Homelessness – advice for practitioners

The Manchester Homelessness Strategy sets out the vision, aims and aspirations shared by Manchester City Council and its partner organisations who work to reduce homelessness in the city – the Strategy can be downloaded from the MCC website at  manchester.gov.uk/homelessness_strategy

The Partnership is currently conducting a Learning Review about homelessness. The review is looking at seven cases where the death of a homeless person has been a factor, in order to identify trends and shape/change the strategy for supporting homeless people.

This work is aligned with the Manchester Homelessness Strategy and other initiatives; and is also supported by the Manchester Community Strategy Partnership and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The review aims to:

• look at the range of existing provision, including statutory services, outreach work and organisations in order to gain a better overview of how systems work with these vulnerable adults and identify what actions agencies can take to seek to address those gaps.
• identify a small number of key recommendations that will help agencies to see where the service offer needs to be in terms of those vulnerable to homelessness
• explore what ‘good’ looks like, and what the enablers and barriers are to achieving it, and consider what works best when delivered by a single agency level and what works best when agencies are working together.

The initial findings can be found in the MSP Homelessness Review Summary (Nov 2019)

The Homelessness Reduction Act came into force in April 2018 – there is also a Code of Guidance which provides advice and guidance on all the homeless legislation, as well as an overview of the different Acts governing homelessness.

The main changes in the  Act are listed below with links to the relevant sections of the Code of Guidance:

• an extended duty (Chapter 3) to provide advisory services and to meet the needs of certain listed groups including those leaving prison, hospital or care and those with mental health issues
• a legal duty to refer (Chapter 4) those who may be homeless or threatened with homelessness is placed on several public bodies (including prisons, hospitals, probation services & social care)
• the definition of threatened with homelessness (Chapter 6) increased from 28 to 56 days
• eligibility (Chapter 7) remains an important concept, as not all customers will be eligible for housing assistance
• priority need (Chapter 8)  and local connection (Chapter 10) can make a difference at the homeless relief duty stage but councils cannot make an intentional decision here
• where prevention or relief duties are owed, the council must conduct an assessment (Chapter 11) of the applicants’ reasons for homelessness, the housing needs of the applicant and any support needs the applicant has
• homeless prevention (Chapter 12) becomes a statutory duty for all eligible applicants regardless of whether they have a priority need or are seen as ‘vulnerable’
• if someone becomes homeless there is a duty known as a homeless relief duty (Chapter 13)
• both prevention and relief duties (Chapter 14) last for 56 days but can be ended in several ways in that time
• there are lots of review points (Chapter 19) for customers who are unhappy with the decisions a local authority has made.

The protocol for the assessment of 16 & 17 year old young people who present as homeless and are in need of accommodation or accommodation related support is available in the greatermanchesterscb.proceduresonline.com

No single agency has sole responsibility for homeless 16 and 17 year old young people. Children’s Social Care and local Housing Authorities have statutory duties to these young people, and other statutory and voluntary agencies provide a range of services to them.

The purpose of the protocol is to ensure that partners continue to work together to provide a consistent and coordinated response to 16 and 17 year old young people (including teenage parents and pregnant teenagers) who present as homeless and are in need of accommodation or accommodation-related support.

It will also help to promote and safeguard the well-being of the young person and prevent homelessness, returning young people to their family wherever possible. If a return home is not possible, the objective is to find the most suitable accommodation for the young person and to help them to remain in that accommodation until they are ready, if appropriate, to move on to more suitable accommodation.

Homeless Link are the national membership charity for organisations working directly with people who become homeless in England – they work to make services better and campaign for policy change that will help end homelessness.

• Find out more on their website at www.homeless.org.uk

Greater Together Manchester is a joint venture between the Diocese of Manchester and Church Urban Fund (CUF). Their overall aim is to have some kind of network of grass root, coordinated responses to poverty in every locality, designed to address the specific needs of each community, that can offer practical support, advice, signposting and compassion as well as adapt quickly and efficiently to changing contexts.

• Find out more about their homelessness projects at greatertogethermanchester.org/homelessness

GM Mayor’s Homelessness Fund
The Greater Manchester Mayor’s Homelessness Fund will support front line projects which can demonstrate they are supporting the Mayor’s objective to end rough sleeping and reduce homelessness.

• The Fund is targeted at Greater Manchester-based organisations with charitable aims – to make an application visit their website at www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/homelessness

Street Support
Street Support is a network of organisations, voluntary groups and kind-hearted folk, working together to end homelessness. You can find support services for people experiencing homelessness, and DO something to help – offering your time, money and resources to local organisations.

• Find out more at streetsupport.net/manchester/