We need a joined-up approach to funding for those who have experience of the criminal justice system, says Ursula Ralph, Housing First service manager at Jigsaw Homes as part of the Reset Homelessness campaign.
Housing First is a model that has been widely adopted internationally since it started in North America in the 1990s, because of its success in reducing homelessness for people experiencing multiple disadvantages, who are the hardest to reach.
It offers unconditional access to a settled, secure home and intensive, flexible support for as long as is needed. High-fidelity Housing First services, judged against their adherence to seven Housing First principles, show impressive tenancy sustainment rates (70%-90% after the first year) in comparison with traditional supported housing approaches.
Due to these results, alongside research showing that outcomes in other areas such as drugs and alcohol are more mixed, Housing First is usually thought of as a homelessness intervention. However, Housing First Women Offenders, a Jigsaw support service which ran from 2015 to 2020, as well as findings from much-larger regional pilots, show it has significant potential as a wider intervention to reduce offending.
I have worked in Housing First for more than 10 years, initially delivering small local projects, and for the past six years on Greater Manchester Housing First, one of the larger regional pilots. I first noticed the effect Housing First had on people’s offending when working on the service at Inspiring Change Manchester, a programme for people experiencing multiple disadvantages.
Evaluation showed reduced criminal behaviour and offending as one of the most significant outcomes. The cost-benefit analysis showed a 50% reduction in nights in prison for people using the service.
Frequent, long-term patterns of multiple offending had very often fallen away, to the point where most of the women were, quite simply, no longer offenders.
At Jigsaw support, the Housing First Offenders service was delivered collaboratively with probation, and worked specifically with women with experience of the criminal justice system. A deep-dive evaluation by the University of York found a dramatic reduction in offending.
Twenty women were rehoused between 2015 and 2020, who, before receiving support, had 292 convictions between them, with seven having served time in prison. While they were being supported by the service, there were only four incidents of offending, leading to three convictions, two of which were for minor offences. Only one woman was in prison during this time.
The evaluation found that “frequent, long-term patterns of multiple offending had very often fallen away, to the point where most of the women using Jigsaw (support) Housing First were, quite simply, no longer offenders”.
Both these services supported small numbers of people. Inspiring Change Manchester worked with 20 people at any one time and Housing First Offenders with 12. However, there are strong indications that these positive outcomes around offending have been replicated in the much-larger regional Housing First pilots across Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region and the West Midlands.
The final synthesis report for all three pilots was based on data from 312 people. Of this group, 29% reported committing an offence in the 12 months before joining the service. After a year on the service, only 12% had committed an offence in the past six months, a significant reduction.
What is it about Housing First that seems to have such an impact on offending? The Housing First Offenders evaluation suggested it was the overall nature of the service – the provision of a stable and secure home, combined with intensive, person-centred support – rather than any specific interventions around offending, which produced positive change.
The service addressed the underlying causes of offending and treated the women as individuals, rather than offenders. All services mentioned are high fidelity, with the same approach to support, so it does seem that the Housing First model has potential as an effective approach to reduce offending.
The service addressed the underlying causes of offending and treated the women as individuals rather than offenders.
Given the reduction in offending, the criminal justice system made significant cost savings. The Housing First Offenders evaluation cited savings of between £16,500 (for three arrests and one court appearance) and £82,500 (for five arrests and three court appearances).
Yet not one of the services received criminal justice funding. Inspiring Change Manchester was a Fulfilling Lives project funded by the Big Lottery Fund. Housing First Offenders was funded by Jigsaw support and charitable grant; Greater Manchester Housing First is funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. All have been, or are subject to, the patchwork, cliff-edge funding structure currently typical of funding to address homelessness.
Evidence shows that Housing First reduces homelessness and improves outcomes for some of the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach people in society. It should be part of a national, long-term homelessness strategy that is jointly funded by all relevant government departments, including the Ministry of Justice.
The current funding structure does not support the long-term strategic thinking needed to address the complex and interconnected issues that lead people into homelessness and keep them there. Joint funding would support more effective joint-agency work, with the ability to target specific cohorts who might benefit from Housing First where other approaches have failed.
Keeping funding in silos prevents effective, holistic, person-centred work that gives people a route out of both homelessness and offending.
Ursula Ralph, Housing First service manager, Jigsaw Homes.