Social care payments to council to resume Homelessness project shows great success
The collection of costs for non- residential social care contributions in West Lothian will recommence this autumn.
Invoices and contributions have not been collected from April 1 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The suspension of invoices and collection will be lifted on October 1.
Day care centres will reopen once approval is given by Public Health and the Care Inspectorate.
Service users will be contacted by the council informing them of this decision and financial assessments wi l l b e completed to ensure that invoices can be issued before the end of September. There will be no contributions retrospectively applied for the period from April 1 to September 30.
Leader of West Lothian Council, Lawrence Fitzpatrick, added: “It was absolutely the correct decision to suspend contributions throughout the lockdown period.”
A project for homeless young people in West Lothian saw 92 per cent of those involved sustain their tenancy.
The Rock Trust and Almond Housing’s Housing First project supports care leavers, aged 16-25, who are at risk of homelessness in West Lothian.
Housing First for Youth (HF4Y) aims to offer young people their own homes, and avoid them having to use volatile homeless hostels or bed and breakfasts.
The innovative 31-month pilot project began in September 2017 with 12 vulnerable youths, aged 17 to 20, all being supported into a secure home of their own in West Lothian.
All the youths were care e x p e r ienced, some had experienced homelessness and most had mental health and addiction issues.
In the end only one of the young people chose to leave their tenancy but continued to engage with the support staff. The rest settled well and reported that having a home of their own made them feel like they were “doing well in life.”
Tracey Longworth, housing support manager at Almond Housing Association, said: “Our development and commitment to Housing First for Youth was breaking new ground not just for us but across Scotland.
“For many housing providers the concept of providing secure tenancies for vulnerable young people with no requirement to engage with support would be unthinkable, but Almond Housing Association fully committed to the project with both resources and passion to make a difference. We are immensely proud of our involvement in this project. The outcomes for the young people in this project have, and continue to be, exceptional, and we are delighted that Rock Trust will be directly funded by the local authority to continue this vital service.”
Kate Polson, CEO, Rock Trust said: “This pilot project in West Lothian the first of its kind in the whole of the UK, was so successful in its infancy that it was extended in size and replicated elsewhere before this evaluation was completed.”