Andrew Humberstone, Head of Specialist Housing at EMH describes a better approach that they have been trialling.
Research shows that children living in Temporary Accommodation experience excess deaths and poorer educational outcomes. Despite this, Local Authority use of Temporary Accommodation has risen by more than 150% since 2010. This type of provision is expensive, so while it delivers poor outcomes for vulnerable families, it also places significant financial pressure on councils and affects the wider services they provide.
Those of us working in the homelessness sector may now need to develop new service models that help councils meet their duties using higher‑quality accommodation, combined with support, and at a much lower cost than options such as bed and breakfast placements.
EMH has been working with Northwest Leicestershire District Council to test a new approach, and the results are promising. The model is like supported housing services already delivered across the sector, meaning it could be replicated elsewhere. So we felt it was important to share how it operates.
A key difference is that Northwest Leicestershire does not discharge its homelessness duties by making placements into our scheme. Instead, EMH supports the council to meet its legal duties to provide temporary accommodation while homelessness investigations are ongoing, or after a full duty has been accepted but before a suitable permanent offer is made.
Our occupancy agreements must be such that they reflect this. But this ensures customers retain top priority under the Council’s Allocation Policy, enabling quicker move‑on and preventing the “silt‑up” that affects many services.
If you want to know more, please contact me.