Working in the homelessness sector can be incredibly rewarding. However, we are all very aware of the increasing issues with staff recruitment and retention. Despite opportunities for staff to develop specialisms within the sector, increasingly high caseloads causing burnout mean that qualified staff are leaving organisations that so desperately need their skills. With no formal career development pathways, recruiting new people into the sector is also a challenge as there is little understanding of what a career might look like.
Seventy eight percent of respondents to Homeless Link’s recent workforce survey agreed that staff shortages and difficulties recruiting and retaining staff are negatively impacting their ability to support people experiencing homelessness. This lack of consistency can make building trusting relationships harder and can impact how someone experiencing homelessness engages with support.
As a response to these ongoing concerns from our members, we have developed a National Homelessness Skills Framework to serve as a tool for people who are thinking of joining the sector, those wishing to develop their skills within their current role, and for managers and HR/recruitment leads to support staff development. Framework development involved consultation with those working in the sector, and people with direct experience of homelessness.
‘Essential’ and ‘additional’ knowledge, skills and behaviours for key frontline roles have been identified, with different ‘levels’ within each of these. These ‘levels’ can support those working in a particular role to set clear goals to develop themselves professionally. We believe that by ensuring the homelessness workforce have the right knowledge, skills and behaviours, we will improve recruitment, development and career progression. Listing these enables those who are new to the sector to identify how they can use their transferrable skills within different roles and learn about the types of services within the sector.
The Frontline Network’s latest survey found that 44% of frontline workers said it was ‘very difficult’ or ‘difficult’ to have time to undertake training. To combat this, within the framework, we have identified a suite of free accessible resources to aid skills development, including free 30-minute bite-size training modules, blogs, podcasts and written guidance.
The Skills Framework is just one of the ways that Homeless Link is helping our members to recruit and retain staff. We are also now into the third year of our accredited training, we offer our jobs board at reduced rates for members, and we have helped to support careers fairs. Read more about our work to support the homelessness workforce here.
Our goal is to end homelessness. We know that the homelessness sector can be a challenging place to work but we believe that with the right information, support and guidance to recruit and retain staff, people experiencing homelessness will stand the best chance of moving away from homelessness for good.