What's New?

• Defra recently published Rural Challenges, local solutions, a report on the outcomes and key messages from the Rural Delivery Pathfinders programme, which looked at innovative rural service delivery tackling issues including affordable housing at eight projects across the country.

• Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) will be running a two day 'Rural Life Conference' at Keele University on 12 & 13 June 2008, with a particular focus on empowering communities to influence local policy. For more information, visit the ACRE website, where you can also subscribe to ACREheadlines, their regular email update on the latest national and regional news and events, good practice useful reports and articles.

Identifying the issues

Homeless Link has recently been funded by Capacity Builders to develop targeted support for agencies working with homeless people, or people at risk of homelessness, in rural areas. This process has involved a number of distinct stages, beginning with surveying a wide range of organisations and individuals including service providers, local authorities and second tier organisations, in order to identify specific barriers to working in rural areas and the ways in which these can, or have, been overcome. We received a significant number of responses to an online questionnaire, and are very grateful to all those who completed it. The responses have informed a report, detailing the main issues facing rural agencies, highlighting good practice and outlining recommendations for developing services and improving working practice. The full report, and an executive summary, are now available to download from this site. More details can be found here.

We have met with and spoken to a wide range of organisations in order to develop a dedicated good practice resource, highlighting practical ways in which service providers and local authorities can address issues facing organisations working in rural areas. The types of services that we have encountered and the ways in which they work are wide-ranging, but familiar themes recur and can be broadly spilt into a number of areas:

Housing - the limited supply of affordable accommodation is certainly not unique to rural communitites but is an acute problem in some areas. Alternative service models such as supported lodgings, mediation services and working with private landlords are explored.

Funding and costs - many agencies working in rural agencies report that they incur higher costs in delivering services than they would in urban areas. Sharing resources and accessing alternative funding streams can help to reduce the impact of high costs.

Demonstrating need and value, and getting community support - the ability to record regular, accurate detail about your service in areas where traditional ways of recording the scale of homelessness such as street counts are less reliable, is very important in demonstrating the need for both existing and additional services. And how can agencies look to become an established and integrated part of the community?

Client group and support needs - rural areas are not usually served by the wide range of specialist services available in urban centres, so mobile and floating support services are needed. In some areas there is also a need to provide services to meet the needs of client groups that are more prevalent, including Gypsies and Travellers, and A8 Nationals.

Statutory provision; commissioning and procurement - from easing the commissioning process to providing support and advice to agencies and service users, local authorities can play an important role in easing the burden on providers working in rural areas.

Access to services - distances between services and restrictions on the availability of transport can make it difficult for services and service users to reach each other and limit referrals to alternative services. This section explores the various ways in which organisations are seeking to make frequent, meaningful contact with their client group.

Partnership working - working closely with other local agencies can have a dramatic influence on your work, including a reduction in costs, extended referral routes, collective influence on local decision-making, and addressing gaps in local provision.

Staffing - recruitment and retention of capable staff can be difficult, especially where funding is low, and flexible approaches to working conditions and training can be considered.

More good practice information and detailed case studies will be added over coming weeks and months so please keep checking for updates. For further details about any of the good practice information on the website or about support that Homeless Link can offer in developing your services, please contact Richard Andrew, Innovations Project Officer, at richard.andrew@homelesslink.org.uk or on 020 7960 3014

Reasons to contact us...

• We offer support and advice on service improvement
• We can provide detailed information on good practice examples and help to facilitate visits to other agencies
• If you are interested in being updated with information on good practice and events, locally or nationally, that you think are relevant to your work, then contact us with your details
• If you think your organisations is providing a service that isn't highlighted then we want to hear about it

Please see above for contact details.

Useful Resources

In July 2007, The Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) published the State of The Countryside Report 2007, giving the latest definitive picture of rural England. It also has an online best practice database, with case studies of services from across the country.

In June 2002 The Countryside Agency published guidance on Preventing Homelessness in the Countryside.

The Rural Services Review published by DEFRA contains useful statistics on a range of rural issues, including the accessibility of healthcare, transport, housing and children's services.

In January 2007, NCVO published Access All Areas, a guide to using rural proofing to shape services that meet the specific needs of rural communities.

The Improvement & Develepment Agency (IDeA) promotes good practice and service development in local government. Their website includes dedicated good practice resources and case studies, highlighting the work of councils across the country, with particular examples of those working in rural areas.

The Rural Services Network is a group of more than 250 organisations working together to improve the delivery of rural services across England. The network has three main purposes: representing the case for a better deal for rural service provision; exchanging useful and relevant information; developing and sharing best practice. The website is regularly updated with the latest news and information for organisations working in rural areas.

Ruralnet is a rural regeneration charity which supports agencies to alleviate disadvantage, enable social inclusion and social enterprise. It works through promoting and enabling collaboration, research, consultancy and knowledge and information transfer, including developing online regional networking.