Turning Tides Housing First Manager Neil Mitchell writes on how a lack of government investment threatens the future of the Housing First model, risking increased homelessness, greater pressure on public services, and the loss of effective long-term support.
Over the last five and a half years, Turning Tides has launched, developed and established a Housing First service across four local authority areas in West Sussex. This was initially achievable through a combination of four-year grant funding offered by the Henry Smith Foundation and Rough Sleeping Initiative money made available by local authorities.
During this period, our Housing First scheme has worked with housing associations across West Sussex to provide self-contained social housing within various local communities for 30 highly vulnerable individuals who have experienced many complex issues that have both come from and caused repeated spells of homelessness. To date, only three of these tenancies have broken down, demonstrating the strength of both the model and the individuals for whom stable, self-contained accommodation and person-centred, trauma-informed support has provided a route off the streets and a brighter future.
A cost-benefit analysis carried out internally has shown savings to the public purse of almost £3 million pounds since the launch of our Housing First service. While 30 placements may seem a relatively small number, it is worth noting that the service was launched in a post-COVID climate of economic uncertainty and a national housing crisis. If £3 million pounds can be saved via a small service that changes the lives of most people it accommodates, imagine the benefits to individuals and public finances of a larger service able to provide more support and house more people.
However, to the dismay of many organisations, both statutory and charitable, the failure of the current government to ringfence finances for Housing First during the most recent homelessness spending review has left our clients, staff and partner agencies in a very challenging position. For all the positive feedback coming from the local authorities regarding the model and the successful way it is being delivered, a willingness to provide the necessary funding to ensure its future has not been forthcoming. No charity or service can rely on private grant funding forever, and to now find ourselves having to scale back the support we provide to our clients, halt the growth of the service and make passionate, dedicated and skilled staff members redundant is very difficult to stomach.
This will inevitably mean the end of some vital working relationships between vulnerable clients and workers who have invested the time and emotional energy to build trust with them. It is not to be underestimated how challenging it can be for individuals who have faced adversity, trauma and social isolation to form constructive, positive relationships with anyone. To have done so and then face the loss of that worker from their lives due to financial pressures is nothing short of devastating and can have a hugely destabilising impact. If a reduction in support results in breakdowns of tenancies or an inability to accommodate more individuals requiring the service, then the long-term impacts will be felt in terms of heightened pressure on blue light services, strained community cohesion and escalating financial costs.
It is absolutely essential that a ratified Housing First strategy, with ringfenced finances, is implemented by the government and rolled out by local authorities in order for the Housing First model to become part of the mainstream approach to tackling homelessness and the multitude of complex problems that arise from it. Housing First is a long-term solution for our most at-risk individuals, and it is fighting for space in a climate of short-term thinking. Now is the time to buck that trend and embrace change.
Neil Mitchell
