Housing first and support afterwards for homeless

SWANSEA council wants to provide housing for long-term rough sleepers and homeless people with the most complex needs and then help them address other difficulties they might be having.

This “housing first” approach is contained in a new homelessness strategy and action plan which has been approved by Cabinet.

Getting homeless people into a flat or house quickly, and offering them other support, has been trialled elsewhere in the UK and has proved successful.

Cabinet member for homes and energy Councillor Andrea Lewis said the housingfirst approach would not be a “quick fix”, though.

She said: “It’s something that will take, in some cases, a number of years.”

It would involve the council and other organisations like social landlords providing existing accommodation they have, rather than any new building.

The aim of the strategy is to ensure that everyone in Swansea has access to goodquality advice, accommodation and support at the earliest opportunity to prevent homelessness.

Every council in Wales must come up with a homelessness strategy by the end of the year.

Councillor Lewis said Swansea council was already doing many of the things that have been set out in its document, and its publication followed public consultation and scrutiny by councillors.

The strategy said there was “continual” pressure on homelessness services, and that the council dealt with 1,143 cases in 2016/17 of people who were threatened with homelessness within 56 days.

It prevented this outcome for 73% of these 1,143 cases – a higher rate than the Welsh average.

The main causes of homelessness are loss of rented accommodation, parents no longer willing to house their children, and domestic abuse.

Rough sleeping is on the rise in Swansea, as in many other cities. Precise numbers are difficult to obtain but it was estimated that Swansea had 26 rough sleepers last year.

The council operates a rough sleepers intervention team, available seven days a week, and has a cold-weather plan when temperatures plummet.

It also lets around a third of its empty properties to homeless people.

The strategy said more and more people rented rather than owned homes in Swansea, that 46% of nonhome-owners in the county had an income of less than £10,000 per year, and that demand for social housing easily outstripped supply.

Councillor Lewis said the four-year strategy required the support of partner organisations, and that homelessness was “everybody’s business”.

She added: “I am confident that this strategy will work, but as I have said, it will take time.”

Speaking after the meeting, she said there would be a cost to delivering the strategy but that money would be saved if people were prevented from continually “falling out of the system”.

Councillor Mary Sherwood, joint cabinet member for better communities, described the strategy as comprehensive and rigorous.

She welcomed the housing-first approach, which she said contrasted with the conventional approach of encouraging individuals to solve their issues and then look for housing.