Following three years of operation, the Homelessness Action Team (HAT) has come to and end. A joint Communities and Local Government (CLG) and Tenant Services Authority (TSA) project, the HAT has helped raise the profile of preventing and tackling homelessness by working with local authorities in London and housing associations across England.
The HAT's work with social landlords will now be furthered through the TSA's new regulatory framework, in particular through the Tenancy and Local Area Co-operation Standards, and through the TSA's developing good practice role.
Over the past three years, the HAT has contributed to the fall in number of households in temporary accommodation. To illustrate this - the number of homeless households in temporary accommodation in London fell from 56,740 in December 2007 to 41,190 in December 2009 - a reduction of over 25%. Further, there has also been a marked reduction in housing association evictions during the period.
Key to the HAT's approach has been the recognition of building effective partnerships to jointly identify the range of local housing needs and joint actions required. It has worked with all London boroughs, over 200 housing associations, and a number of local authorities across England and has complemented the work of CLG's Regional Resource Team by helping local authorities to work better with their local social landlords.
Key HAT achievements have included:
A new TSA lead on homelessness and allocations, and a continued CLG specialist advisor role working with local authorities in London, will continue to safeguard the legacy of the HAT's work.
[KF] The Government published revised statutory guidance to local authorities on how they can better meet the needs of homeless 16- and 17-year-olds.
The new guidance means that local authorities will have to work pro-actively with young people and their families to identify and resolve issues which have led them to become homeless. Much of this work will be targeted, early intervention to help prevent family breakdown and keep families together.
The guidance, which follows a judgment by the House of Lords in the case of R(G) v Southwark (2009), makes clear that homeless 16- and 17-year-olds should be accommodated as a looked after child, rather than under homelessness legislation, if the child is, in the local authority's judgement, 'a child in need' as defined in the Children Act 1989.
The guidance is also clear that local authorities must provide suitable accommodation based on the young person's needs.
It was also announced that funding has now been allocated for over 200 new homes offering support for 16- and 17-year-olds who need it. New figures released by the Homes and Community Agency, show that over £13 million has already been invested in improving the housing and support available to young parents who are homeless.
The majority of these new homes will be built before April 2011. This represents significant progress in reaching the target of 500 new places in supported accommodation by 2012, with increasing numbers of projects underway.
More Help for Homeless Teenage Parents
April saw the launch of 'Ending Homelessness', a new European campaign that sets out goals for ending homelessness as part of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.
The campaign was launched at the European Parliament in Brussels by FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless.
The Ending Homelessness campaign sets out five concrete goals to end homelessness, arguing that if these goals become part of integrated strategies to combat homelessness, it can be ended:
In the framework of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, the message of the campaign is that ending homelessness in Europe is both necessary and possible. Managing the problem of homelessness is not enough. It is time to stop investing in reactive, short-term measures and to implement integrated strategies to end homelessness.
As part of the campaign, FEANTSA is also launching the publication Ending Homelessness: A Handbook for Policy Makers. This draws together concrete examples of effective approaches to ending homelessness that have already been developed.
St Mungo's is the only English individual charity in the Handbook. It is highlighted for its work promoting client involvement through its representative group 'Outside In' and for initiatives such as peer research.
Scottish charity Furniture Plus is also featured, alongside the work of the UK's umbrella organization Homeless Link.
