Everyday homelessness

Guest post by Alex.

​The situation described below happened in an internet shop on Camden High Street where I work.

On the 7th of November in the evening, a customer came in to use a computer, he could hardly speak English and after a while I discovered he was Polish, being Polish myself, we could easily communicate.

He asked me to help him with benefit registration and told that he lost all his documents and money 2 weeks ago. He ended up being evicted from his potential house due to inability to pay the deposit (by the time we met he managed to organize a copy of his passport from the Polish Embassy). Due to the above, he had been homeless for last 2 weeks with no more than £7 in his pocket. He emigrated from Poland three weeks before,  leaving his wife and 3 year old daughter to seek a better paid job so he could send money back to his family. He was 23 years of age, brought up in an orphanage back in Poland.

I advised him to find a shelter/hostel rather than benefits as a first move, which he was doing as advised by random people he had spoken to.

Farah is a regular client of the internet cafe, it is near her office in Camden. I was advised by Farah to call an emergency line for homeless to find out about available places around Camden. After a good 40 min on the phone we managed to get through to a consultant, who gave us a phone number to arrange for a Polish speaking interpreter.

We tried to call the help line several times but it was impossible to get through. Every call took at least 40 min to an hour to go through automatic dial and at the end we still hadn't manage to be put through to a consultant. We have tried calling from a mobile phone as well as phone box but unfortunately situation was the same – no answer. We kept calling until 8.00 pm when as we were warned – lines were closed.

The person we tried to secure a safe night for, gave up and walk away for another homeless night on the street…

Labour's PRS strategy.

Housing problems and statistics

A large part of the document is talking about how awful it all is (with quotes) and how some of the worst standards are to be found in the private rented sector (PRS).  For example:

The PRS represents 16.5% of the total households in England

Nearly 1/3 of all PRS households have children and nearly 15% of all couples with children live in the PRS

The proportion of private rented stock which is ‘non decent’ is 35%, compared to 22% owner occupied homes and 17% of social housing

Safety hazards are in 21% of PRS homes compared to 7% in the social sector

In 2010/11 local authorities received over 86,000 complaints and have said in the past that they are aware of 1,477 serial bad landlords

The report goes on to point out the problems that local authorities have with enforcement issues, and the fact that many PRS landlords are well meaning but lack knowledge of their legal obligations.

The report also refers to the ‘retaliatory eviction’ problem and the general costs to society of poor housing.

To find out what the main suggestions are to resolve these problems you have to read to the end.  They are:

1. A national register of landlords

Which will

Assist local authorities identify landlords

Allow distribution of information to and communication with landlords

Help with deal with the problems of tax evasion (apparently costing the Treasury some half a billion pounds)

Item 4 below also indicates that the right to operate as a landlord will be linked to being on the register.

2. A new national private rented property standard

Which would include current minimum standards on

Tenancy deposits
Energy efficiency
Property conditions
Response times and repairs
The report goes on to say that this will be linked to incentives which will only be available to properly registered landlords (including with HMRC)

3. Improved local enforcement

This will

Remove red tape and make it easier for local authorities to introduce licensing schemes

4. Tougher sanctions on bad landlords

Which will involve

reviewing penalties and sentencing guidelines (presumably by making them less derisory)
assessing how they can stamp out retaliatory eviction
removing bad landlords from the national register so they can no longer operate as landlords
There is also an interesting paragraph which follows this which refers to potential benefits to compliant landlords:

supplying renters from local housing registers (probably not much of an incentive in the current housing shortage)

direct payment of benefit to PRS landlords and
an improved legal process to help landlords evict non paying tenants and tenants who commit anti social behaviour including criminal damage.

Via Tess Shepperson

London Councils to Send Homeless Families Out of the City

As rents in London continue to rise and the Housing Allowance has been capped at £400 a month councils are preparing to move families out of capital the Guardian reports. Families could be rehoused as far away as Berkshire and Sussex as the shortage of affordable housing in the capital worsens.

London councils are acquiring cheaper properties in areas outside of London as a response to predictions of increasing levels of homelessness ahead of Government cuts that come into force in April of next year. Whilst councils are reluctant to force London families to move away, they are finding it impossible to provide housing in the city. Moving families away from their home borough causes severe disruption impacting on the education of children their wellbeing.

By law local authorities have a duty to house families at risk of homelessness within the Borough the application is made ‘as far as is practicable.’ However, rising rents combined with government cuts make it impractical and, in places, impossible to provide suitable housing.

The government must tackle rising rents in the capital so that affordable housing is available to all. Moving families out of the city does not address the underlying problems of social injustice that lead to homelessness.

Crisis in crisis

A challenge to Heather Munro of London Probation Trust: 
Why not engage responsibly with the private rented sector, not a bunch of policy wonks? How many of your people on license have Crisis helped into sustainable private rented sector tenancies which have lasted the duration of the term? Charities such as Crisis and Shelter have a place in effecting research and a framework for good policy and practise   but generally,  landlords will not engage directly and PRS schemes  they have  funded  have not evidenced sustained success.

How can you help empower ex offenders to manage sustainable tenancies? Ex offenders need to understand their rights and responsibilities as tenants and  tell their story to landlords in a way that empowers their  desistance, not be held back by entering into badly managed poor tenancies in which landlords are lied to, not explained EXACTLY what the ex offender's background is and in which the tenancy fails and you  perpetuate the cycle of homelessness. Tell you what, we'll send along two of our most powerful trainers and  tenant advocates for a free day of training to probation officers and those on licences in the community.

We wholeheartedly support Crisis and Shelter's work in lobbying for changes in policy and addressing the  need for research in this sector but they are not equipped to deal professionally  with the private sector, landlords have been burnt by too many Private Rented Schemes designed by charities who do not understand that the bottom line for every landlord has to be sustainability and to be able to pay his mortgage and related outgoings on a rented property. Too many tenancies have been missold by the  Social Lettings Agency model purveyed by Local Authorities. Till you start to engage with the private rented sector, you don't have a chance of helping people on probation achieving successful, supported tenancies with buy in from all the stakeholders engaged.  Let's talk, Ms Munro.

Heather Munro, London Probation Trust

Lovely press release, time for action.

March 15 2012

'Homelessness' contributory factor to offending

Over a quarter of London offenders serving their sentence in the community have housing as a ‘criminogenic need’* - according to data from the UK’s largest probation trust.

London Probation Trust (LPT) has over 40,000** offenders on its books at any one time and is the largest service of its kind in Europe.

LPT Chief Executive Heather Munro said: "Homelessness is an issue probation officers will come across on a daily basis when dealing with the offenders under their supervision.

"Most people working in probation would probably say the lack of stable accommodation, a place to call ‘home’, is one of the biggest contributing factors when it comes to offending and reoffending. It’s well known that if you are sleeping rough or moving from place to place that you are more likely to end up reoffending.

"Our data shows that 27*** per cent of the offenders on our books have problems with their accommodation. Usually this will be just one of several issues we have to help offenders deal with as part of addressing their criminal behaviour. Offenders tend to have complex backgrounds with multiple concerns – lack of skills, lack of employment, low finances, problems with substance abuse etc; and they are often compounded by issues with housing."

Heather pinpoints the direct link between homelessness and offending as the most likely reason her staff voted Crisis as their 2012 Charity of the Year.

She said: "I’m very pleased to be supporting Crisis – and not at all surprised that it came out top in our staff poll.

"We’re already working with them in our approved premises, where they provide free employment and skills advice to offenders as well as help some of them to secure more permanent accommodation.

"Crisis is a great charity and we will be exploring ways for staff to donate their time as volunteers as well as raise funds for this worthwhile cause."

Last year LPT staff raised money for several charities, including the Cassandra Learning Centre; Setu Nepal and MacMillan Cancer Support.

ENDS

*There are several criminogenic needs which are identified in the Offender Assessment System (OASys) tool. The guidance states:

"There is clear evidence that lack of permanent decent accommodation is related to re-offending. Those of no fixed abode or who are living in hostels, especially hostels with other offenders, are more likely to offend. Those who have many changes of address are more likely to re-offend. Accommodation can also be seen as a proxy measure for social exclusion. Not having a postal address can have serious and widespread consequences. Living in a high crime area is an environmental factor that can affect the rate of re-offending. A sudden change of accommodation status can lead to a significant change in the likelihood of reconviction very quickly, so this section is one of the most ‘dynamic’ area is OASys. Carlisle (1996), when discussing the housing needs of ex-prisoners, reviewed research that clearly showed a link between unsuitable accommodation and the rate of reconviction. (OASys Manual, 2002)

**This figure includes offenders who are currently on licence in the community as well as those under LPT’s supervision in prison.

***This figure only applies to those offenders currently on licence or serving their sentence in the community and for whom an OASys assessment is available. The OASys data is from the assessments over the last 12 months.

Four in five ex-offenders who are homeless are reconvicted within a year, a new study has found.

Via Homeless Link

The study from Homeless Link, the umbrella organisation representing the homelessness sector, called on more joined up action from those involved in housing to tackle the lack of accommodation for ex-offenders.

The report also said that there should be more training on housing issues for criminal justice workers. Nearly half of the respondents working in the sector said they would benefit from such training, while more than a third of homelessness providers also wanted training to understand the issue.

The survey of 400 staff and 75 clients also found strong links between homelessness, addiction and prison. Almost two thirds of adults using homelessness or drug services had spent time in prison, child care or other institutions, it found, while 20 per cent of homelessness service clients are in contact with probation.

Alice Evans, head of policy analysis at Homeless Link, said: ‘While our research has uncovered localised pockets of good practice, the majority of experiences show there is a need for agencies to work together more closely to prevent people who have previously offended and are now homeless falling deeper into the cycle of homelessness and reoffending.

‘We are calling for the homeless and criminal justice sectors to provide services that complement each other, both on a national and local level. With greater financial pressures and a shift towards localism, joint approaches will prove crucial in meeting our shared aims of reducing reoffending and homelessness.’