The current homelessness funding system risks ruining our bond with clients and volunteers, write Michael Chandler, chief executive of Groundswell, as part of the Reset Homelessness campaign.
Groundswell believes that lived experience should inform solutions to homelessness and health inequalities.
For 15 years, our Homeless Health Peer Advocacy (HHPA) service has helped people experiencing homelessness access healthcare. Most of our team members have first-hand experience of homelessness, fostering trust where past interactions have led to mistrust of professionals.
David, a Groundswell volunteer, told us: “Being someone that is in the trenches daily, alongside my own lived experience, I see clients who have lost contact with workshops, support workers, friends that were helping them to move away from the entrenched life they were living.
“Due to the project closing and short-term contracts, they feel as if their opportunity to change could be lost.”
Trust is a cornerstone of our work, as volunteer James explains: “The bond and consistency between client and HHPA cannot be overlooked, marginalised or simplified. My role has opened my eyes to the importance of those we can help. During the rise in the problems of the cost of living crisis, I have personally found we are needed even more.”
Clients also highlight this trust. One told us: “Because you have built up trust, you don’t want to let the peer advocate down if they are turning up to collect you for an appointment. So, when you probably would have missed it, you go because they’ve given that time to come and you have that trust.”
HHPA operates under multiple annual contracts, many of which roll over, but each year brings uncertainty as funding decisions are delayed.
Constant precarity means expending resources on immediate survival. Each contract must be renegotiated on an annual basis, representing a lot of resource being used on that process, rather than on providing or developing the service.
We effectually have only six months of delivery in a year where big chunks of time aren’t taken up with contract chasing. Funders are understandably keen to show investment results in long-term change, but the reality is that it is difficult to make long-term change without long-term security.
The people we work with live with precarity and must focus on their immediate needs to survive. There is little point in planning for the future if you are not sure how you are going to get through the next few weeks.
Constant precarity means expending resources on immediate survival.
Staff dedicate themselves to supporting people, yet they don’t know if their jobs will exist beyond March. Short-term funding also restricts salary increases, affecting financial stability. With 70% of our workforce having lived experience, we recognise the need for security to prevent our own staff from falling into crisis.
Groundswell is, of course, part of a broader system. When other services lose funding, we are forced to step in, handling responsibilities we weren’t commissioned to deliver. Increasingly, the safety net provided by the state has eroded and charities are left covering basic survival needs instead of long-term solutions.