risk to other clients or staff (77%) and that their needs were too high (76%).

Resources and funding for homelessness services

• 51% of accommodation projects listed housing-related support (previously Supporting People) as the main primary funding source.
• 41% of accommodation projects have experienced a decrease in their funding since the last financial year. 40% reported no change, and 8% had an increase in funding.
• Day centres’ funding streams remain more diverse than accommodation projects'. 23% of day centres receive health funding. Fundraising is the most common primary source of funding (57%).

Outcomes for people who become homeless

• The outcomes achieved by people using accommodation projects have improved across nearly all categories. A third of people (34%) were engaged in education or training (compared to 23% last year). Gaining paid employment remains the least common outcome but has increased from 10% to 14% since last year.
• Access to move-on accommodation remains an issue. 62% of accommodation projects said that local pressures on the housing market or limited supply of suitable rental properties were the main barriers to move-on.
• On average, accommodation projects reported that 25% of people currently staying in their services were ready to move on but had not yet been able to. Over half (58%) of those had been waiting for more than three months.

Changes and delivery of homeless support and services

• Over half (55%) of accommodation projects either use or are exploring shared accommodation schemes. 52% use or are exploring rent deposit and bond schemes and 34% use or are exploring Housing First.
• Social investment methods such as social bonds are not being widely used. 12% of projects reported that they use or are exploring social investment. 5% of accommodation projects said they are commissioned on a payment by results basis.
• A fifth of accommodation services (21%) said they jointly commission services with other providers in their area which they do not provide in-house and 58% said they jointly deliver services with other local providers.
• Day centres have slightly lower levels of joint commissioning (7%) and nearly half (47%) jointly deliver services with other providers in the area.

Impact of welfare changes

• Accommodation projects reported service users experiencing a wide range of benefit issues. The most common problem was sanctions, reported by 90% of services, an increase from 69% last year. 61% of accommodation projects say the proportion of people being sanctioned has increased.
• 61% of accommodation projects said their clients could easily gain access to local welfare assistance schemes but nearly half did not know if there was going to be a local welfare assistance scheme in their area next year.

Future developments

• Participants reported a range of gaps in provision affecting services in their area. Similar challenges were reported to previous years, such as difficulties accessing appropriate accommodation and high levels of sanctions. In some cases these issues have intensified.
• Cuts to funding have left many services struggling to maintain a good level of support. Less availability of external support services such as mental health provision are also having an impact. Many services are adapting by reducing costs where possible, sometimes limiting the support they can offer.
• Innovative approaches and new ways of working are enabling some services to enhance their provision within a changing environment.