Staff changes

• Irmani Darlington, formerly Homeless Link's head of innovation and good practice, has moved to Look Ahead to become its head of new business.
• Alice Evans, head of policy analysis, will go on maternity leave in April. Oliver Hilbery, formerly policy projects officer, has been appointed to cover her work.
• Richard Andrew, innovations project manager at Homeless Link, left us in March. Joanne Crellen has been appointed as his successor.
• Chris Cornell will be starting as the new regional manager for the East of England in late April.

Joining the dots

One-day research conference

15 May 2008, CCT Venues Smithfield, London

Connecting the evidence base for homelessness policy and practice

Evidence-based practice and policy decisions ensure that resources are most effectively allocated and that we provide the best possible services to our customers.

Joining the dots provides an opportunity to share the findings that have come out of recent research, to take stock of what has been achieved so far, to look to the future and discuss where we should take research into homelessness to achieve our goals.

It is also an excellent opportunity for policy makers and service managers to find out about the evidence available to help them most effectively support and develop their work and to find out how government uses research to inform the policy making process.

For more information or to express your interest, please contact Homeless Link’s Conference & Events manager, Kate Alaway on 020 7960 3032 or kate.alaway@homelesslink.org.uk

Homeless Link Annual conference 2008

Two-day conference

8-10 July 2008, Warwick University

Thinking nationally, acting locally

This year’s annual conference aims to encourage homelessness agencies and their service users to engage more with their local community, to link in and make the most effective use out of the other services available, and for the community to recognise the contribution that homeless people can make.

Removing barriers and improving access to local services can develop a better understanding between the community, agencies and service users. Ensuring access to a range of services, such as drug and alcohol, health, probation and mental health services will help to meet the complex needs of this socially excluded group and help them move on to independent lives.

By being involved in setting local policies and ensuring your voice is heard, the services that are commissioned are more likely to meet the needs of your service users.

Further information will be available shortly on our website. In the meantime, to express your interest in this conference please contact our Conference & Events manager, Kate Alaway, on 020 7960 3032 or kate.alaway@homelesslink.org.uk.

More skills at a saving

• Early bird price of £99 per course for 2008 courses, members only (conditions apply)

• Three courses for £300, members only (conditions apply)

Featured course

Managing conflict, violence & aggressive situations

9 April 2008, London

Trainer: Ronn Thwaites

This course provides practical, realistic advice and techniques for frontline workers who face verbal abuse, threats, and aggression from service users.

**Fee: Homeless Link members £128, Statutory sector £160, Non-members £180 (no VAT to add)

Training courses April to May

• See Diary dates for April to May courses

• Fees, terms and conditions

• Full course diary

• Training queries: please email training@homelesslink.org.uk or call 020 7960 3030.

Stay Connected

Our quarterly magazine, Connect, is publication for anyone working in homelessness or related areas. Connect keeps you up to date with service developments and good practice, case studies and current thinking. Each member gets one copy as part of their membership, but it's possible to get additional copies delivered to different sites. Find out more

The latest issue, Pathways to employment, is now out.

Asylum & immigration

Asylum & immigration | Criminal justice | Drugs & alcohol | Employment & skills | Health and social care | Homelessness | Housing | Local Government | Poverty and social exclusion

• The Border and Immigration Authority (BIA - formerly NASS) is currently dealing with the backlog of applications from asylum seekers in the period to March 2007 through its 'case resolution programme'. Early indications suggest that a significant number of these individuals may be granted leave to remain. This means that they will no longer receive support, which includes accommodation in some cases, from BIA. The government is concerned that this could result in an increase in demand on homelessness services and wants to start building up a picture. Have you noticed an increase in the number of people newly granted leave to remain, [through the case resolution programme] coming through your services? If you have, what impact is this having on your service? Contact Oliver Hilbery with your responses.

• A new consultation from the Home Office on reform in the immigration system includes sections on access to benefits and local authority housing. The results of nine 'public listening sessions' around Britain indicated that limited access to benefits in the period before citizenship was widely endorsed, particularly in relation to housing. The report states that 'probationary citizens will not be entitled to access mainstream benefits or local authority housing'.

• A new research project by IDEA on Integrating new migrants has worked with focus groups of migrants to establish the twenty most important topics to include in information packs for new migrants and to review the resources that are currently available. The top twenty included: 'housing in the UK', 'housing – overcrowding and repairs' and 'homelessness'. Early support to migrants on these issues is key to preventing homelessness.

Criminal justice

Asylum & immigration | Criminal justice | Drugs & alcohol | Employment & skills | Health and social care | Homelessness | Housing | Local Government | Poverty and social exclusion

• A report from the UK Drug Policy Commission entitled Reducing Drug Use, Reducing Reoffending looks at the extent and nature of drug misuse among offenders and to what extent this is linked to crime. The report concludes that problem drug-using offenders have particularly high rates of offending, but they also have high rates of a range of other problems, such as homelessness, which make the relationship between drugs and crime more complex and the task of rehabilitation more challenging. This not only highlights the importance of drug treatment and probation services working closely together, but also for the engagement of housing services to prevent homelessness amongst this group as highlighted in Homeless Link's Clean break project .

• The Home Office's Action plan for tackling violence 2008-11 highlights how homeless people can be particularly vulnerable to violent attack or assault. It stresses how understanding risk factors can help to predict the small number of people who will be involved in serious violence in any local area, including those who are at risk of victimisation.

• A new Communities and Local Government publication has been released on Registered Social Landlords and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships: Improving Engagement . CDRPs are joint bodies of police, local authorities and other key agencies working together to tackle crime and disorder. The guidance should assist landlords in tackling problems such as street drinking, youth gangs, truancy and drug taking in housing estates. It encourages housing associations to share intelligence of antisocial behaviour with other members of the CDRP and work together to share resources and expertise. This approach could minimise disputes between landlords and tenants that can eventually lead to evictions, a key cause of homelessness.

• A new scoping study from the department for Culture Media and Sport on legal gambling aims to show how social and economic researchers, local authorities and other stakeholders can best identify the social and economic effects of legal, commercial gambling in the UK. Recommended factors to be explored in the impact assessment studies include social harms arising such as increased family violence, homelessness, crime, and bankruptcy. Homeless Link's Survey of needs and provision (Snap) highlighted that day centres are now seeing significant numbers of clients with gambling problems, suggesting that this is an emergent issue in the homelessness sector.

Drugs & alcohol

Asylum & immigration | Criminal justice | Drugs & alcohol | Employment & skills | Health and social care | Homelessness | Housing | Local Government | Poverty and social exclusion

• The new Home Office stategy Drugs: protecting families and communities' - 2008-2018 includes a commitment to develop a package of support to help people to complete treatment to re-establish their lives, including ensuring local arrangements are in place to refer people from Jobcentres to sources of housing advice and advocacy and appropriate treatment options. Homeless Link's Clean Break Project and toolkit provides practical tips on how housing and treatment services can work together more effectively to reduce the risk of homelessness among drug users engaging in, or leaving, treatment. Newham, Islington and Havering Councils and providers are now taking forward action plans in this area.

• Joseph Rowntree Foundation's new research report Street Policing of Problem Drug Users looks at the perspective of drug users and policing professionals on drug use on the streets. In one quoted study, of 877 problem drug users, 36% defined themselves as either homeless at the point of entering treatment or when interviewed again eight months later. Even when drug users have some form of accommodation such as a place in a hostel or supported accommodation, they may deliberately avoid using drugs on these premises and go into the streets, for fear that it will lead to them being evicted. The report also looks at the role of police specialist street homelessness units and their experiences in dealing with drug use on the streets.

Employment & skills

Asylum & immigration | Criminal justice | Drugs & alcohol | Employment & skills | Health and social care | Homelessness | Housing | Local Government | Poverty and social exclusion

• The European Federation of Homelessness Organisations (FEANTSA) has released its 2007 report Multiple Barriers, Multiple Solutions: Inclusion into and through employment for people who are homeless based on national reports from 16 European Union countries. The report aims provides an overview of the employment situation of people experiencing homelessness and efforts to overcome employment barriers. The report examines funding levels, partnerships and research on employment across the EU.

The FEANTSA national report for the UK finds that only 5-10 per cent of the 'non statutory' homeless population is in employment in England.

Suggested barriers include:

• the high cost of hostel rents,
• the steep tapers of housing benefits once someone is in work (making it unaffordable to work and be in a hostel or anything but lower cost accommodation), and
• the shortage of affordable housing generally.

See the latest issue of Connect (Spring 2008) on employment, training and education.

• The Department of University and Skills is seeking feedback on its strategy document, Informal Adult Learning - Shaping the Way Ahead. Crisis is hosting an informal learning consultation seminar on 8 April 2008. For further information email eric.mckenzie@crisis.org.uk

Health and social care

Asylum & immigration | Criminal justice | Drugs & alcohol | Employment & skills | Health and social care | Homelessness | Housing | Local Government | Poverty and social exclusion

• The Department of Health's 2007 status report on health inequalities reports progress towards the governments target of reducing inequalities in health outcomes by 10 per cent as measured by infant mortality and life expectancy at birth by 2010. It reports long-term progress in reducing child poverty and narrowing inequalities in housing quality. Inadequate housing and homelessness has a proven detrimental impact on health, for example, the homeless population is particularly vulnerable to Tuberculosis. Homeless patients are likely to experience considerable delays in reaching TB services and are more likely to present with advanced and infectious forms of TB. See our TB pages for more information.

• The Care Sevices Improvement Partnership’s Practical Guide to Integrated Working for the NHS and local government presents the example of Sedgefield Council’s ‘Integrated Team’, which includes Social Workers, District Nurses and Housing Officers under single management for more effective service delivery and user outcomes. Joint services between housing, health and care services have a valuable role to play in helping homeless people with multiple needs.

• Homeless Link's response to the electronic patient records debate has been mentioned in Parliament. We suggested that the low level of GP registration, particularly amongst street homeless people, consequently means that they have a higher usage of A&E for primary care purposes than the general population. Electronic records offer the potential to give homeless people a better continuity of care, can mean that records are less likely to be lost for people moving frequently and that street homeless people in particular can receive better, more informed, cheaper, emergency treatment.

Homelessness

Asylum & immigration | Criminal justice | Drugs & alcohol | Employment & skills | Health and social care | Homelessness | Housing | Local Government | Poverty and social exclusion

• The Department for Communities and Local Government has released its homelessness statistics for Q4 of 2007 . The key findings were:
• On a seasonally-adjusted basis, there were 15,870 acceptances from stautory homelessness applications, 1 percent lower than the previous quarter.
• 79,500 households were in temporary accommodation on 31 December 2007, 4 per cent lower than at the end of the previous quarter, and 11 per cent lower than this time last year. The number is below 80,000 for the first time since 2001
• Many people sleeping rough or living in hostels, sometimes referred to as ‘non-statutory’ or ‘single homeless' still fall outside these figures.

• The government has outlined the steps it has taken in response to allegations of gate-keeping by local authority homelessness units where those approaching for assistance are prevented from making an official homelessness application. Ian Wright's House of Commons written response outlines how local authorities efforts to prevent homelessness must work alongside their obligations under the homelessness legislation. The government is monitoring authorities that show a notable reduction in acceptances in the homelessness statistics to identify good practice and safeguard against any risk of gate-keeping.

• Shelter’s new briefing on Mortgages and Repossessions argues that the overall increase in house repossessions since 2004 could be attributed to the the changing nature of the mortgage lending sector. Mortage debt is an increasing reason for homelessness, with the proportion of statutory homelessness acceptances due to mortgage arrears doubling from 2 per cent in 2003/4 to 4 per cent in 2006/7. The briefing makes a series of recommendations, including that mortgage lenders should inform the local authority homeless persons department when they commence possession action against borrowers.

• Caroline Flint has announced how £70 million will be allocated to 69 homeless projects across England. Communities and Local Government's Places of Change Programme consists of capital investments to hostels, alongside a culture change linked to greater opportunities for education and employment. Projects awarded funding include training for residents to learn practical skills from catering to sound engineering, through to self-financing social enterprises such as cafes and furniture making. There will be help for homeless people to set up their own social enterprises - from a farm in West Dorset, a Sports Academy in Gateshead to a surfing school in Newquay.

Housing

Asylum & immigration | Criminal justice | Drugs & alcohol | Employment & skills | Health and social care | Homelessness | Housing | Local Government | Poverty and social exclusion

• Communities and Local Government has published its National Strategy for Housing in an Ageing Society The strategy includes a commitment to fund and develop a national advice and information service for older people, which will 'look at proactive housing options services in relation to the prevention of homelessness.' It also suggests that proper access to advocacy is more important in relation to hard to reach groups such as older people experiencing homelessness. The strategy mentions targeting people at key transition points and the important role of health and social care staff in preventing homelessness. The Coalition on Older Homelessness People at Homeless Link has been highlighting best practice examples of extra-care housing by our members (see link above).

• Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced in the 2008 Budget that an extra 70,000 sites for new homes would be identified, alongside a commitment to delivering 200,000 homes on surplus public sector land by 2016. Increased housing supply should have a positive impact on homelessness levels in England, providing that investment goes into affordable and social rented housing. Two new shared equity packages have been announced to increase affordability for families, social tenants, key workers and first time buyers and allow more flexibility on the best mortgage deals. Concerns have been raised however that no more protection has been anounced for the 45,000 homeowners predicted to lose their homes through repossession this year.

• The Housing Corporation has published its report Shared living - what works in supported housing Supported Housing is a central element of maintaining the reductions in rough sleeping. This research shows what residents believe is important for it to be a success. This report also suggests how organisations can use these findings, and the evaluation framework used, to shape their own shared housing schemes.

• The consultation responses to Community and Local Government's Communities England and the future of social housing regulation are now available. Communities England, now know as the 'Homes and Communities Agency' will combine English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation and delivery functions from Communities and Local Government to bring together expertise, resources and powers to try and transform the way homes are delivered and communities regenerated. Homeless Link recommended that preventing and tackling homelessness and the supply of homes for vulnerable people were given a clear priority by inclusion among the new agency’s core outcomes. We also called for a number of safeguards to preserve and build on the strengths of the Hostels Capital Improvement Programme (now called the Places of Change Programme ), before any transfer to the Homes and Communities Agency goes ahead, such as a strong team of investment staff and sufficient flexibility to work with a wide range of partners.

Local Government

Asylum & immigration | Criminal justice | Drugs & alcohol | Employment & skills | Health and social care | Homelessness | Housing | Local Government | Poverty and social exclusion |

• Fifteen local councils across England have been selected to be involved in the Pathfinder project to assess the impact of delivering Supporting People funding through a non-ringfenced grant. The results will inform the decision on whether to bring SP into area based grants from April 2009.

Poverty and social exclusion

Asylum & immigration | Criminal justice | Drugs & alcohol | Employment & skills | Health and social care | Homelessness | Housing | Local Government | Poverty and social exclusion

• PSA Delivery Agreement 16 aims to increase the proportion of socially excluded adults in settled accomodation and employment, education and training. Although this agreement does not include homeless people as a specific group, its focus on individuals with multiple needs obtaining settled accomodation is vital in preventing homelessness amongst those at risk. Homeless Link is working to ensure that homeless people are included under the agreement's vision.

• Communities and Local Government's new report on Local e-Government and Social Inclusion highlights Cambridgeshire County Council's community access points in sheltered housing schemes, day centres and multi-purpose centres as an example of effective collaborative working with housing associations, district councils and local neighbourhood organisations. ICT facilities and training can help people who are experiencing homelessness to gain employment and move on with their lives. Homeless Link and ICT Hub are conducting a project on homelessness agencies' use of ICT .

• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2007 aims to provide an independent assessment of the progress being made in eliminating poverty and reducing social exclusion in the UK. It focuses on income, education, employment, ill-health and housing. The section on housing and exclusion suggests that high housing costs can lead to poverty and also that poverty and social exclusion leads to housing insecurity and homelessness.

Current paid vacancies at Homeless Link

• Knowledge Development Manager, Homeless Link
• Communications Officer, Homeless Link

Current non-paid vacancies with our member agencies

• New Chair and Board Members, Housing Justice

Current paid vacancies with our member agencies

• Corporate Fundraising Executive (Dublin), Dublin Simon Community
• Hostel Resettlement Workers (Swindon, Wiltshire), Threshold Housing Link
• Network Coordinator (London), OSW
• Network Services Manager (London), OSW
• Farm Project Worker (London & East Sussex), Thames Reach
• Trainee Support Worker (Harrogate), Foundation Housing
• Mental Health Community Link Worker, Worthing Churches Homeless Projects
• Key Worker (Leeds), The Together Women Project

Current paid vacancies with non-member agencies

• Project Leader (Co Westmeath), The Midlands Simon Community

Find out more about these vacancies here.

Advertise your vacancies Your vacancy could appear here and would be sent to over 3,000 contacts in organisations across England and Wales. In addition vacancies will be displayed on the Homeless Link website.

As a member of Homeless Link you can advertise your job vacancies for £25 per post (non-members are charged £50 per post). We’ve now made it easier for you to order this online. You can also email membership@homelesslink.org.uk to arrange this.

Jobs Bulletin Service Sign up free for Homeless Link’s weekly jobs bulletin email service and be the first in line for new jobs as they come in. Register online

Homeless Link

April 2008

9 April 2008 Managing conflict, violence & aggressive situations, London

11 April 2008 Mental health & homelessness, London

14 & 15 April 2008 Working with suicidal & self-harming clients, London

18 April 2008 Welfare benefits overview, London

May 2008

6 May 2008 Working with the homelessness law, London

8 May 2008 Working with clients from the new EU member states, London

20 May 2008 Effective keyworking, London