Mayor’s bond is helping to end homeless misery
Scores of people have already been helped off the streets
JUST over a year ago Andy Burnham was elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester. Voters across the region put their trust in the Labour politician, in part because of a bold and ambitious pledge – the promise to end rough-sleeping by 2020.
It’s a sad reality that tents, cardboard box beds and little bundles of personal belongings have become a fixture of doorways and alleyways in Manchester city centre and beyond.
Indeed anyone who has walked through town recently may think the mayor was mad to have made such a promise. Apparently not – under his leadership, scores of people have already been helped off the streets by Greater Manchester’s ‘Social Impact Bond’ (SIB).
That the challenge is significant isn’t in doubt. Every night queues stretch outside Coffee4Craig’s outreach on Oldham Street, and crowds gather around the soup kitchens on Piccadilly Gardens.
Walking down Oxford Road one warm night last week, I spotted at least 12 pairs of feet sticking out of doorways along the almost half-mile stretch.
Last year two people died while sleeping rough in Salford, while another two passed away the previous year. Tragically, the average life expectancy for a man on the streets is just 47 – and for a woman, 43.
Despite all this, Burnham seems determined to keep his promise. So he has tasked some of the most experienced homelessness experts in the region with helping him get to the nub of the problem.
The outcome has been the SIB – a pioneering scheme which equips rough sleepers with the skills to help themselves in the long-term.
Helping the most entrenched members of this community has been first on the list of priorities. These tend to be people who have been affected by addiction or mental health problems, or have some experience of the care system. Almost all have had to rely on benefits at some time or another.
For those in the grips of an addiction or struggling with mental health, taking each day as it comes is the easiest way to get by. If you can’t get a home without a job and you can’t get a job without a bank account – you may feel like you’re being set up to fail. That’s where the Social Impact Bond (SIB) comes in.
Recipients of the bond are homeless people who have been referred to this region-wide scheme. They are assessed, housed and supported over three years - with their health, wellbeing and ambitions.
It came about after Greater Manchester Combined Authority last year went into partnership with social landlords to find homes for rough sleepers.
Housing partners find the accommodation and are then recompensed if they can prove that they have successfully housed an individual. Charities provide furnishings.
Combined Authority bosses expected around 300 people to sign up to the scheme. Perhaps half would drop out, they thought. But instead more than 500 people from across the region’s 10 boroughs have been referred to the SIB – and they’re sticking with it.
In fact there has been such demand that bosses had to stop taking referrals three months early.
It was initially estimated that the £1.8m of government money to be used for the SIB contract would support around 100 people to get off the streets over three years. But, because of the scale of demand, the authority has had to ‘pause’ referrals to the scheme.
The combined authority may now go back to the government and other potential funders to ask for more cash to extend the programme further.
This is testament to its success and proof of its value.
So far 109 people have been rehomed through the scheme, while a further 60 have had a wellbeing assessment.
Around half of the homeless people referred into the scheme have come from the city of Manchester.
The rest come from the other nine boroughs of the region. The effect of the scheme has been to highlight rough-sleeper communities chiefs didn’t even know existed, and to bring in more homeless women, young people, and people with mental health problems.
“All boroughs have referred in and all boroughs are housing people,” Mike Wright, GMCA’s strategic lead for Homelessness, says. “This scheme has given us information about a wider group of people – where people are, their history and problems.
“The SIB is a three-year programme and key to it is that services have to be built around the person. We come up with a long- term support plan for that person with personal goals, aims and ambitions. It could be anything from ‘I want to stop drinking’ to ‘I want a pet’ or ‘I want a relationship’. We’re there to support people in the long-term based on a plan agreed with the person, and they have a stake in that.”
Each person within the SIB is given a personal budget of £400 to be used for personal development, such as college courses.
One person used it to buy a bike – so they can now ride to appointments and interviews to improve their mental and physical health.
One key feature of the programme is that it recognises people will make mistakes as they work to change their lives. “The system only works if we allow for failure,” says Mike.
“We can’t have a system where one failure means they’re cut out of the system. We have all failed in our lives. The SIB is about helping people take control and enabling them to change their own behaviour.”
The Ancoats-based charity Mustard Tree has been helping to furnish the homes of people housed through the scheme.
Chief executive Jo Walby says the SIB is already making a difference, but has no illusions about the scale of the challenge.
“Homelessness is worse than I’ve ever seen. It’s a complex problem,” she says.
The answer, she says, lies in profound social change – and the more intensive type of support provided by the SIB, because referring people to agencies, and then expecting them to stay off the streets, just isn’t enough.
This is because for those entrenched rough sleepers who have moved into social housing - having been used to prison, the street or addicted communities - life away from their friends can be tough. And if they don’t have the skills to manage their own money or the confidence, it can be even harder. “The odds are stacked against you,” says Jo.
Long-term, Jo says there needs to be truly affordable housing created in Greater Manchester and people need to be taught life skills and helped to set up essentials that most of us take for granted – like bank accounts and polling cards.
In the meantime, contingency plans are being made to help the many who will still be sleeping on the streets when the cold weather returns.
On Wednesday the mayor announced the A Bed Every Night scheme, which would require every borough in Greater Manchester to provide shelter for every roughsleeper during autumn and winter this year – as soon as the temperature drops to freezing. Manchester has led the way on this – because by law, councils are only required to provide a bed for every rough-sleeper after three consecutive days of freezing temperatures.
Now, Mr Burnham hopes the other nine boroughs in Greater Manchester will follow the city’s lead.
And, he will be directing his mayoral homelessness fund specifically into the new winter rough-sleeper provision.